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November 04, 2025
 

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Kaori Shoji
Kaori Shoji writes about movies and movie-makers for the Film Page, plus takes a turn at the Bilingual Column. Biggest mistake of her career: taking the very dignified Nagisa Oshima to McDonald's for an iced coffee.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2014
'Pawn Shop Chronicles'
Not a whole lot of U.S. moviegoers seemed to know about "Pawn Shop Chronicles" when it opened there last year. It had a limited release, then fizzled into the ether. Which is probably the best thing for the planet and its inhabitants, but to be fair, it has its moments. Best described as the movie equivalent...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2014
'Ender's Game'
The sense of wide-eyed wonder and hopefulness that characterized Orson Scott Card's 1985 sci-fi novel "Ender's Game" is mostly absent in this adaptation, replaced by a knowing, slick competence. Very little rings true, despite Harrison Ford, Ben Kingsley and Viola Davis delivering super-serious performances...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 16, 2014
'A Late Quartet (25-Nen-me no Gengaku Shijuso)'
Director: Yaron Zilberman
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 12, 2014
The way we were, or reflections for the new year
In the dusky light of ōmisoka (大晦日, Dec. 31), I spotted something that's become a rarity on Tokyo streets: a dead animal. Actually it was a yamabato (山鳩, turtle dove) — and its feathers were tragically strewn among the blood and gore like a terrible crime scene. Some tsūkōnin (通行人,...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014
'Dangerous Liaisons'
Dangerous Liaisons" is compelling, not necessarily because of its content but because this is a Chinese movie adapted from an 18th-century French novel by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. It has exactly zero working-class characters, not counting the occasional maid. That's an event in itself. A decade ago,...
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014
'Killing Season'
If movies could kill, this one would have the potential to maim. Directed by Mark Steven Johnson ("Simon Birch"), "Killing Season" stars two relentless men, Robert De Niro and John Travolta, bringing every fiber of their relentlessness to go at each other tooth and nail. Sheer heaven for those who go...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014
'Yurusarezaru Mono (Unforgiven)'
Director: Lee Sang-il
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2014
Our movie highlights of the coming year
Another year, another raft of unmissable movies. Here are the most hotly anticipated releases for JT film critics Mark Schilling, Kaori Shoji and Giovanni Fazio — get them in your diary now.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2014
'Lore'
"Lore" is both gripping and suffocating; at times it feels like filmmaker Cate Shortland is forcibly prying open your eyelids like that scene in "A Clockwork Orange," impelling the viewer to confront the horror of what's happening on screen. And that's because feeling the unbearable heaviness of reality...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 2, 2014
'Odd Thomas'
Director Stephen Sommers is known for works such as "G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra" and "Van Helsing"; in the words of one U.S. critic, he makes "watchable trash."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013
'The Hunger Games: Catching Fire'
The second installment to "The Hunger Games" is hot and fast but also pensive — not what you'd expect from an adaptation of a Young Adult novel series. I reckon author Suzanne Collins' work and the first "Hunger Games" should be on the syllabus for high schools everywhere, and the latest adaptation...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013
Kaori Shoji's 2013 Top 10: films that aren't backward about coming forward
It has been a year of documentaries made on big ideas and small resources. At the other end of the spectrum, some of the best fiction films had the look and feel of a documentary, attesting to the modern notion that the individual and his/her story are just about the most interesting things around.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013
'Linhas de Wellington'
Only the brave and devoted moviegoer should tackle this monstrosity of a period film. Clocking in at close to three hours and featuring a 1,000-plus cast of European multinationals, "Lines of Wellington" (as it was released in English) is a cinema project of gargantuan proportions, devoted entirely to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 26, 2013
'The Moth Diaries'
Director: Mary Harron
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2013
Japanese couple's canvas alive with the art of love
Being an artist can be hard enough — but being part of an artist couple comes with a truckload of angst, as director Zachary Heinzerling demonstrates in his debut documentary feature "Cutie and the Boxer." This is about the life and times of artists Ushio Shinohara and his wife, Noriko, who have been...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2013
'Cutie and the Boxer'
When 59-year old Noriko Shinohara calls herself "Cutie," you'll want to take her word for it. She grabs the viewer at the opening scene of the documentary "Cutie and the Boxer," which plays out like something from an early Jean-Luc Godard movie: It's early morning, and she's brushing out her long, silvery...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2013
'Assault on Wall Street (Japan title: Wall Street Down'
If you've never had the chance to sample the work of Uwe Boll ("Blubberella," "Auschwitz"), this is an opportunity to tap into the "so-bad-it's-god-awful" genre of which Boll is king. His latest, "Assault on Wall Street," makes the Occupy guys look tame to the point of comatose. Instead of protesting,...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 19, 2013
'Chronicle'
Director: Josh Trank
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Dec 15, 2013
December: A last tango with soba
Some men go out to buy that flaming red sportscar. Others embark on a messy but absorbing divorce process. Then there is of course, nirvana: the gorufujō (ゴルフ場, golf course). But in Japan, when men hit a certain age they have another option to turn to. The authentic mark of a honmono (本物,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2013
'20 Feet From Stardom'
There's something incredibly tonic about listening to music with backup singers: doo-wop groups, girl groups, gospel choirs — the list goes on. The other thing about backup singing: You want to do it too. Consider that when Paul McCartney sang "Hey Jude" at the Library of Congress, the Obama family...
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
More Japanese universities pushing toward teaching in English
Waseda University in Tokyo
A narrow Pacific waterway at heart of U.S. plans to choke China’s vast navy
Philippine and Australian troops fire an M777 howitzer during live fire exercises as part of joint military drills in Laur, Nueva Ecija, the Philippines, in August.
Trump would make U.S. Supreme Court history by attending tariffs case
There is no record in the U.S. Supreme Court’s 235-year history of a sitting president ever attending arguments, according to Clare Cushman, director of publications and resident historian at the Supreme Court Historical Society.
Dodgers clinch back-to-back World Series titles as Blue Jays downed in thriller
Dodgers pitcher Yoshinobu Yamamoto and teammates celebrate after winning the World Series against the Blue Jays. Yamamoto was named MVP for the series.
How airlines are refining their in-flight food in Japan's tourism boom
All Nippon Airways' gourmet program, The Connoisseurs, showcases the Japanese concept of "shun" (peak season for ingredients), giving passengers a preview of the refined cuisine that awaits them in Japan.
The unstoppable rise of konbini tourism
Guests typically follow Ryo Ito’s lead as he weaves through the narrow, colorful aisles of convenience stores.
Anime isn’t competing with Hollywood — it’s beating it
After its July release, “Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba — Infinity Castle,” an animated feature adapted directly from a TV arc, became the highest-grossing Japanese film ever.
Oasis returns to Japan after 16 years — and fans can still sing every word
Liam Gallagher commanded the stage with effortless charisma during Oasis' Tokyo Dome set on Saturday.
At Japan Mobility Show, BYD gears up to conquer Japan's EV market
BYD Auto Japan President Atsuki Tofukuji unveils the Racco at the Japan Mobility Show in Tokyo on Wednesday.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes
By Alex K.T. Martin

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