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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.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2013
'Kiss of the Spider Woman (Kumo Onna no Kiss)'
Director: Hector Babenco
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2013
'Trashed'
It's hard to associate the uber-groomed, aquiline-profiled Jeremy Irons (“Damage,” “Die Hard: With a Vengeance”) with garbage. But in the documentary “Trashed,” which focuses on the problem of global waste, Irons wallows in it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2013
'The Frozen Ground'
Based on a serial-killer spree in Anchorage, Alaska, in the late 1970s/early '80s, "The Frozen Ground" draws solid performances from an A-list cast but somehow falls short on terror. Writer/director Scott Walker is careful to maintain a dark, understated mood that blends in quite effectively with the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2013
Farinelli (Castrato)
Director: Gerard Corbiau
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2013
Finding forgiveness: Japan reworks a Western classic
Clint Eastwood's 1992 Academy Award winner “Unforgiven” has undergone a Japanese remake. “Yurusarezaru Mono” is loyal to Eastwood's classic Western but adds a pulsating core of Japanese-ness.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2013
'Chronicle'
The found-footage thing: It can be addictive. Though as a movie ploy, it always stumps me how the characters would actually go into a dark woods in the middle of the night ("The Blair Witch Project") or move their family into a house where a gruesome murder had taken place ("Sinister"). So much of the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2013
'Despicable Me 2'
Two things stand out about 2010 animated comedy "Despicable Me": The hero, Gru (Steve Carell), is a villain (a philosophical oxymoron in itself), and he's not that despicable. Sure, he freeze-dries people in front of him in line at Starbucks and tries to grab the coveted Star Villain slot on cable TV...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2013
'Blood (Japan title: Land's End: Yami no Koto)'
Director: Nick Murphy
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Sep 15, 2013
Nadeshiko — adorable till they die
"France for food, Japan for wives." That was basically the conclusion made by French journalist/novelist Pierre Loti, who dropped by our shores in 1885 and wrote a book about his stay called "Madame Chrysantheme." Loti hadn't exactly caught the Japan bug — he was critical of many facets of Japanese...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2013
'Hyde Park on Hudson'
For all intents and purposes, "Hyde Park on Hudson" should have you on hello. Instead, it may leave you feeling the tiniest bit revolted. Focusing on the events of a weekend in the life of 32nd U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt, arguably the best-loved commander-in-chief of the 20th century after...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2013
'Les Saveurs du Palais'
In France, female chefs rarely get to the top — and when they do, gender issues are rife. One way to deal with it is simply to ignore it, and in this story of chef Hortense Laborie (based on the real-life Daniele Delpeuch) it works. "Haute Cuisine" is the story of how she was hand-picked by Joel Robuchon...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2013
'Suits'
Director: Various
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 7, 2013
Ballet prodigy gets a big lift from mom
Sixteen-year old ballerina Miko Fogarty may be an American teen prodigy, but despite hailing from that land steeped in stardom culture, she seems to have none of the usual celebrity trappings — or to be particularly interested in them.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 7, 2013
Miko Fogarty tells what it takes to be a teenage dance star
Unlike the stereotype of your average American teen, Miko Fogarty (16) is not talkative or exuberant. In this way she seems somewhat shy and reserved, almost as if she leans toward the Japanese part of her lineage despite being brought up in the United States. Or perhaps she's just sure of herself as...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013
'Upside Down'
Here it is: the movie equivalent of a crazy, distracting, impossibly attractive lover. Everything about "Upside Down" is nutso preposterous but it draws you in and locks you in a warm embrace, declaring undying love and promising mystery and eternal longing forever more. If there was a way I could go...
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013
'Laurence Anyways'
Perhaps it's better to know the director before going in to see "Laurence Anyways": Xavier Dolan is all of 23 years old, yet this is already the Quebecois filmmaker's fourth feature. In other words, be prepared to cut the prolific (and many say brilliant) lad some slack. Bushels of it. Clocking in at...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2013
'Arrow'
Director: Various
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2013
Snyder ponders Superman's ultimate dilemma
Opening on the heels of that other summer blockbuster "Star Trek Into Darkness," "Man of Steel" is no smaller in scale but feels much more personal. That's probably because director Zack Snyder ("300," "Sucker Punch") is a hands-on kind of filmmaker, who secretly feels that if he can't stamp his personality...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2013
'Man of Steel'
Overwrought and overlong but thoroughly engrossing, "Man of Steel" is an experience akin to finding yourself standing next to an enormous turbo fan while trying to listen to a friend talk about his arduous Mount Everest expedition. On the one hand, you want to get out of the wind. It would be impolite...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2013
'The Addams Family'
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
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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