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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
Aug 22, 2013
British actress Eve makes her mark on 'Star Trek'
There must be a Union Jack stowed somewhere aboard the Starship Enterprise: The British influence on "Star Trek Into Darkness" is pretty thick. There is of course hot new man about town Benedict Cumberbatch (or "Batchi-san" to his Japanese fans) as genetically engineered evildoer John Harrison. Simon...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2013
'Star Trek Into Darkness'
Perhaps the biggest blockbuster this summer, "Star Trek Into Darkness" nonetheless throws more than a few curve balls: It is pensive, frosty and often curt, and comes elegantly and aptly dressed in several shades of black. Though there are many moments of humor and thrilling adventure, the story seems...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2013
'Trois Mondes'
"Trois Mondes" was the only film by a female directorshown at the Cannes Film Festival last year. Among the testosterone-fueled macho films that got all the attention ("Killing Them Softly," "Lawless") "Trois Mondes" was striking in its approach to death and bodies — the characters convene and agonize...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2013
'Transporter: The Series'
Director: Various
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Aug 18, 2013
Japanese women and the summer chill — a love story
Meet Matt, a software engineer in Silicon Valley, California, who recently married his college girlfriend from the University of Southern California. Her name is Miho. The pair are both in their late 30s and there was a 10-year period after university when he didn't lay eyes on Miho or feel any interest...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2013
'Populaire'
It's "My Fair Lady" meets "Flashdance" meets the sweet, earnest rom-coms of the 1950s. "Populaire" is the feature debut by French filmmaker Régis Roinsard (most famed for Jane Birkin's promotional videos) but the film has the look and feel of a veteran artisan: "Some Like it Hot" director Billy Wilder,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2013
'Playing For Keeps'
Gerard Butler, most famed for his muscled marauder performance in "300," always seems on the verge of burning rage or spontaneous combustion — which is why he was a disaster in rom-coms such as "The Bounty Hunter" and "The Ugly Truth." For all his handsome-guy demeanor, he just doesn't seem nice to...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2013
'Flight'
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013
'To the Wonder'
An intensely personal film by Terrence Malick ("The Tree of Life," "The Thin Red Line"), "To the Wonder" explores the lives and loves of four people, to the near complete exclusion of everyone else. The films revels in solitude and celebrates seclusion with what seems like voluptuous ardor.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013
'In the Land of Blood and Honey'
When you think about Angelina Jolie in 2013, the term "preventive double mastectomy" may leap to mind. Which is probably why now is a good time to release her 2011 directorial debut, "In the Land of Blood and Honey." Jolie, who visited Bosnia and Herzegovina as a U.N. goodwill ambassador, has made a...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2013
'First Position'
Director: Bess Kargman
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2013
It's never too late to go in search of forgotten love
Filmmaker David Frankel has an ear for what women say — to each other, to their men and to themselves, though the last is not necessarily made audible to others.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2013
'Hope Springs'
Feminism is redefined in "Hope Springs," a tale of two 60-somethings locked in a marriage gone stale and opting for a week of intensive marriage counselling in a picturesque Maine town.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2013
'The Lone Ranger'
All the ingredients for a mega summer blockbuster are here, but somehow "The Lone Ranger" has failed to captivate U.S. moviegoers. Some estimate it may be the highest-grossing western in history, but it's still falling far short of recouping its $225 million budget.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2013
'Your Sister's Sister (Love Triangle)'
Director: Lynn Shelton
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2013
Spirits linger in the trinkets of Hiroshima's dead
They say most people have one or more defining childhood incidents — something that sets the course of their adult life and molds their personality. Filmmaker Linda Hoaglund had one, and it was so striking that to this day she can still remember the flush on her face, the tingling of her skin and the...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2013
'Things Left Behind'
When the Japanese refer to "the war," they mean World War II. When they talk about "the bomb," they mean the nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on Aug. 6 and 9, 1945. The event is so familiar, the contours of its tragedy are painfully etched into our collective memory.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2013
'The Moth Diaries'
"The Moth Diaries" can be described as the female-fronted equivalent of "Another Country" minus the political angst and overt sexuality. Otherwise, the intense narcissism and overwrought peer pressure that characterized what is now a classic elitist adolescent movie is duplicated here in "American Psycho"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 25, 2013
'Wreck-it Ralph (Sugar Rush)'
Director: Rich Moore
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2013
'The Paperboy'
Swamp trash melodrama unfolds with stylish 1960s grittiness in "The Paperboy" and demonstrates Nicole Kidman's ability to fashion herself into an angel fallen to Earth in the guise of a hooker. She plays Charlotte Bless, a peroxide blonde who makes no bones about having just one interest in life: men....
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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