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September 10, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
A young man (Yuki Kura, left) who isn’t well-versed in wooing attempts to strike up a relationship with a convenience store clerk (Haruka Imou) he has a crush on in “How to Find a Lover.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 19, 2023
‘How to Find a Lover’: Quirky rom-com is deeper than it seems
Koji Maeda keeps the film’s tone fun and offbeat while not shying away from the emotional wounds of its lead characters.
“The Burden of the Past” is based on the real-life experiences of ex-cons and the editorial team of a magazine that supports former prisoners in finding jobs and reentering society.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2023
'The Burden of the Past' addresses bleak reality of ex-cons with some hope
Atsushi Funahashi’s film is grounded in the director’s own research about the hurdles former prisoners face when attempting to rejoin society.
Singer-songwriter Aina The End (center) plays a young woman who strives to overcome her hardscrabble life and become an indie musician in “Kyrie.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2023
'Kyrie': Musical melodrama celebrates youth
Shunji Iwai's film about indie musicians and female friendships may have an overstuffed plot, but it also has a visual energy unique to the director.
A woman (Yoko Maki) haunted by the trauma of her husband’s unexplained disappearance hires a detective to find answers in Rikiya Imaizumi’s “Undercurrent.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2023
‘Undercurrent’: All is not lost in cathartic drama
Yoko Maki and Arata Iura deliver committed performances in Rikiya Imaizumi’s introspective film about people who vanish for inexplicable reasons.
Directed by four different directors, the anthology film “Almost People” focuses on siblings who each lack an emotion.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2023
‘Almost People’: Anthology on emotions comes together in harmony
The film’s segments, which center on joy, anger, pleasure and loneliness, are beautifully integrated and show compassion for their characters’ flaws.
A TV director (Kanna Hashimoto, left) is haunted by the dead wife of an old office crush (Daiki Shigeoka) in “The Forbidden Play.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2023
‘The Forbidden Play’: J-horror mishmash offers satisfying scares
Horror legend Hideo Nakata's latest flick is a halfway return to form, in part due to actor First Summer Uika's chilling turn as a vengeful wraith.
Ryo Onishi’s debut feature “Feelingscape” tells a slice-of-life story about a blind man struggling to connect to others while affirming his agency.
CULTURE
Sep 16, 2023
‘Feelingscape’: Ordinary lives made poignant
Ryo Onishi’s debut feature about a man living with a visual disability and his relationships goes into close detail that is both rare and revealing.
Yoji Yamada cast familiar faces in his latest heartwarming family drama “Mom, Is That You?!” including veteran Sayuri Yoshinaga (right), who has appeared in three other Yamada films. Yoshinaga plays the mother of a stressed salaryman (Yo Oizumi, left) in the new film.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 15, 2023
Film veteran Yoji Yamada warms the soul with 'Mom, Is That You?!'
Even after 60 years in the industry, the director continues to make hits. His latest offers a hearty helping of deeply felt human truths.
A former boxer (Koichi Sato, left) trying to restart his life in Japan takes on a young trainee (Ryusei Yokohama) with aspirations to win big in “One Last Bloom.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 7, 2023
‘One Last Bloom’: Pugilist melodrama feels all too familiar
While the film takes the approach of local TV dramas, with broad narrative strokes and a zero-to-hero arc, the boxing scenes deliver insider details.
Actor Nahana says she considers her role as a punk rocker who falls in love with an avenging hero in Takahisa Zeze’s four-hour epic “Heaven’s Story” a turning point in her career.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2023
Indie film royalty Nahana looks back on 22 years
The Cinema Novecento theater in Yokohama is set to screen 12 of the versatile actor's films as a tribute to her long career.
A couple with a young daughter move into their dream house but soon realize there is something sinister afoot in “Home Sweet Home.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 2, 2023
‘Home Sweet Home’: Horror house is light on frights
While the main cast delivers strong performances, Takumi Saitoh’s film about a dream home with spooky secrets offers chills rather than true terror.
An internet influencer (Tina Tamashiro) loses her identity to AI in Daisuke Miyazaki’s “#Mito.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 24, 2023
‘#Mito’: Sharp satire riffs on the dark side of AI and social media
Daisuke Miyazaki’s drama offers an intimate look at an influencer’s life and career stripped of surface glamour and glitz.
A father-daughter duo keeps a beloved local tofu shop running despite disagreements and obstacles in Mitsuhiro Mihara’s “Takano Tofu.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 17, 2023
'Takano Tofu': Cranky craftsman serves up heartwarming drama
In Mitsuhiro Mihara’s touching drama, Tatsuya Fuji adds layered nuance that sets his tofu-making protagonist apart from the typical cinematic elder.
A divorced mother (Aika Yukihira) finds herself wrapped up in a complicated sexual relationship with her old high school boyfriend (Sho Aoyagi) in Hideo Jojo’s “S-friends.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 12, 2023
‘S-friends’: Female-centered plot proves refreshing
Hideo Jojo’s drama about a divorcee venturing into a sexual relationship with a man from her past touches on the real-life problems of middle-aged women.
Members of the Writers Guild of America and the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists walk a picket line outside of Paramount Pictures in Los Angeles. Hollywood actors and writers are currently on strike, effectively bringing the giant movie and television business to a halt in the first industry-wide walkout in 63 years.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Aug 10, 2023
The Hollywood strike is a wake-up call to Japan's film industry
With Hollywood writers and actors on strike, what lessons can creatives in the Japanese film industry learn from the fray?
A retired assassin (Haruka Ayase) fights off military imperialists in Isao Yukisada’s “Revolver Lily.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2023
‘Revolver Lily.’: Lavish anti-war actioner racks up body count
Haruka Ayase plays the titular assassin intent on thwarting an imperialist plot to start a war with stylish confidence.
A woman (Rinko Kikuchi) shut off from the world confronts her unresolved fury toward her dead father in “Yoko.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2023
Rinko Kikuchi completely commits to raw performance in ‘Yoko’
The Oscar-nominated actor plays a socially isolated woman who attempts to hitchhike her way to her estranged father's funeral in Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s powerful road movie.
Director Christopher Nolan (right) poses with "Oppenheimer" cast members (from left) Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr., Cillian Murphy and Emily Blunt at the film's premiere in Paris earlier this month.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jul 27, 2023
Summer film releases in Japan and the 'Oppenheimer' problem
Moviegoers may not get their "Barbenheimer" moment, as Japan likes to keep things family friendly in summer.
Director Hirobumi Watanabe (second from left) stars alongside his brother Yuji (far right), who has served as composer on all of his films, in his new feature “Techno Brothers,” which follows a sibling trio on the road to Tokyo to find success in the music business.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2023
Foolish Piggies Films keeps humor at its heart
Indie director Hirobumi Watanabe looks back on 10 years of making distinctive, micro-budget films with his brother and seeking out new challenges on and off screen.
A lonely woman (Ayaka Nakagochi, left) develops romantic feelings for her personal care humanoid (Kosei Kudo) in “12 Months of Kai.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 20, 2023
‘12 Months of Kai’: When Prince Charming is too perfect to be real
Mutsuki Kameyama’s sci-fi romance about a woman who falls in love with a handsome humanoid delves into the difficulties of “unconventional” relationships.
Small Hokkaido town ranked most comfortable place to live in Japan
Asahidake in Daisetsuzan is located in the town of Higashikawa, Hokkaido, which ranked as the most comfortable municipality in 2024.
After U.S.-South Korea nuclear drills, North girds for ‘long-term’ faceoff
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits O Jin U Artillery Academy in the country on Friday.
Maestro Seiji Ozawa’s prayer for peace lives on in Hiroshima
Maestro Seiji Ozawa (center) lays flowers at the cenotaph for atomic bomb victims at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park in October 2005.
Unpacking Japan’s messy leadership election
The Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race is expected to have a record number of candidates.
Panasonic ready to start making next-gen EV cells at Japan plant
Panasonic’s 4680 cylindrical lithium-ion cell
Unpacking Japan’s messy leadership election
The Liberal Democratic Party's presidential race is expected to have a record number of candidates.
‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
No talking, no eating, no standing: Inside sumo's ring purification ceremony
A sumo referee performs the dohyō matsuri, or ring purification ceremony, in January 2017 at Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo.
Demand for Calrose rice rises amid Japanese rice shortage
Shuzo Fukushi, who heads Rice Meister Kojimachi in Tokyo, shows a bag of Calrose mixed with domestic rice at his store on Thursday.
Pasocom Music Club returns to the pure pleasures of the dance floor
Pasocom Music Club’s “Love Flutter” marks an important moment for Japan’s electronic community as project members Aoi Shibata (left) and Masato Nishiyama step into a role other artists once held for them — scene veterans who are inspiring the next generation.

Podcast

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

Longform

A store clerk tries to cool things down in front of their shop by spraying a hose.
Is extreme weather changing the way Japan shops?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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