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September 13, 2024
 

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Mark Schilling
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2001
Coming to America 10 years too late
America is the foreign country most familiar to Japanese people -- and the hardest one for Japanese filmmakers to get right.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2001
Disturbing signals from distant Planet Y
All About Lily Chou ChouRating: * * * 1/2 Director: Shunji Iwai Running time: 146 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2001
The nail that sticks out -- defiantly
Go Rating: * * * * Director: Isao Yukisada Running time: 122 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Art
Oct 31, 2001
The gift of Ghibli
When I first heard that Hayao Miyazaki was planning a museum in Mitaka dedicated to the films that his Studio Ghibli animators and he had created over the years, I imagined animation cels framed on beige walls. Save for dedicated fans, it wasn't the most thrilling prospect for a Saturday afternoon, especially...
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001
His turn to talk
I interviewed Hideyuki Hirayama in the summer of 2000 at Nikkatsu Studio, after spending a morning inside a dim, dank soundstage, watching him film Riho Makise. Makise was working on an etching and was padding silently about her house -- an early scene in "Turn," but one of the last in the shoot.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2001
All alone, on the edge of infinity
Turn Rating: * * * Director: Hideyuki Hirayama Running time: 111 minutes Language: Japanese Shwoing at Warner Mycal Cinemas, Itabashi (03) 3937-1551
CULTURE / Books
Oct 21, 2001
In the realm of crime, torture and depravity
THE DARK SIDE: Infamous Japanese Crimes and Criminals, by Mark Schreiber. Kodansha International, 2001, 251 pp., 2,700 yen (cloth) It's unfortunate but true that the names of notorious criminals usually outlive those of their victims. We remember Jack the Ripper, not the London prostitutes he butchered....
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2001
When it comes to comedy, it's sync or swim
Waterboys Rating: * * * * Director: Shinobu Yaguchi Running time: 91 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Oct 10, 2001
Composer plays musical chairs
Quartet Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Joe Hisashi Running time: 113 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2001
Epiphany in a puddle
Mamiko Kawamoto and I interviewed Katsuyoshi Kumakiri and his two stars, Susuma Terajima and Yuriko Kikuchi, at the press suite of the Focus on Asia -- Fukuoka Film Festival, where "Sora no Ana" was screened to a full-house crowd. Kumakiri was agreeably sincere and Kikuchi becomingly modest, while Terajima...
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2001
The comfort of strangers
Sora no Anna Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri Running time: 127 minutes Language: English Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2001
Asia's best shine at cinema showcase
Film festivals are addictive, especially if you've got that magical piece of laminated paper called a press pass. Volunteers smile at you, directors schmooze with you and theater doors swing open for you at the flash of a badge. Best of all, you can spend all day watching movies with no guilty feelings...
LIFE / Travel
Sep 25, 2001
No, really, it's completely unspoiled!
Paradise in the South Pacific? Isn't that only ad copy for getaway resorts that put little beach umbrellas in the cocktails and charge prices the locals could only afford after a winning lottery ticket?
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2001
Pixels can't really tell the whole story
Final Fantasy Rating: * * * Director: Hironobu Sakaguchi Running time: 106 minutes Language: English Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2001
Welcome to my worst nightmare
Kemonogare -- Orera no Saru to Rating: * * 1/2 Director: Hideaki Sunaga Running time: 107 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2001
Truly, madly, but not too deeply
Zeitaku na Hone Rating: * * * 1/2 Director: Isao Yukisada Running time: 107 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2001
'Electric Dragon 80000V'
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2001
A bolt from the past
Electric Dragon 80000V Rating: * * * Director: Sogo Ishii Running time: 55 minutes Language: Japanese Now showing What should rockers do when the paunch starts to sag over the jeans and the gray hair starts to glint in the spotlights? Have some self-respect and stop shaking that wrinkled booty,...
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2001
'Ichiban Utsukushii Natsu'
CULTURE / Film
Aug 22, 2001
Just please don't ask 'why?'
The first questions John Williams is always asked about "Ichiban Utsukushii Natsu (Firefly Dreams)" are the "whys": Why are you in Japan? Why did you shoot a film using only Japanese actors? The answers, Williams says, don't come easy, "because I never imagined I would end up making a film here."
iPhone 16 to land in Japan without Apple Intelligence 
Apple CEO Tim Cook unveils the iPhone 16 at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's campus in Cupertino, California, on Monday.
Nine hopefuls vie for LDP presidency in complex election
Former Environment Minister Shinjiro Koizumi, 43, is one of two contenders who have consistently outperformed other candidates in the Liberal Democratic Party leadership race in recent polls conducted both among the general public and LDP supporters.
Is Japan an attractive option for foreign talent from Asia?
Job-seekers take a Japanese class at an employment placement company in Hanoi in October 2022.
Japan jumps to No. 2, from sixth place, in Best Countries index
Pedestrians cross an intersection in the Shibuya district of Tokyo. Japan has experienced a postpandemic travel boom, with tourists pouring back in after restrictions closed the country’s borders to travelers.
Daikanyama tops list of Tokyo neighborhoods in livability survey
In a survey conducted by rental housing operator Daito Trust Construction, residents praised the tranquility and safety of Daikanyama, a neighborhood in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward, as well as its accessibility to public transportation.
Tokyo Comedy Bar supersizes laughs with 11-night festival
Since opening in 2022 in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo Comedy Bar has hosted comedy workshops, roast battles, open mics and international guests.
iPhone 16 to land in Japan without Apple Intelligence 
Apple CEO Tim Cook unveils the iPhone 16 at the Steve Jobs Theater on the company's campus in Cupertino, California, on Monday.
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.
Updated Meiji Jingu Gaien redevelopment plan to keep more trees
Redevelopment of the Meiji Jingu Gaien district has trees in the area marked according to their status — trees marked in red were to be cut down in the original plan while those in blue were to be transplanted. In the updated plan, trees marked in red will no longer be felled, and those in blue will remain where they are.

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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