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April 28, 2025
 

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Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2011
'Manzai Gyangu (Manzai Gang)'
Manzai acts — comedy duos consisting of a boke (goofball) and tsukkomi (straight man) — are ubiquitous on Japanese television, but the form has relatively few foreign fans.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2011
'Rakugo Monogatari (Rakugo Story)'
Rakugo, which might be described as traditional Japanese sit-down comedy, once had a certain snob appeal among foreigners here. If you could boast that your hobby was rakugo, as either a fan or participant, you were saying you had summited the Mount Fuji of the Japanese language. (The Everest to me was...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 4, 2011
'Wasao'
Japan is now a country with more dogs and cats (23 million in 2009) than children under 16 (17 million, same year). As both a parent and a dog owner here, I understand why: Kids are enormously expensive to raise in Japan and, given the current grim employment situation, often live off Mommy and Daddy's...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2011
' Taiheiyo no Kiseki — Fokkusu to Yobareta Otoko (Oba: The Last Samurai)'
Japanese mass-audience movies about the country's military during World War II are usually melodramatic, sentimental or blatantly nationalistic. But their pure-hearted tokkotai (suicide squad) pilots flying to certain death are hardly representative of the typical Japanese soldier who, as the war entered...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2011
'Gakko wo Tsukuro (Let's Create a School)'
The Japanese audience has long loved period dramas, including ones based on the lives of real people, generally men wearing topknots. And usually, at some point, the swords come out, as in the story of the 47 ronin (masterless samurai) who in 1703 attacked a shogunate official in revenge for his role...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2011
'Yogashiten Koan do Ru (Patisserie Coin de Rue)'
The Japanese foodie movie is an offshoot of the gurume (gourmet) boom of the 1980s bubble years. Back then, urban trendies began exploring the farther reaches of French cuisine, expense be damned — or as Juzo Itami's seminal foodie movie "Tampopo" (1985) comically examined, obsessing over the perfect...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2011
'Tsumetai Nettaigyo (Cold Fish)'
Sion Sono is a self-confessed chameleon, who can switch effortlessly from the laugh-a-minute black comedy of 2008's "Ai no Mukidashi (Love Exposure)" to the heartfelt medical melodrama of 2009's "Chanto Tsutaeru (Be Sure to Share)" and the splatter shock of his latest, "Tsumetai Nettaigyo (Cold Fish)."...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2011
'Byakuyako (Into the White Night)'
Mysteries are hot in the Japanese movie business now, but they have long been hard sells abroad. This may seem strange, since the mystery genre in Japan, from novels to films, has been heavily influenced by foreign models — starting with the genre's father, Edgar Allen Poe.
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Jan 26, 2011
Yakuza movie lines without honor or humanity
Japanese movies, like their Hollywood counterparts, have produced plenty of 名台詞 (meiserifu, famous lines) over the years, in just about every genre. But when I was researching a book on ヤクザ映画 (yakuza eiga, Japanese gangster movies), I realized that this particular genre had generated...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2011
'Gantz'
Films about murder games of various sorts have become a popular Japanese-movie subgenre, beginning with the ultra-violent Kinji Fukasaku hit "Battle Royale" (2000) and continuing with the even more successful "Death Note" trio of films (2006-2008) — though the "game" in the latter was more of a battle...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2011
'Yoyochu: Sex to Yoyogi Tadashi no Sekai (Yoyochu in the Land of the Rising Sex)'
Japan's sex industry is huge, diverse and different. One oddity, at least to Western eyes, is the pinku eiga (pink film), a genre of soft porn made according to certain rules (the most important being the inclusion of a simulated sex scene every 10 minutes or so) and shown in specialized theaters. Pink...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2011
'Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna (Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls)'
Japanese omnibus films — collections of similarly themed shorts — were more common a decade or two ago than now. They've always been risky box-office bets, and film distributors want a surer thing in today's fiercely competitive market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 31, 2010
2010 top movies: best moments in a mixed 12 months for Japanese cinema
This was the best of years and the worst of years for Japanese films. On one hand, dire TV-network-produced blockbusters continued to fill multiplexes. On the other, makers of indie films, both big names and small, struggled for funding and distribution, as the mini-theater (art-house) sector continued...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2010
'Bakamono (Fools)'
Age-inappropriate romance, on screen or off, stirs up passionate reactions. Cougars — an American term for middle-aged women who actively seek out younger lovers — find both supporters (who see them as adventurous and sexy) and slammers (who deride them as deluded and shameless). I like a saying...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2010
'Saigo no Chushingura (The Last Ronin)'
It's long been a rather cynical maxim of the Japanese movie business that, when all else fails, you can always put butts on seats with a revival of "Chushingura."
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2010
'Norwegian Wood (Noruwei no Mori)'
"Love hurts" is a staple message of popular culture everywhere, from blues songs about cheating lovers to tear-jerking Japanese melodramas about teenage couples eternally separated by terminal disease. But "Love can drive you crazy" is one uncomfortable truth mainstream movies, from Hollywood and Japan...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010
'Yoi Ga Sametara Uchi Ni Kaero (Wandering Home)'
Yoichi Higashi has accumulated a long list of honors in a four-decade career, including a Silver Bear at the 1996 Berlin Film Festival for his childhood drama "E no Naka no Boku no Mura (Village of Dreams)." But compared with certain other Japanese directors of his generation, his overseas profile is...
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2010
Higashi gets melodramatic (but not too much)
Born in Wakayama Prefecture in 1934, Yoichi Higashi graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature in 1958 and entered Iwanami Film Production, a documentary and educational film company. After making his feature debut with "Okinawa Retto (Okinawa Archipelago)" in 1969, he won the Directors...
JAPAN / Media
Nov 28, 2010
Nicholas Bornoff, Japan Times writer and author of 'Pink Samurai,' dies aged 61
Nicolas Bornoff, who died of cancer in London on Oct. 30, was my predecessor as a film critic at The Japan Times, starting in the late 1970s and continuing for nine years. His style, in contrast to fellow reviewer Andy Adams' slangy journalese, aimed for the elevated and authoritative, which made me,...
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2010
'Space Battleship Yamato'
The "Space Battleship Yamato" franchise, known abroad under such titles as "Star Blazers" and "Space Cruiser Yamato," began life in 1974 as a TV cartoon space opera, then generated a hit animated film in 1977. Two more TV series and four more films followed, concluding the saga with the 1983 feature...
China seizes disputed reef near key Philippine military outpost
China Coast Guard officers unfurl a national flag on Sandy Cay reef, near the Philippine-held Thitu Island, in disputed waters of the South China Sea this month in this screen shot taken from Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
Japan to resist Trump efforts to form trade bloc against China
As Japan gears up for the trade talks, Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is also seeking to cushion the blow that the U.S. tariffs may have on the domestic economy.
As many as nine dead after driver plows into Vancouver festival crowd
An ambulance is parked at the site of the Lapu Lapu day festival, where a vehicle drove into a crowd killing several people in Vancouver on Saturday.
Japan struggles with gray zone of AI deepfakes exploiting children
AI-generated content — including those made using pictures of real people, which are known as “deepfakes” — is not explicitly covered under Japan's current legal framework, nor are human-drawn illustrations that depict child abuse.
How to bring up bad news in Japanese
As in other cultures, when someone shares bad news in Japanese it’s best to respond with supportive words.
‘Wildcat Dome’ challenges Japan's historical narratives
On the surface, "Wildcat Dome" tells a personal story of damaged children — now adults — bound together by tragedy. Underneath, there’s a constant undercurrent of political consequence, invisible and pervasive like radioactive particles.
Reclaiming Sanya, one meal at a time
Magokoro Yoshihira (center) is the managing director of Yui Associates, which operates the neighborhood fixtures of Sanya Cafe and Juyoh Hotel. Yusuke Takahashi (left) met Yoshihira during a difficult period in his life and now works as the cafe’s chef. Nancy Anne (right) has worked for over 10 years at Juyoh Hotel and enjoys the multicultural environment.
Amid uncertain tariffs, is now the time to buy a new iPhone?
An Apple store in Tokyo's Shibuya Ward in September. Prices for the newest iPhone models start at around ¥100,000 ($700) in Japan.
Built in a flash, Osaka Expo pavilions wrestle with sustainability
Kengo Kuma & Associates oversaw the construction of the Malaysia pavilion, which is encased in interwoven rows of bamboo that appear to ripple.
Japan weighs using U.S. rice imports as tariff negotiation tool with Trump
A restaurant owner pours California-grown Calrose rice into a rice cooker at his restaurant in Tokyo

Podcast

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

Longform

A small shrine perched atop rocks braves the waves hitting the shoreline during a storm in Shimoda, Shizuoka Prefecture. The area is under threat of a possible 31-meter-high tsunami if an earthquake strikes the nearby Nankai Trough.
If the 'Big One' hits, this city could face a 31-meter-high tsunami
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones
Tsukuba massif granite, one of the world’s few heritage stones

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