author

 
Menu
Search
 
April 25, 2025
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

Meta

Mark Schilling
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2023
‘Do Unto Others’ makes an unconvincing case for euthanasia
Part whodunit, part tearjerker, Tetsu Maeda’s film frames its protagonist as a noble caregiver in favor of dispatching the elderly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 9, 2023
‘December’: Powerful courtroom drama serves up shades of gray
Anshul Chauhan shifts toward the mainstream with his third feature and delivers skilled storytelling while tackling universal themes centered on a domestic dilemma.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 2, 2023
‘In Her Room’: An unsettling journey of self-discovery
Director Chihiro Ito's captivating dreamscapes are eerie and mysterious in her slow-burning relationship drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 23, 2023
‘Red Shoes’: Boxing tearjerker makes for a lightweight entry
Toshiro Saiga’s drama geared toward a mainstream audience tugs at the heartstrings but doesn’t deliver an emotional punch in the way of Sho Miyake’s “Small, Slow but Steady.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 16, 2023
'Yudo': A heartwarming ode to a good, old-fashioned soak
Masayuki Suzuki’s film pays tribute to the neighborhood public bath with a rush of nostalgia and feel-good laughs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 9, 2023
‘Egoist’: Layered LGBTQ drama offers bittersweet romance
Through Daishi Matsunaga's intimate direction, Ryohei Suzuki delivers a committed performance as a gay magazine editor who falls in love with his financially struggling personal trainer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 2, 2023
'Baian the Assassin M.D.': Lead actor brings gravitas to killer role
While Etsushi Toyokawa portrays the film's murderous hero with nuance and depth, the period drama's storyline creaks with age.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 27, 2023
Japanese films set to dominate cinemas in 2023
Toei looks to challenge Toho's box-office supremacy with blockbuster hopefuls, while anime maestro Hayao Miyazaki and film auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda are set to unveil new features this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 26, 2023
‘The Legend & Butterfly’: A political romance gets a fresh spin
Haruka Ayase dominates the screen as the wife of Oda Nobunaga in a heavily fictionalized telling of the couple's relationship amid the warlord's quest to unify Japan.
Japan Times
Film / Reviews
Jan 19, 2023
‘Natchan's Little Secret': Outdated comedy runs out of gas
Yasujiro Tanaka’s comedy about three drag queens who hit the road for a friend’s funeral feels like a throwback to old-school TV shows with over-the-top portrayals of gay characters.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 12, 2023
‘Trapped Balloon’: Grief-stricken characters rise above cliched plot
Though the storyline offers few surprises, Toko Miura and Masahiro Higashide give layered and raw performances as two islanders grappling with loss in Hiroyuki Miyagawa's drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 5, 2023
‘We Make Antiques! Osaka Dreams’: Con-men hijinks bring on laughs
The third installment in the “We Make Antiques!” series may not steal many new hearts, but Kiichi Nakai and Kuranosuke Sasaki provide enough laughs to keep the capers going.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 22, 2022
‘I Am What I Am’: Knights in shining armor need not apply
Toko Miura takes on her first starring role in Shinya Tamada's drama that pushes back on rom-com conventions and focuses on a woman who seeks out independence rather than a romantic partner.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / 2022 in Review
Dec 16, 2022
Marginalized voices in film spoke louder in 2022
While Ryusuke Hamaguchi's 'Drive My Car' and Chie Hayakawa's 'Plan 75' received wide acclaim at home and abroad, the Japanese film industry took stock of a sobering reality.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 15, 2022
‘Small, Slow but Steady’: An exploration of human fragility
The focus of Sho Miyake's drama is less on blood-flecked pugilism and more on outside-the-ring drama, including the protagonist's struggle with her own reasons for fighting.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 8, 2022
‘Dr. Coto's Clinic 2022’: Heartwarming drama offers predictable prognosis
Much of the original cast from Fuji TV's 2003 drama “Dr. Koto's Clinic” return for this feature film about the highs and lows of life as an island physician.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 1, 2022
‘Phases of the Moon’: A thoughtful yet unconvincing tale of rebirth
Ryuichi Hiroki's melodrama about reincarnation adeptly navigates multiple timelines with a sensitive touch while revealing unspoken Japanese beliefs.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 25, 2022
Kah Wai Lim's ode to Japanese mini-theaters gets meta
The director's new film, 'Your Lovely Smile,' is a love letter to indie cinema that doubles as a plea for help to keep struggling theaters open.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 24, 2022
‘She Is Me, I Am Her’: A masterful portrayal of pandemic life
Actor Nahana delivers powerful performances as four different characters in Mayu Nakamura's omnibus film about the loneliness of the pandemic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 17, 2022
‘A Man’: A searing study of Japan’s prejudices
Kei Ishikawa's piercing drama unravels the mystery of a man's decisions to leave his past behind while laying out society's intolerance of “outsiders.”
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.
Japan must correct Trump’s false data for trade talks, says Kono
Former Foreign Minister Taro Kono
Japan wants to 'separate' tariff and security issues. That may be tough.
Japan’s chief tariff negotiator, Ryosei Akazawa, poses with a "Make America Great Again" cap at the White House in Washington on April 16.
Social media helps fuel growing 'sex tourism' in Japan
People walk down a street in the red-light entertainment area of Kabukicho in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo on March 31.
Japan set to fine cyclists on the spot for rule violations from 2026
Under new rules, those who use smartphones while riding a bicycle would be subject to the maximum fine of ¥12,000.
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
Is Japan’s parliament ready to welcome more youth to its ranks?
Lower House lawmaker Kai Odake in his Tokyo office on Wednesday
Crow meat, goat tartare: Mauvaise Herbe raises its game
Crow meat, shaped into a ball and attached to a foot of the bird, is one of the peculiar offerings of game at Mauvaise Herbe.

Podcast

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

Longform

Visitors walk past Sou Fujimoto's Grand Ring, which has been recognized as the largest wooden structure in the world.
Can a World Expo still matter? Japan is about to find out.
By Tomoko Otake

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after
Smile! It’s ‘Sanrio Time,’ now and ever after

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER