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October 09, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
“Super Happy Forever” tells the story of a couple (Hiroki Sano, left, and Nairu Yamamoto) who met at a seaside hotel.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 3, 2024
‘Super Happy Forever’: Melancholy romance makes most of fleeting happiness
Kohei Igarashi’s nonlinear romantic drama is an understated but emotionally resonant tale of love and loss.
A husband and wife living in domestic bliss — in space — are not quite as perfect as they seem in “Previously Saved Version.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 26, 2024
‘Previously Saved Version’: An intriguing premise gets lost in space
Kei Ishikawa’s psychodrama about an affluent couple that has left a supposedly uninhabitable Earth is attractive to look at but never more than mildly engaging.
Comedian Yuriyan Retriever takes on the role of Japan’s most hated heel, Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, in “The Queen of Villains.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 20, 2024
Yuriyan Retriever is Japan's biggest heel — and proud of it
The comedian takes on the role of Kaoru “Dump” Matsumoto, a real-life rule-breaking brawler in women’s professional wrestling, in Netflix's “The Queen of Villains.”
Ryo Yoshizawa plays a young man with deaf parents in Mipo O’s decade-spanning drama, “Living in Two Worlds.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2024
‘Living in Two Worlds’ raises the bar for depictions of deafness
Mipo O’s film about a child of deaf adults is best when it doesn’t try to educate viewers.
Masami Nagasawa looks fabulous in a range of outfits as the eponymous protagonist of “All About Suomi.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 12, 2024
‘All About Suomi’: The leading lady shines, but the film lacks sparkle
Masami Nagasawa’s performance as a woman whose true self is hard to pin down elevates an otherwise middling Koki Mitani comedy.
A young woman visiting a rural backwater from Tokyo (An Ogawa) finds an unlikely playmate in Tatsunari Ota’s “There Is a Stone.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 5, 2024
‘There Is a Stone’ finds beauty in the inconsequential
While very little happens, Tatsunari Ota’s slow-moving debut feature offers stirring moments of simplicity.
Full-time homemaker Momoko (Noriko Eguchi, left, with Kotaro Koizumi) finds her world falling apart in Yukihiro Morigaki’s “Rude to Love.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2024
‘Rude to Love’ gives Noriko Eguchi her tour de force moment
The perennially underused actress gives a bravura performance as a woman on the verge of a nervous breakdown in Yukihiro Morigaki's drama.
Masahiro Nimura’s “Mommy” features interviews with family members of Masumi Hayashi (right), who was convicted of killing four people and poisoning over 60 others with arsenic-laced curry.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2024
‘Mommy’: A flawed but fascinating dive into a notorious murder case
Masahiro Nimura’s documentary raises reasonable doubts about a crime that gripped the nation over 20 years ago.
Hakushi Hasegawa places their emotive vocals and dexterous keyboard work at the center of the music on their latest album, “Mahogakko” – reminding listeners that there’s a very human presence at the controls.
CULTURE / Music
Aug 2, 2024
Electronic wiz Hakushi Hasegawa pulls back the curtain
The musician's latest album, “Mahogakko,” strikes a delicate balance between the dazzling and the downright baffling.
Takashi Yuki (left) directs and stars in “Dito” as an aging boxer living in Manila who is reunited with his 17-year-old daughter (Momoko Tanabe, right).
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2024
‘Dito’ aims for authenticity rather than originality
Takashi Yuki’s Philippines-set boxing drama can be corny and it tends to telegraph its punches, but there’s also no denying its charms.
American musician and visual artist Kim Gordon released her second solo album, “The Collective,” earlier this year, and it’s a bona fide banger.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 25, 2024
Ahead of her Fuji Rock set, Kim Gordon weighs in on punk and U.S. politics
The former Sonic Youth bassist, guitarist and vocalist is in Japan for the first time in over 10 years to promote her latest album, "The Collective."
A nefarious fraudster (Etsushi Toyokawa, left) and his protege (Go Ayano) engineer a multibillion-yen property scam in Netflix’s “Tokyo Swindlers.”
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 25, 2024
Netflix’s ‘Tokyo Swindlers’ is this summer’s guiltiest pleasure
The flashy new series about real estate scammers is a ridiculous treat to watch.
Illustrious historical figures swoop in to save Japan amid the COVID-19 pandemic in “What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2024
‘What If Shogun Ieyasu Tokugawa Was to Become the Prime Minister’: A historical dream team underperforms
Esteemed figures from Japan’s past are digitally reincarnated to lead the country through a time of crisis in Hideki Takeuchi’s flat-footed comedy.
After losing her family to a plane accident, Suzie (played by Rashida Jones) receives a posthumous gift from her husband in the form of a robot named Sunny (voiced by Joanna Sotomura).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jul 5, 2024
Rashida Jones uncovers an AI-fueled mystery in the AppleTV+ series 'Sunny'
Set in Kyoto, the story about a woman dealing with grief and an unexpected robot companion is a departure from the actor's comedic repertoire.
Comedian Daisuke Muramoto has been shunned by the Japanese media for taking his act into political territory. Filmmaker Fumiari Hyuga traces his post-pandemic search for a place in show business in "I Am a Comedian."
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2024
‘I Am a Comedian’: A documentary following Daisuke Muramoto’s rocky comedy journey
Documentarian Fumiari Hyuga captures the story of an uncouth Japanese comedian’s efforts to say what can’t be said.
Yuta Orisaka strips things back on his latest album, “Jumon,” though it still features a few explosive moments.
CULTURE / Music
Jun 28, 2024
Yuta Orisaka's folk style is far more than a throwback
The singer-songwriter wanted to make songs his grandmother could enjoy, but that doesn't mean he'll skimp on the electronic touches.
A pianist undergoing a crisis of confidence (Taiga Kyomoto, right) falls in love with a mysterious fellow student (Kotone Furukawa) in Hayato Kawai’s “Secret: A Hidden Score.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 20, 2024
‘Secret: A Hidden Score:’ A romantic fantasia played far too straight
Japanese remake of Jay Chou’s 2007 hit love story is tighter, tidier and less fun.
Harmony Korine (center-left, in orange) DJs a set with his EDGLRD crew at a Tokyo event promoting his film, “Aggro Dr1ft,” at WWW X on June 6.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 14, 2024
Harmony Korine wants us to dream movies, and he’s working on a ‘pill’ for that
Korine and his collaborators came to Tokyo to screen his new film "Aggro Dr1ft," his first visit to Japan in 17 years.
A bereaved parent (Anne Watanabe, right) takes in an abused child with memory loss (Toma Nakasu) and convinces him that she’s his real mother in Kosai Sekine’s “Stay Mum.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2024
‘Stay Mum’: A tale of deception that doesn’t add up
A bereaved parent takes in an abused child with memory loss and convinces him that she’s his real mother.
Yumi Kawai delivers an impressive lead performance as a young drug addict trying to get her life back on track in Yu Irie’s “A Girl Named Ann.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2024
‘A Girl Named Ann’: A powerful drama loses its way
The lead actor sinks deep into her role, performing without a hint of vanity or the actorly tics.
New Cabinet photo on government website had minor edits, Hayashi admits
An Oct. 1 picture of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba and his Cabinet posted on the website of the Prime Minister's Office (right) appears slightly different from one taken by a media agency (left). Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi admitted on Monday that the photo underwent minor digital edits before being uploaded to the government website.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Experts move to allay replicon COVID shot fears in Japan amid backlash
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Tokyo on Oct. 1. Experts say fears over the newly approved replicon vaccine are unwarranted.
Ishiba's 'Asian NATO' dead on arrival as new PM set for diplomatic debut
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has floated an idea of creating an Asian version of the NATO security framework.
Hedge funds warming to yen caught out by biggest drop in 15 years
Speculative investors flipped to a net long position on the yen just before Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said the nation wasn’t ready for further interest rate hikes, data shows.
Japan pushes fossil fuel tech in Asia carbon neutrality initiative
Coal-fired power plants in Bataan, the Philippines, in June 2023. A third of the 158 agreements signed under the Japan-led Asia Zero Emission Community are linked to fossil fuel technologies, a recent study by a climate research group has found.
The forgotten Japanese naturalist who created a U.S. national park
Without Japanese outdoorsman George Masa, America might not have the Great Smoky Mountains National Park — so why do so many people in Japan not know he existed?
Experts move to allay replicon COVID shot fears in Japan amid backlash
A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine in Tokyo on Oct. 1. Experts say fears over the newly approved replicon vaccine are unwarranted.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Important tool or alarmism? Japan experts split on megaquake advisories.
A damaged road in Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, on Jan. 6, after a major earthquake struck the area on New Year's Day

Podcast

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

Longform

Dul Saroth (left) and Soeum Samrach, deminers with the Cambodian Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority, practice using the Advanced Landmine Imaging System in Cambodia’s Siem Reap province in August.
The Japanese tech that could one day make Southeast Asia landmine-free
By Anton L. Delgado

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The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono
The celebrated artist ‘updating’ the kimono

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