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James Hadfield
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.
A professional single from Tokyo follows a deaf photographer to rural Hokkaido in Toshihiko Tanaka’s directorial debut, “Rei.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024
'Rei': An imperfect yet compelling directorial debut
Toshihiko Tanaka’s Rotterdam prizewinner is a flawed but oddly engrossing epic.
The dying words of a wounded man (Yang Ik-june, back) come back to haunt him when he fails to meet his maker on schedule in Nobuhiro Yamashita’s “Confession.”
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2024
‘Confession’ takes a stab at the dark side of getting it off your chest
The film’s South Korean actor Yang Ik-june brings the intensity needed to deliver a macabre B-movie that's a bloody good time for gore fans.
Andre Hayato Saito’s latest short, “Amarela,” centers on a 14-year-old Japanese Brazilian girl (Melissa Uehara).
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2024
Cannes nominee on being 'too Brazilian to be Japanese, too Japanese to be Brazilian’
Andre Hayato Saito's Palme d’Or-nominated short film, “Amarela,” is rooted in the director's own experiences with searching for a sense of belonging.
A trio of childhood friends (from left: Ryota Bando, Naoya Shimizu and Rion Takahashi) wonder about their future in Ryutaro Ninomiya’s “Wakamusha.”
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2024
‘Wakamusha’: An austere portrait of toxic masculinity
Ryutaro Ninomiya shows a deft touch in his uncomfortable drama about childhood friends struggling to find their place in the adult world.
Private detective Ryo Saeba (Ryohei Suzuki) goes beyond the call of duty to protect a client at a cosplay convention in “City Hunter.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 25, 2024
A star turn isn’t quite enough to make ‘City Hunter’ soar
Ryohei Suzuki is in peak form as a lecherous private detective in an otherwise middling Netflix live-action manga adaptation.
“Beyond the Fog” depicts the struggles of a family-run inn through the eyes of the proprietor’s 12-year-old daughter (Shuri Miyake, right, with Asami Mizukawa).
CULTURE / Film
Apr 18, 2024
‘Beyond the Fog’: Evocative mood piece leaves a dreamy impression
Daichi Murase’s understated drama about a dying community in rural Nara Prefecture benefits from Takeshi Dodo’s beautiful cinematography.
Kenkichi Senda, the 11th-generation studio master of the Kyoto "karakami" (decorative paper) manufacturer Karacho, reveals some of the patterns of the universe in “Ripples of Physis.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 11, 2024
‘Ripples of Physis’ marvels at patterns in nature
Ayako Mogi’s winding yet engrossing visual essay probes humanity’s urge to perceive order in the natural world.
Renegade director Koji Wakamatsu (Arata Iura, right) heads to Nagoya in the early 1980s to open his own cinema in “Hijacked Youth Dare to Stop Us 2.”
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2024
‘Hijacked Youth Dare to Stop Us 2’ captures origins of indie theater boom
Junji Inoue’s semi-autobiographical film is a love letter to independent cinemas — and their fans.
Described as “the world’s first cosmic opera,” Jeff Mills’ “The Trip: Enter the Black Hole” is a multimedia spectacle tied together by a concept that teeters on the brink between quantum physics and science fiction.
CULTURE / Music
Mar 29, 2024
Jeff Mills’ trippy techno odyssey comes to Tokyo
The influential techno artist's multimedia 'cosmic opera' features vocals by '80s avant-pop diva Jun Togawa.
Takeru Satoh (right) and Masami Nagasawa play an engaged couple whose relationship is put to the test by memories of an earlier romance in Tomokazu Yamada’s “April, Come She Will.”
CULTURE / Film
Mar 28, 2024
‘April, Come She Will’ promises more than it delivers
Tomokazu Yamada’s ruminative romantic drama sets out to interrogate love story cliches, but ends up succumbing to them.

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan — but do they work?