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May 04, 2024
 

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James Hadfield
For James Hadfield's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 18, 2022
‘Sabakan’: A whimsical throwback to the halcyon days of childhood
Director Tomoki Kanazawa revisits his own boyhood growing up in Nagasaki Prefecture with a light and sentimental drama about two youngsters finding friendship during a summer road trip.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 11, 2022
‘Tang’: The future is bright, bland and low on surprises
Kazunari Ninomiya and his CGI co-star are full of pep, but Takahiro Miki's “Tang” is not.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 4, 2022
‘Torao’: A striking foray into true crime
Fact and fiction blur but justice remains elusive in Kazuya Murayama's debut feature, centering on an unsolved murder and the real-life detective who worked the case.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 28, 2022
‘Yokaipedia’: Fantasy flick takes a page out of ‘Harry Potter’
Takashi Yamazaki's supernatural adventure film will cast a spell on younger viewers, but parents should find it entertaining, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 21, 2022
‘Dawning on Us’: Kenji Yamauchi’s pandemic drama contains some home truths
Kenji Yamauchi's drama about a family on the verge of a nervous breakdown in the wake of the pandemic hits a few snags but also offers wry observations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 7, 2022
‘Believers’ is explicit but has nothing to say
Hideo Jojo's cult caper is a kinky, flimsy throwback to the turn of the millennium when the Japanese public was still reeling from attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 30, 2022
‘Kami wa Mikaeri o Motomeru’: YouTuber drama leaves a nasty aftertaste
Director Keisuke Yoshida wades into morally gray territory in his film about a middle-aged man with a vendetta against an aspiring influencer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2022
‘Plan 75’: A chilling look at a callous future society
Chie Hayakawa's haunting dystopian drama about a government-sponsored euthanasia program to address Japan's aging society almost hits too close for comfort.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2022
‘Soup and Ideology’: A touching family portrait that feeds the soul
Director Yang Yonghi comes to terms with her mother's past trauma and animosity toward South Korea in the moving final chapter of her documentary trilogy on familial ties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2022
'Tokyo Side A': Making sense of the 'pandemic Olympics'
Official Olympics documentaries can be as triumphant as a gold-medal performance or they can end up in infamy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 26, 2022
'Inu-Oh’: A rock musical that won't be headlining anytime soon
While 'Inu-Oh' contains good insights into how folk traditions are born, the visuals and music could've benefited from more variety.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 12, 2022
‘Drive Into Night’: Middle age doldrums take a turn toward the bizarre
Dai Sako's offbeat drama involving a corpse in a car trunk is a wild ride to remember, even if its characters' memories and morals are suspect.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 6, 2022
Emma Kawawada's humane portrayal of the Kurdish diaspora
'My Small Land,' which centers on young girl and her family seeking asylum in Japan, is based on extensive interviews that the director conducted over the space of nearly two years.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 28, 2022
‘Bubble’: A thin plot brings down exciting visuals
Tetsuro Araki's film about teenage parkour practitioners living in a post-apocalyptic Tokyo has some exhilarating action sequences, but its jumble of genre elements falls flat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 21, 2022
‘Tsuyukusa’: A charming second shot at love and life
Satomi Kobayashi gives an endearing performance as a single woman whose life takes an unexpected turn after a close call with a meteorite.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2022
‘Tombi: Father and Son’: Showa nostalgia misses the mark
Takahisa Zeze's decades-spanning family drama is sentimental and unintentionally silly.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 8, 2022
'Tokyo Vice' steps into the capital's criminal underworld
Ken Watanabe and Hideaki Ito star alongside Ansel Elgort in the cross-cultural series that brings to life an American reporter's memoir about investigating Japan's yakuza in the 1990s.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2022
‘One Day, You Will Reach the Sea’: A haunting ode to those who couldn’t say goodbye
Yukino Kishii gives a controlled performance as a woman struggling to deal with the disappearance of a former friend in Ryutaro Nakagawa's drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 25, 2022
How well do you know Japan's Oscar history?
Ryusuke Hamaguchi's “Drive My Car” is nominated in four categories at the 94th Academy Awards, but win or lose, the film joins an exclusive club for cinematic greats.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Mar 18, 2022
Eiko Ishibashi’s score sets the scene in Oscar-contender ‘Drive My Car’
The composer and musician's body of work spans from abstract art pop to experimental electronics, with her love for cinema serving as a major source of inspiration.
Biden calls ally Japan ‘xenophobic’ along with rivals China and Russia
U.S. President Joe Biden speaks in Syracuse, New York, on April 25.
Yen swings stir talk that Japan is in the FX market once again
An electronic screen in Tokyo displays the yen exchange rate against the U.S. dollar and the graph showing its recent swings, on Thursday.
Harajuku strives to reclaim its former glory — and surpass it
Laforet Harajuku, which celebrated its 45th anniversary last year, has been a witness to the district's evolution over the years.
Weak yen fattens tourist wallets in Japan
People visit the Ameya Yokocho market in Tokyo's Ueno district during the Golden Week holiday on Tuesday.
Japan's May 1 intervention may have cost ¥3.66 trillion, BOJ data suggests
An electronic screen displays a graph showing Japanese yen exchange rates surging against the dollar amid signs of intervention by authorities, in Tokyo on Thursday.
Kishida sets sights on energy and climate in South America trip
Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will use a policy speech in Sao Paulo to set out his vision for ties between Japan and South America, almost 10 years after former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe advocated for stronger ties between the two in the same city.
Yellow sand allergy: A health issue made worse by climate change
A screenshot of the Meteorological Agency's satellite image of clouds and yellow sand (in pink) on Sunday.
Climate change, chalky grains and the risks for Japan’s rice farmers
A farmer plants seedlings in Satsumasendai, Kagoshima Prefecture. Japan’s self sufficiency rate for rice is nearly 100%, compared with 38% for food overall, on a calorie basis.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

Longform

Rows of irises resemble a rice field at the Peter Walker-designed Toyota Municipal Museum of Art.
The 'outsiders' creating some of Japan's greenest spaces
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