Short Shorts 2019: Short on time, but never short on creativity
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, whose 21st edition takes place from May 29 to June 16 at venues around Tokyo, is one of the largest festivals of its type in Asia. And, starting this year, four winners of its competitions will be eligible ...
'Jesus': Our father, who art in the Japanese mountains
Christianity has never really taken hold in Japan, despite hundreds of years of proselytizing (with a long Edo Period interruption for persecution). In his novel, "Silence," Catholic author Shusaku Endo famously described the country as a "swamp" where the sapling of the Christian faith ...
'Farewell Song': Guitars without rock 'n' roll excess
Of all the many breeds of musician out there, few are as stubbornly uncinematic as acoustic singer-songwriters. Forget flamboyance, creative excess, clashing egos and all the other qualities that tend to attract filmmakers to the music industry in the first place. The average singer-songwriter ...
Despite being only 10 years old, actor Kokoro Terada is taking on tough topics
A heart-warming tale about an elderly woman's struggles with dementia as seen from the perspective of her young grandson, "Grandma is Okay" ("Baba wa, Daijobu") is the latest movie by Yokohama-born filmmaker Jacky Woo. Based on Akiko Kusunoki's picture book of the same name, it ...
'Only The Cat Knows': The dying days of a 50-year marriage
'Promare': A burning need for rage control
'Kakegurui': A high-stakes high school battle
'Cheer Boys!!': Cheerleading, but not much to cheer for
TikTok sets its sights on the music industry
The jazz cafe offering sounds of the 1960s in a Shinjuku basement
For many Tokyoites, Shinjuku is inextricably linked with the 1960s and '70s and with jazz. "There used to be jazz kissa (cafes) everywhere," says Dug cafe owner and jazz photographer Hozumi Nakadaira. During these decades, the district came to be known as a Mecca ...
The Abjects: London-based, but internationally minded
Embracing the Japan of the past through music with Meitei
Scavenging for samples from the '70s and '80s with Night Tempo
Heisei offered a number of lessons J-pop artists should learn from going into the Reiwa Era
The Outcasts: Forty years after their debut, Japan finally beckons
'Pacific Breeze' collates the slick sound of Japanese city pop
'Information or Inspiration?': The paths of perception
A review of "Information or Inspiration?" at the Suntory Museum of Art almost needs a spoiler alert — it includes many surprises that make it more than a showcase of glassware, lacquerware, enamel, ceramic and calligraphy works: It's an immersive, thought-provoking experience.
'Abstraction: Aspects of Contemporary Art'
'Kumi Sugai: The Eternal Challenger'
Kanjiro Kawai: Pots of incredible talent
'Aguri Uchida: Incarnated Painting as Inselberg'
It's Shakespeare's 'Hamlet,' but not as you know it
With praise for his "Hamlet" with the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2016 still ringing in his ears — and the plum job of artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington D.C. awaiting him in August — Simon Godwin is an undoubted darling ...
Cruise line Royal Caribbean rivals Broadway, West End with 134 shows and 50 theaters
Absurdist comedy 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' gets its Japan debut
The Tokyo Ballet's 'Swan Lake' gives fans a fresh take on a classic and an uplifting ending
Transforming the traditional world of kabuki with Kinoshita-Kabuki
Creating opportunities for 'inclusive dance' with Stopgap Dance Company
Hikaru Uzawa blends old and new to add vitality to the world of noh
With Brad Pitt and Leo DiCaprio, Quentin Tarantino debuts a fairy tale in Cannes
Twenty-five years after premiering "Pulp Fiction" in Cannes, Quentin Tarantino returned to the French film festival with neither great vengeance nor furious anger but a gentler fairy tale about 1960s Los Angeles. "Once Upon a Time In ... Hollywood" made its much-anticipated debut Tuesday in ...
'Game of Thrones' scores record TV audience, leaves fans sad and mad
Alain Delon, set for Cannes honor, says that at least as an actor, he is 'irreproachable'
Julianne Moore says personal experiences spurred her to back AIDS ward documentary '5B'
Netherlands wins Eurovision as Madonna dancers spark flag controversy
Arnold Schwarzenegger assaulted during event in South Africa
Blame game: Fans lament rushed final 'Game of Thrones' season
'Cutting Back': The collected wisdom of an aesthetic pruner
Breezy, frequently humorous and self-scolding, Leslie Buck's "Cutting Back: My Apprenticeship in the Gardens of Kyoto" is a poignant look at the storied Japanese world of professional gardening.
'The Art of the Japanese Garden': Green-fingered insight into Japanese garden spaces
'The Diving Pool': Three psychologically subversive novellas
'Trails': Blood spatters across an empty field of snow
'Much Ado About Nothingness': Exploring the diverse philosophies of the Kyoto School — review
Tomoko Keira's 'The Spirit of Huci': A year of living with an Ainu elder — review
'The Forest of Wool and Steel': Music and nature intertwine to paint a portrait of growth — review
'Terrace House' returns to Tokyo
Netflix is ramping up its production of original Japanese content, including anime and live-action dramas, to please both domestic and overseas subscribers. But arguably its most important export is "Terrace House," the reality show that films three men and three women living together under ...
Japan's Netflix contender bets on youth-driven viral hits
Life after 'The Bachelor Japan': The one who got away
Hit Netflix reboot 'Queer Eye' setting its sights on Japan in new episodes
Anime Feminist: Tackling anime's gender bias
Marie Kondo's new TV series cleans up
TV in 2018: Progressive voices and the enduring charm of ‘Terrace House’
