Marie Kondo's new TV series cleans up
Marie Kondo is the type of person you wouldn't initially expect lots of people to go crazy over. In the cleaning consultant and best-selling author's new Netflix show, "Tidying Up ...
TV in 2018: Progressive voices and the enduring charm of ‘Terrace House’
In the English-speaking world, Japanese TV in 2018 was celebrated for how boring it could get. But it was anything but domestically, where viewers questioned norms and helped nudge forward ...
Anime in 2018 saw serious cash but no surprise hits
What do a 24-year-old child detective, a group of seriously laid-back campers and anthropomorphic blood cells have in common? 2018, that's what. "Anime is a medium, not a genre" is a ...
A blond Swedish landscape artist flexes for NHK — remember his name ... Tatsumasa Murasame
Who's that hunk of blond beefcake crunching his abs on NHK's workout program "Minna de Kinniku Taiso"? When the five-minute nightly exercise show launched for a four-episode run this August and attracted a huge cult following, social media users wanted to know the answer. Tatsumasa Murasame ...
Twitter speaks: That joke isn't funny anymore
An Aug. 16 episode of Tokyo MX's variety show "Hirukyun!" found comedian Ken Horiuchi (better known as Horiken) joining the hosts in the studio. Over the course of his stay, he launched the other TV talent and stage hands into a wall of cardboard ...
Anpanman: Is the children's superhero the best thing since sliced bread?
Illustrator Takashi Yanase's beaming cartoon character celebrates the 30th anniversary of 'Soreike! Anpanman' on Nippon TV.
The small screen needs the small mercies of 'Terrace House'
Television has long been my connection to home. White Walkers ushering in an apocalyptic winter, Cold War sleeper agents going rogue, robots running amok in an Old West theme park — all of these have but a passing resemblance to my former life in ...
Rainy season is a great time to binge-watch anime
The anime season that began in April is winding down, meaning that those who prefer to wait and ingest their anime in one flat-out, high-speed burn are starting to look around for series to binge. This season saw several classic franchises get a high-tech makeover, ...
'The Bachelor Japan' promises more drama in its second season
At the end of the first season of the reality dating series "The Bachelor Japan," eligible bachelor Hirotake Kubo walked away with a beautiful new fiancee, an experience of a lifetime and a nation of supportive fans. Where does he stand now? Well, two outta ...
Yuko Takeuchi steps into an iconic role on 'Miss Sherlock' with elementary ease
Guinness World Records announced in 2012 that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was the most portrayed character on film and TV, depicted 254 times by more than 75 different actors. While familiar with the original, Japanese audiences also know the detective via an anime ...
Yuki Kimura may have struck out on 'The Bachelor Japan,' but she won the people's rose
On the first episode of the reality dating series "The Bachelor Japan," 25 women took turns stepping out of a limousine, walking down a red carpet and introducing themselves to their potential future husband. The women timidly approached the bachelor, Hirotake Kubo, 35, in long ...
'Ainori' teaches lessons in love ... and soft power
Netflix Japan's reboot of the reality show "Ainori" features plenty of drama — most of it interpersonal, but some geopolitical. The streaming-era version of the show, a joint effort between Fuji TV and Netflix, debuted last fall. Like the original incarnation that ran from 1999 ...
