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October 10, 2025
 

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CULTURE

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Masami Nagasawa plays the talented but circumscribed offspring of a famed ukiyo-e artist in “Hokusai’s Daughter.”
CULTURE / Film
‘Hokusai’s Daughter’ captures the ferocity of a forgotten painter
Masami Nagasawa delivers one of her most compelling performances yet in Tatsushi Omori’s historical biopic.
CULTURE / Film
‘Flame Union’: Hitman returns with fighting finesse and comic firepower
Yugo Sakamoto steps back from bullets and banter for a sharper, funnier kind of action in his latest film.
CULTURE / Film
Japanese films win crowds but few prizes at Busan festival
From art house cinema to commercial hits, 24 films showcased Japan’s range at the 30th edition of the Busan International Film Festival.
Director Park Chan-wook and the cast of his latest film “No Other Choice” attended the Busan International Film Festival’s glittering opening ceremony where the film’s lead actor, Lee Byung-hun, served as host.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 2, 2025
Revamped Busan film festival turns 30 with expanded cinematic showcase
By Philip Brasor
Since its inception, BIFF has been a launchpad for Asian cinema. This year, it grew bigger and brighter with a new Competition section, 90 world premieres and high-profile guests.
An elderly inmate (voiced by Kaoru Kobayashi in the present and Junki Tozuka in flashback) confides in a potted balsam flower (voiced by Pierre Taki) about the decisions that led him to prison in "The Last Blossom."
CULTURE / Film
Oct 2, 2025
Pieces fall perfectly into place in the reflective ‘The Last Blossom’
By Matt Schley
Reflective and heartfelt, Baku Kinoshita’s animated feature tells a story of second chances without being overly sentimental.
A young man (Kodai Kurosaki) has a tense reunion with his estranged father in “Brand New Landscape.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 2, 2025
‘Brand New Landscape’ captures family dysfunction in a shimmering city
By Mark Schilling
In director Yuiga Danzuka’s first feature, Tokyo gleams with promise — but loneliness lingers in every corner.
Suzu Hirose (left), Satoshi Tsumabuki (center) and Masataka Kubota (right) play childhood friends caught up in the simmering tensions of postwar Okinawa in Keisuke Otomo’s “Hero’s Island.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 25, 2025
‘Hero’s Island’: Okinawa-set epic is lavishly realized but lacks bite
By James Hadfield
Keisuke Otomo recreates postwar turmoil in rich detail that is sometimes more vivid than the characters themselves.
An anthropomorphic frog (voiced by Non) and a banker turned parking lot attendant (Koichi Sato) team up on a mission in "After the Quake."
CULTURE / Film
Sep 25, 2025
The familiar is made surreal in ‘After the Quake’
By Mark Schilling
Tsuyoshi Inoue’s feature reworks NHK’s four-part Haruki Murakami drama adaptation, evoking the dreamlike atmosphere of the author’s works.
Filmmakers Chloe Zhao and Lee Sang-il will receive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers who have “left their marks in cinema and will be entrusted with the film industry's future,” at this year's edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 24, 2025
Tokyo film festival to open with Everest and close with some Shakespeare
By Alyssa I. Smith
Japan’s main movie event kicks off Oct. 27 with the true story of the first woman to summit Mount Everest. It closes Nov. 5 with Chloe Zhao’s "Hamnet."
The process of making “Baan” was personal and enlightening for Maneetapho, who spent years talking about anime on his YouTube channel and podcast before making the jump to becoming an anime creator himself.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2025
YouTuber Gigguk shifts from talking anime to making anime
By Patrick St. Michel
Garnt Maneetapho, who runs the YouTube channel Gigguk, makes the jump from critic to creator with his short film “Baan — The Boundary of Adulthood.”

Typhoon Halong to cause windstorms, heavy rain and high waves on the Izu islands
Typhoon Halong is moving north near the Izu Islands, with strong winds, high waves and heavy rain expected as it passes early on Thursday, prompting warnings from the weather agency.
Japan to move toward five-year integrated bachelor's-master’s programs
Japan plans to introduce nationwide five-year bachelor's-master's programs to raise graduate school enrollment and train more highly skilled professionals amid a shrinking workforce.
Chemistry Nobel winner Kitagawa says downtime helped him think up new material
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.
After 26 years, Komeito may be showing signs it will break with LDP
Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito (left) and LDP counterpart Sanae Takaichi meet in Tokyo on Tuesday.
LDP and Komeito's shaky ties throw doubt on Takaichi becoming prime minister
Komeito head Tetsuo Saito and the party's executives (left) meet with the LDP's Sanae Takaichi and counterparts in Tokyo on Tuesday.
A Japanese comedian walks into an Aussie bar … and stays there
Takashi “Waka” Wakasugi stopped by the Tokyo Comedy Bar in Shibuya Ward last month following his stint at Edinburgh Festival Fringe performing his show “Comedy Samurai.”
Chemistry Nobel winner Kitagawa says downtime helped him think up new material
Susumu Kitagawa speaks to reporters at Kyoto University on Wednesday after receiving the news that he had been awarded the Nobel Prize in chemistry the same day.
University of Tokyo lands its highest spot ever in global higher education ranking
The University of Tokyo in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward
Tokyo named world’s best big city for second straight year
Tokyo was ranked the world's best large city for the second year in a row in the Conde Nast Traveler's 2025 Readers' Choice Awards.
With nuclear sub proposal, Japan faces array of political and tech challenges
The Jingei, the third of the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Taigei-class submarines, was commissioned in March last year. It is equipped with lithium-ion batteries, enabling it to have a longer diving time and cruising distance than older models with lead-acid batteries.

Podcast

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

Longform

Growing families are being priced out of Tokyo’s condo market, forced to choose between downtown convenience and suburban space.
Is living in central Tokyo still affordable?
By Alex K.T. Martin

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Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo
Foreign wrestlers have a long history in sumo

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