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August 26, 2025
 

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CULTURE

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A middle school student (Chiyuri Nishiguchi) tries to keep her family afloat following the sudden death of her mother in Yoshihiko Taniguchi’s “Happy Life.”
CULTURE / Film
‘Happy Life’ brings dignity to family’s struggle with grief and poverty
Yoshihiko Taniguchi’s film balances realism and compassion in its depiction of a family adrift after a sudden death.
CULTURE / Film
‘Seaside Serendipity’: A pastel-soaked reverie on youthful creativity
Satoko Yokohama’s film blends watercolor whimsy, bohemian houseguests and a school newspaper scoop gone too far into a youth-skewed summer tale.
CULTURE / Film
‘Fires on the Plain’: Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time
Now restored in 4K, Kon Ichikawa’s film is a far from simple survival story that stares into humanity’s darkest corners.
Sho Miyake receives the Pardo d'Oro, or Golden Leopard, prize at the award ceremony of the 78th Locarno Film Festival held in Locarno, southern Switzerland, on Saturday.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 17, 2025
Sho Miyake's 'Tabi to Hibi' wins top prize at Locarno Film Festival
This is the first Japanese movie to receive the award since 2007, when "Ai no Yokan" ("The Rebirth"), directed by Masahito Kobayashi, was given the prize.
Osaka Asian Film Festival, which will hold its 21st edition early to draw on Expo 2025 visitors, is set to open on Aug. 29 with a restoration of “Tracing to Expo ’70.” The Taiwanese film follows a Japan-raised Taiwanese woman whose search for her long-lost benefactor takes her to the 1970 Osaka Expo.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 15, 2025
Osaka Asian Film Festival gets an expo boost
By Matt Schley
In a rare double bill, the Osaka Asian Film Festival will stage a special summer edition to make the most out of interest in the ongoing world's fair.
Modeled on a real-life World World II figure, Yutaka Takenouchi plays the captain of a “lucky” Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer in “Yukikaze.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 14, 2025
‘Yukikaze’ turns fabled warship into floating snoozefest
By James Hadfield
The story of a “lucky” Imperial Japanese Navy destroyer that survived World War II is given a lightly fictionalized treatment in Toshihisa Yamada's first feature.
“ChaO” is a romantic comedy centered on a mild-mannered human and a mermaid princess. A spin on Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Little Mermaid,” the animated film takes place in a near-future Shanghai.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2025
Futuristic mermaid tale ‘ChaO’ makes a splash
By Matt Schley
Yasuhiro Aoki’s feature film debut reimagines “The Little Mermaid” in vibrant detail.
Three teenage student nurses (from left: Karin Ono, Asuka Kawatoko and Hinako Kikuchi) face the aftermath of the atomic bombing of their hometown in “Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 7, 2025
‘Nagasaki: In the Shadow of the Flash’ honors young nurses thrust into hellish nightmare
By Mark Schilling
Searing and based on true accounts, Jumpei Matsumoto’s drama follows teenage girls turned wartime caregivers as they navigate the unthinkable.
In “Stigmatized Properties: Possession,” Yahiro Kuwata (Shota Watanabe, left) is a steel worker from Fukuoka who moves to Tokyo to become a TV personality and ends up renting a haunted apartment.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2025
'Stigmatized Properties: Possession': Layered lead faces ghosts and show business
By Mark Schilling
In the sequel to his 2020 haunted apartments horror, Hideo Nakata creates goose-pimply moments of terror with common paranormal phenomena.
A pair of Japanese soldiers (Shinichi Tsutsumi, left, and Yuki Yamada, right) stay up a tree rather than standing down after the end of World War II in “Army on the Tree.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 31, 2025
'Army on the Tree': World War II film leans into absurdist theater
By James Hadfield
Among the films that commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II this year, Kazuhiro Taira’s film adapted from a play stands out for its lack of iffy politics.

Character-crazed Japan has little appetite for Labubu
A pop-up advertisement for the newly opened Chiikawa Park in Tokyo's Ikebukuro neighborhood demonstrates how the country is chockful of cute characters — to the detriment of trends like Labubu.
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
JICA to designate four Japanese cities as 'hometowns' for African nations
The Japanese flag (left) with the flag of the African Union
Man arrested in Kobe stabbing had been staying at hotel near victim’s home
Masashi Tanimoto arrested on suspicion of murder in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in Kobe, is sent to prosecutors on Sunday.
Tokyo releases AI-generated video of Mount Fuji erupting
A screenshot from an AI-generated video showing what could happen to Tokyo if Mount Fuji erupted
Are 'coolcations' the answer for Japan's heat-weary tourists?
Hikers on a trail in Hakuba, Nagano Prefecture. As extreme heat continues to grip Japan, a tectonic shift may be underway in the nation’s summer tourism scene as more people gravitate toward cooler destinations.
Germany's first sakemaker offers a bold brew of ideas
Reigen, Germany's first sake brewery, makes a diverse, nontraditional range of sake that includes fruit-flavored sips and wine barrel-aged renditions.
Alicia Keys closed Summer Sonic, but J-pop owned it
Summer Sonic’s 2025 lineup demonstrated its strength, showcasing the latest in J-pop, including “new kawaii” act Fruits Zipper.
Is the LDP’s catch-all approach to politics still effective?
Former economic security minister Sanae Takaichi visits Yasukuni Shrine in Tokyo on Aug. 15. Political commentator Toru Hashimoto has suggested that Takaichi ought to lead a group of like-minded hawkish politicians out of the Liberal Democratic Party and form their own party.
Fingers sore from too much phone time? You might have ‘sumaho yubi.’
A catch-all term for tendonitis and arthritis caused by excessive smartphone use, 'sumaho yubi' may be difficult to treat for gadget-crazy Japan.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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