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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2014

Searching for hidden meaning in a Kubrick classic

I'm old enough — barely — to have seen Stanley Kubrick's horror masterpiece "The Shining" when it opened in the theaters back in 1980. My strongest memory of this tale of writer's block meets cabin-fever insanity is that my girlfriend's drink wound up in my lap the first time the twins appeared....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2012

'3/11 made Japanese treasure the simple and normal things in life'

The notion of a crowd-funded film — whose production is financed by money solicited from potential fans online — has begun to gain a bit of traction, but when it comes to crowd-sourced films, Ridley Scott and his production company Scott Free seem to be one step ahead of everyone else. Their 2011...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2009

Funereal flick out to reap Japan an Oscar

The Japanese film industry now turns out about 400 titles annually, but in a given decade only a few Japanese filmmakers win major international awards — including the biggest of all: the Oscars.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2008

'Gake no Ue no Ponyo'

Hayao Mizayaki is the reigning giant of Japanese animation — and the Japanese box office. Since "Majo no Takkyubin (Kiki's Delivery Service)" in 1989, every Miyazaki film has been a smash hit, drawing the widest possible audience. In 2001, his coming-of-age fantasy "Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi (Spirited...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Oct 18, 2007

A film director in the theater

Daisuke Tengan is an acclaimed filmmaker, but search for him on the Internet and the first thing you'll discover is that he's the son of director Shohei Imamura, who won the Palme d' Or at the Cannes Film Festival for "Narayamabushiko" in 1983 and "Unagi" in 1997.
Japan Times
Events / Events Outside Tokyo
Aug 25, 2006

Best in animation at Hiroshima fest

The 11th International Animation Festival runs through Aug. 28 at Aster Plaza in Hiroshima. The biannual festival began in 1985 and regularly features the best in animation from around the world. Several films will be screened in English or with English subtitles, including the Swedish cut-up animation...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 4, 2003

Video shorts become cafe fare

OSAKA -- The 20-odd people sipping coffee and tea in a shop in Chuo Ward here haven't come in just for the beverages. They also want to see free short videos made primarily by amateur filmmakers such as high school students and citizens' groups.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 12, 2014

Ecotherapy Getaway Holiday: Finding feminism on the way to a waterfall

Doesn't every kid imagine being lost in the woods?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 28, 2013

'Compliance'

Of all the films you'll see this year, "Compliance" has, for sure, the most unbelievable plot of them all. The little tagline at the beginning saying "inspired by true events" hasn't stopped people from taking outrage at director Craig Zobel's supposed exaggerations, with "Nobody could possibly be that...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2022

‘Intimate Stranger’ is a psychological thriller for the pandemic age

Director Mayu Nakamura's background in documentary filmmaking played a part in making the feature, which explores the depths of desperation.
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Longform
Jun 7, 2021

Change of direction: Opting for a midlife career change

The pandemic's impact on people's lives has caused many to rethink not only work goals and priorities, but also how work affects their quality of life.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 18, 2020

‘His Bad Blood’: Bad behavior bends but can’t break family bonds

Koichiro Oyama's film dabbles in Christian ideas of sin and forgiveness to explore a parent-child relationship strained by the father's tainted legacy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 15, 2020

Aoi Okuyama: From Hokkaido to the mean streets of London

Japanese actor Aoi Okuyama makes her debut in BBC-Netflix yakuza series 'Giri/Haji,' earning acclaim from the British media.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jul 3, 2018

Gordon Matta-Clark: Out of the rubble

It's New York in the 1970s. The optimism of '60s America has faded into cynicism and despair. The city is so broke that it's almost bankrupt. People are fleeing to the suburbs and industry New York is shutting down, leaving abandoned warehouses, homes and tenements scattered throughout. Meanwhile, artists...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2018

Juliette Binoche gets to see the 'real' Japan in 'Vision'

"It's so warm in here!" exclaims Juliette Binoche. "You know in (Michael) Haneke's film, I have a scene where I kind of suffocate and I think that I'm going to die? It feels like that! Do you think you can open the window?"
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2015

Rare orchids and misfit sex workers at the Tokyo International Film Festival

Some of the hottest tickets at TIFF each year are for films that have already secured a commercial release date in Japan. For all the high-minded talk about artistry and creativity, most viewers just want to see the big movies before everyone else. But spare a thought for the less commercial offerings...
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 30, 2014

'The Interview' top-selling 2014 flick on Google Play

Sony Pictures' "The Interview" is the top-grossing movie of the year for Google Inc., after earning $15 million in online sales and rentals from all sources through Saturday.
A promotional poster for the film "Barbie" in Tokyo on Aug. 3
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 23, 2023

Why is the ‘Barbie’ movie bombing in Japanese theaters?

The fact that the movie's female empowerment theme won’t have a positive, lasting impact in Japan is a shame.
Haru (An Ogawa, center) searches for the origin of a recording left by her late mother, while keeping a watchful eye over two older acquaintances, in “Following the Sound.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2024

‘Following the Sound’: A tantalizing and enigmatic study on grief

While Kyoshi Sugita’s fourth feature is a quietly absorbing drama, it leaves a great deal open to interpretation.
A bloody demonic outbreak strikes Japan in “Visitors: Complete Edition.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2024

‘Visitors’ revels in all its gory glory with deadpan humor

Kenichi Ugana’s extended version of his brilliant splatter short is endearingly shaggy — and messy.
Kakunoshin Yanagida (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi), a ronin and master of go, seeks revenge and justice in Kazuya Shiraishi’s “Bushido.”
CULTURE / Film
May 23, 2024

‘Bushido’: A realistically stylish samurai throwback

Slashing realism, fluid camera work and moody color palettes achieve an evocative effect in Kazuya Shiraishi’s samurai drama “Bushido.”
Why is Sayoko (Ko Shibasaki), a psychiatrist, helping a journalist torture people for revenge? Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Serpent’s Path” leaves you wondering which way is up as the sinister plot unfolds.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 13, 2024

Kurosawa’s cult classic gets a French makeover in ‘Serpent’s Path’

Ko Shibasaki’s basilisk-like stare underpins a remake which leaves the audience unable to solve the whodunit.
James Gorman, who was named to the Disney board this year and later put in charge of succession planning, will become Disney’s chairman on Jan. 2, 2025, the company said.
BUSINESS / Companies
Oct 22, 2024

Disney taps Morgan Stanley's Gorman as chair and will name CEO Iger's replacement in 2026

Morgan Stanley veteran James Gorman will become chairman of Disney's board on Jan. 2, and will lend a helping hand in the decision-making process.
The central Hokkaido city of Asahikawa made headlines this year when one of its suburbs was named as the best place to live in Japan — a ranking earned in part due to the community's many outstanding restaurants and cafes.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 28, 2024

How Hokkaido quietly became a culinary treasure trove in 2024

Food trucks, morsels with cutesy cues from nature and more helped Japan’s northernmost island have a stellar year.
For the 20 Questions column this year, writers asked their interview subjects about everything from their lives in Japan to their thoughts on news topics.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Dec 28, 2024

There were plenty of hot topics to opine on in 2024

We take a look back at some of the best answers that our interviewees gave for 20 Questions from throughout the year.
An advertisement in Tokyo's Kabukicho, Japan's largest red-light district. The country is home to a thriving adult entertainment industry and has recently seen a boom in sex tourism fueled by the weak yen and availability of red-light services.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 30, 2024

From geisha to oshikatsu, toxic tropes fuel sex industry

It isn't only the foreign gaze that produces stereotypes of Japanese women as submissive and promiscuous. Local laws and cultural norms play just as important a role.
A screenshot of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's Ghibli-style profile picture on X
BUSINESS / Companies
Mar 28, 2025

Copyright questions loom as ChatGPT's Ghibli-style images go viral

The images raised questions about copyright infringement by OpenAI, which already faces lawsuits regarding the use of source material without permission.
Indian security forces personnel escort an ambulance carrying the bodies of tourists who were killed in a suspected militant attack near Pahalgam, outside the police control room in Srinagar, on Wednesday.
ASIA PACIFIC / Politics
Apr 24, 2025

India downgrades ties with Pakistan after attack on Kashmir tourists kills 26

The dead included 25 Indians and one Nepalese national, and at least 17 people were also injured in the worst attack on civilians in decades.
Kenji Yanobe’s spacesuited cats are the main characters of “Ship’s Cat Island,” the inaugural exhibition at Hyper Museum Hanno in Saitama Prefecture.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 7, 2025

What can Kenji Yanobe’s cosmic cats teach us about humanity?

The spacesuited felines will be familiar to those who have visited the Nakanoshima Museum of Art in Osaka or Tokyo’s Ginza Six shopping complex last year.

Longform

After pandemic-era border regulations eased, Indian migrants began returning to Japan. Their population now stands at more than 50,000 across the country.
How remote work is rewriting the migrant experience in Japan