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Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
May 15, 2015

The 3-D world of NHK yx Koyxen's abstract techno

Kohei Matsunaga does not see things like you and I see things. Take the 3-D glasses that he is rarely photographed without, for instance. Throwaway red-and-blue anaglyph paper frames from cinema's distant past, they have become an apt visual trademark for the Osaka-based artist, who delights in operating...
Japan Times
WORLD / EU SPECIAL 2015
May 12, 2015

Unity in policy making, peacekeeping

Japan Times
WORLD / EXPO MILANO 2015
May 3, 2015

Wide variety of events welcome Milan visitors

From May 1 through Oct. 31, Italy will host the Expo Milano 2015, a global event bringing together 145 countries, three international organizations, 13 nongovernmental organizations, many corporations and citizens to address issues related to the global food challenges, nutrition, the culture of food...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Apr 25, 2015

Fighting to recover from the ocean's wrath

On April 11, Wataru Takeshita, the minister for reconstruction of the areas most seriously affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake, met in Kamaishi with local government representatives to discuss the budget for Iwate Prefecture. After the meeting, the mayor of Kamaishi spoke to the press and said...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Apr 23, 2015

From dusk till dawn at Roppongi Art Night

For all the criticism that can be levelled at the conventional "white cube" gallery space — its quasi-religious, sanitized hush and incongruity with large-scale interactive installations and other emergent forms of media art — as a visitor, it's at least unlikely that you'll wander into the path...
CULTURE / Music
Apr 9, 2015

Charli XCX hits her J-pop groove

"I've tried to immerse myself in Japanese culture," says Charli XCX, international hit maker and Britain's next big pop-star-in-waiting. Of course, that's the sort of comment you might expect the 22-year-old to make on the eve of her first headline shows in the country this week, bringing her breakthrough...
CULTURE / Film
Apr 1, 2015

Exporting ‘Wild Style’: Fab 5 Freddy remembers when Bronx hip-hop invaded Tokyo

Flashback to the Japan of 1983: Childish idol Seiko Matsuda was topping the charts, Japanese guys were trying to dress like Boy George and kids in discos vainly watched themselves dance in floor-to-ceiling mirrors as Frankie told them to "Relax." Believe it or not, this is the exact moment hip-hop hit...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2015

Is Asian cinema caught in a festival feeding frenzy?

On March 5, tickets went on sale for Joe Hisaishi's concert at a 1,200-seat theater in Udine, Italy — and they were sold out in less than a week. In Japan, where Hisaishi is well known as a composer for his soundtracks to films by Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Kitano and many others, this rush for tickets...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 11, 2015

The Terrorizers: 'a masterpiece about Taiwan under the influence of money and globalization'

Along with Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang, Edward Yang was one of the leading auteurs of Taiwan's New Wave Cinema. Yang, who died in 2007, was considered one of the most talented filmmakers of his generation and though most of his titles never made it the U.S., he was respected by film buffs and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2015

Annabelle: 'a low-budget porcelain Satan from doll hell'

Now that "Ted" has made it OK for stuffed animals to have a life and hang out with Mark Wahlberg, you'd think cinema would open that door to dolls as well. No such luck: Annabelle, a creepy girl doll resembling Chucky from "Child's Play," turns out to be a porcelain Satan from doll hell.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2015

A long, painful look into the whirlpools of World War II

The 1985 Holocaust documentary "Shoah," directed by Claude Lanzmann — screening until Mar. 6 at Tokyo's Theatre Image Forum — feels more like evidence than cinema. At 9½ hours, and filled with straight-to-the-camera testimony from concentration camp survivors, Nazi guards and many other eyewitnesses,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2015

Is Japanese cinema sinking into a self-censorship swamp?

One great thing about living in Japan is the consideration, or omoiyari, people here commonly show for others. My newspaper delivery guy climbs the 25 steps to my front door and deposits a copy of The Japan Times in my mailbox every morning, rain or shine. His colleagues in the U.S. — my home country...
Japan Times
SOCCER / PREMIER REPORT
Feb 6, 2015

Timing of Redknapp's resignation called into question

Was it a dodgy knee or to save face that Harry Redknapp resigned as manager of Queens Park Rangers?
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2015

Ruben Pater: Current advancements in drone technology are worrying

Dutch artist Ruben Pater discusses drones and survival in the modern age:
CULTURE / Art
Feb 5, 2015

Kazuhiro Goshima: The sheer amount of information in 4K ‘exceeds’ reality

Japanese artist Kazuhiro Goshima discusses film, movies and everything in between:
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2015

Welcome to New York: 'Abel Ferrara ignores a rich vein of intrigue and rushes to judgement'

The career of Abel Ferrara is a bit of an enigma. As a director who started with gnarly exploitation flicks before moving into more philosophical tales of sin and redemption, Ferrara is barely a presence in the U.S. outside his native New York City, and he hasn't had a hit with either critics or the...
Japan Times
LIFE / Language / BILINGUAL
Feb 2, 2015

'Ka' can help you sound less like Mr. Roboto

Knowing how you sound in Japanese is very difficult. For the first few months of study, perhaps even the first few years, the best you can hope for is to imitate sensei (先生, teachers) and tomodachi (友達, friends), geinōjin (芸能人, celebrities) and kishō yohōshi (気象予報士, weather...
PRESS / Publications
Feb 2, 2015

“The Japan Culture Book (Japanese/English)”on sale now

Enjoy Japanese traditional and cutting-edge pop culture
Japan Times
CULTURE / CULTURE SMASH
Jan 30, 2015

In less than a year, Tonko House earns an Oscar nomination

They had plum jobs at one of the best companies in the world. Their successes were the envy of their peers. But last summer, two peak-career professionals quit their lucrative day jobs to found a start-up. With no income or investment, they built their own studio, mostly by hand, and started working...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 14, 2015

The Judge: 'works better if you're a well-to-do, over-40 male'

There is a point in a woman's life — specifically, mine — when surprises in movies and in dates are just not all that welcome anymore. Which is why "The Judge" is a vehicle to like — very, very much. Robert Downey Jr. faces off with Robert Duvall in a patriarchal, angst-ridden mystery thriller...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2015

100 Yen Love: Punching your way out of an old paper bag

Boxing films share a similar arc, typically climaxing in a big bout that decides everything — at least everything relevant to the hero's fate. This does not always means triumph, as fans of the "Rocky" series know, but even in defeat the hero usually inspires respect and sympathy, at the very least...
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media / BIG IN JAPAN
Jan 3, 2015

Getting a head start on wartime stories

From the "The Dirty Dozen" (1967) to "Saving Private Ryan" (1998), cinema audiences in Japan have flocked to theaters to watch Americans and Germans killing one another.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015

Son of God: 'There is little to no poetic license taken here'

Just in time to be too late for Christmas is "Son of God," Hollywood's latest attempt to reboot the Jesus franchise. Director Christopher Spencer tries to give a more family-friendly version of the life of Jesus than the torture-porn brutality of Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ."
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Companies
Dec 29, 2014

Sony's 'Interview' fetches $15 million online in four days

"The Interview" earned more than $15 million in online sales in its first four days of distribution as Sony bypassed a wide theater release amid concerns from major cinema chains about threats of violence.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 28, 2014

Hacking of low brow movie raises high stakes issues

The movie 'The Interview,' featuring the supposed blowing up of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un, is a sad commentary on the idiocies of our troubled times. It should not have been made.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 24, 2014

Our critics in the crossfire

The Japan Times' three film writers got together before Christmas to discuss their top picks of movies released this year. Unusually, this year both Giovanni Fazio and Kaori Shoji agreed on their No. 1, choosing "The Broken Circle Breakdown." Mark Schilling picked Mipo Oh's "Soko Nomi Nite Hikari Kagayaku"...
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014

U.S. determines North Korea behind Sony attack as studio pulls movie

A U.S. government source said investigators had determined North Korea was behind a cyberattack on Sony Pictures as the studio pulled all plans to release its comedy, "The Interview," about an assassination attempt on the North Korean leader.
WORLD
Dec 18, 2014

Top U.S. theater chains delay screening Sony's 'The Interview' amid terror threat

Movie theater chain Regal Cinemas said on Wednesday it will delay showing Sony's North Korea parody "The Interview," while trade publication The Hollywood Reporter said AMC, Cinemark and Cineplex would also not screen the film, citing an unnamed source.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 17, 2014

Disney's 'Big Hero 6' reassembles Japan without the 'cultural cringe'

So we've all heard that it's hard to be a woman in Japan, but being a Japanese geek comes with its own troubles. For some, it's a life lived in front of glowing screens, a dateless existence spent in a six-mat tatami room with posters of idol group AKB48 plastered on the walls. But here's Disney's "Big...
EDITORIALS
Dec 16, 2014

Getting under Pyongyang's skin

North Korea's rant against the impending release of the Sony Pictures satire 'The Interview' could have been predicted. Rather than providing the new film priceless PR, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un should have ignored the film as his father did with the 2004 satire 'Team America: World Police.'

Longform

Dangami House is a 180-year-old former samurai residence of the Kato clan, who ruled over Ozu, Ehime Prefecture, until the Meiji Restoration.
A house, a legacy and the quiet work of restoration in rural Japan