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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 20, 2015

Aikawa's brainless fun in 'Deadman Inferno'

Sho Aikawa was once the tough-guy muse of Takashi Miike, appearing in films such as "Gokudo Kuroshakai" ("Rainy Dog"), "Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha" ("Dead or Alive") and "Gokudo Kyofu Dai-gekijo: Gozu" ("Gozu") that made the director the international "King of Cult." The sandpapery voice, the sideways...
Japan Times
BUSINESS / Tech
May 6, 2015

China's cybersecurity push sparks a 'gold rush' in tech products

Zhang Long made his fortune selling pu'er fermented tea and handcrafted furniture from the mountains of his native Yunnan province in southwest China.
Japan Times
WORLD
Feb 28, 2015

'Star Trek' Spock actor Nimoy dies at age 83

Leonard Nimoy, who won fame with his portrayal of the logic-bound, half-alien Mr. Spock in the "Star Trek" TV series and movies, died on Friday at 83.
Japan Times
WORLD / Science & Health
Jan 8, 2015

Snowy owls becoming more common outside Arctic

The elusive snowy owl, rarely seen outside the Arctic, is turning up more frequently in the skies of North America than it does in the pages of a Harry Potter book, data from the National Audubon Society suggested on Wednesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT
Dec 1, 2014

What to buy, where to go: 40 steps to maximum merriment this Christmas in Japan

From meeting Pikachu in Fukushima to a laughter ritual in Osaka, here are dozens of ways to make sure you make the most of the festive season.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014

Atom Egoyan raises demons in 'Devil's Knot'

When three children were murdered in West Memphis, Arkansas, in 1993, the case quickly developed into a massive media spectacle.
CULTURE / Music
Nov 11, 2014

Rock music goes mainstream in Rouhani's Iran as old taboos start to fade

In the 10 months since his band was given official permission to perform, Iranian rock singer Ardavan Anzabipour has learned when to cool things down.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 20, 2014

The Great Beauty

'The Great Beauty" recalls two other films set in Rome: "La Dolce Vita" and "Roman Holiday." The former takes huge bites out of the city's decadence and debauchery in much the same way as "The Great Beauty." The latter takes a mere lick at the pleasures proffered by Rome and declares satisfaction. The...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 9, 2014

'Hotori no Sakuko (Au Revoir l'Eté)'

Compared to his avant-garde French new-wave peers, Eric Rohmer seemed to direct in a lighter, more conventional key: All those casually chic young heroines photographed in the more attractive parts of France, all those stories about their various love troubles. Also, from a Hollywood perspective, his...
EDITORIALS
Oct 5, 2013

Japanese language diplomacy

An expert panel has proposed increasing the number of Japanese teachers sent abroad to teach the Japanese language as a way of improving relations with Southeast Asian nations.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Aug 3, 2013

Story of the modern Bonnie and Clyde

Like all the best fabled morality tales this one begins in a walk-in wardrobe. The wardrobe belongs to Paris Hilton and the interlopers into that strange fantasy land are a pair of bored high school dropouts who have wandered here in search of adventure (and free designer stuff).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 11, 2013

'Shanidaru no Hana (The Flower of Shanidar)'

Gakuryu Ishii has made something of a career of confounding fans and critics alike with his big shifts in artistic direction, his long silences and, in 2010, his name change from the unusual, if memorable, Sogo to the pretentious, if still hard-to-forget, Gakuryu (a combination of the kanji for "mountain"...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 20, 2013

Are we all blinded by our sense of beauty?

Sophie Calle is an enigma. She is an artist, writer, photographer and filmmaker yet doesn't work exclusively in any of these areas. She has become famous for her work in photography but her objects and later films have drawn equal attention — work that carries with it the curiosity of a detective who...
ASIA PACIFIC
May 16, 2013

TV show gives peek into world of Chinese porn censors

In the annals of bizarre bureaucratic desk jobs, the Chinese government may have all others beat.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
May 8, 2013

Hong Kong artists emerge from the shadow of China in new show

Some artists suffer more to create their work than others. Angela Su certainly has.
JAPAN / Media
Feb 9, 2013

Are filmgoers finally rejecting screen violence?

In theaters, the movies might look the same. But perhaps now we see them differently.
JAPAN / Media / MEDIA MIX
Dec 2, 2012

Koreeda's daring TV drama stands alone

Once upon a time television was considered much less prestigious than the movies, and then cable and other forms of pay TV showed up. Producers no longer had to think mainly about sponsors and family sensitivities because they could target programs at specific demographics. Delivery delineated content,...
Japan Times
LIFE / Lifestyle
Jan 31, 2012

Tsutaya's newest media center suits silver market to a T

To many Japanese, the name "Tsutaya" will bring to mind one very clear image: neon lights, blue-and-yellow signage, bestselling J-pop albums and late-night DVD rentals.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2011

'Contagion' / 'Moneyball'

Cinema imagines the apocalypse on a regular basis, touching on everything from Mayan calendar-related polar shifts to the ever-popular walking dead. Few films, however, dare to deal with scenarios that could actually happen; that's what makes Steven Soderbergh's "Contagion," which looks at a deadly global...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 19, 2011

'Usagi Doroppu (Bunny Drop)'

Movies about single guys who become suddenly burdened with the responsibilities of parenthood, whether from Hollywood ("Three Men and a Baby") or Japan (the underrated "Yukai Rapusodi [Accidental Kidnapper]"), follow a pattern set in stone: After rising to various patience- and character-testing occasions,...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2011

'Sabi Otoko Sabi Onna (Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls)'

Japanese omnibus films — collections of similarly themed shorts — were more common a decade or two ago than now. They've always been risky box-office bets, and film distributors want a surer thing in today's fiercely competitive market.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2010

Portrait of the artist's mother as a young woman

Even today, you'd have to go far to run into a radical individual like Leonie Gilmour. But in America in 1901, to meet a young woman like her must have been on par with witnessing a comet.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Stage
Jul 23, 2010

Reflections of Chekhov's Russia in modern-day Japan

"People compare me with Bertolt Brecht, and I am glad to hear that — but why won't anyone call me Anton Inoue?"
Japan Times
LIFE / Digital
Jun 16, 2010

Tokyo-based Mod forges a path for DIY publishing

The arrival of Apple's iPad at the end of last month sent shock waves through Japan's publishing industry. In the ensuing 2 1/2 weeks, dozens of publishers have announced plans to digitize magazine and other content, while others have set up think tanks to ponder their changed marketplace. Even the National...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Music
Feb 19, 2010

Shimizu takes sax to Bach's 'Goldberg'

In the center of a large practice room at Sumida Triphony Hall in Tokyo sits tenor saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu, instrument at his lips, legs crossed, playing along with four other saxophonists. It looks like a scene from a music class: the graying, 55-year-old teacher instructing his younger students....
JAPAN
Jan 23, 2010

'Crossing' bares North defector fate

Every year, poverty-stricken North Koreans risk their lives crossing the border into China to escape the repression and starvation plaguing their hermit homeland.
CULTURE / Books / THE ASIAN BOOKSHELF
Sep 13, 2009

Road map for increasingly accessible world of Japanese cinema

JAPANESE CINEMA, by Stuart Galbraith IV. Taschen, 2009, 192 pp., 354 photographs, $29.99 (hardcover) This is a large (23.1 cm by 28.9 cm), fully illustrated account of Japanese film from its beginnings. There have now been a number of such histories, each perforce written from different perspectives...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 5, 2009

'I Come With the Rain'

Vietnamese filmmaker Tran Anh Hung has a distinctive, high-contrast track record.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Apr 26, 2009

Locating the Navitime Navigator on the map

Before actor Ian Moore gets on any train in Tokyo, he's careful to peek inside and check the carriage. Chances are his face is plastered on an advertisement in there somewhere, not quite sufficiently hidden behind the mustache and green-and- white helmet that for the last six years have transformed him...

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