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May 07, 2025
 

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ARATA IURA

A gravely ill man (Arata Iura) starts to question if it’s worth sacrificing the life of his clone in order to save his own in Sayaka Kai’s “Adabana.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 17, 2024
‘Adabana’: Existential sci-fi will have you seeing double
Sayaka Kai’s drama set in a world where a privileged elite extend their lives by keeping clones in reserve is imbued with literal and figurative darkness.
From behind his desk in a Tokyo office, Hideki (Arata Iura) yearns for something more in life, but he is not prepared for the culture shock of life on a Montana ranch in “Tokyo Cowboy.”
CULTURE / Film / CULTURE SMASH
Jun 13, 2024
‘Tokyo Cowboy’ strikes balance between cross-cultural comedy and fish-out-of-water tale
From behind his desk in a Tokyo office, Hideki yearns for something more in life, but he is not prepared for the culture shock of life on a Montana ranch.
A former pop idol (Mai Fukagawa) finds herself in a slump with little money, no partner and precarious mental health as she nears her 30s in “Tsundol.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2023
‘Tsundol’: Pop idol on the brink gets mental health uplift
While it is a predictable drama about a former singer getting her life together, the film addresses her mental well-being in a refreshing manner.
A woman (Yoko Maki) haunted by the trauma of her husband’s unexplained disappearance hires a detective to find answers in Rikiya Imaizumi’s “Undercurrent.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2023
‘Undercurrent’: All is not lost in cathartic drama
Yoko Maki and Arata Iura deliver committed performances in Rikiya Imaizumi’s introspective film about people who vanish for inexplicable reasons.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 14, 2022
‘Phoenix Goes On’: Buddy road trip offers fun hijinks
Arata Iura and Ryo Narita play off each other well as two friends on a bizarre quest in the follow-up to Kanata Wolf's 2018 film “Smokin' on the Moon.”
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2021
‘Skeleton Flowers’: A quiet drama of honesty and growth
In Rikiya Imaizumi's latest film, newcomer Sara Shida gives a centered performance as an artsy teen coming to terms with her father's new relationship and her mother's reappearance.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 21, 2020
‘True Mothers’: An intimate look at two sides of adoption
Naomi Kawase's drama tackles child adoption and teenage pregnancy with seriousness and compassion, while drawing a stand-out performance from Aju Makita.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2020
In ‘True Mothers,’ Naomi Kawase examines what makes a family
Naomi Kawase draws on personal experience in her new film, an intimate look at adoption that blurs the line between documentary and fiction.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 3, 2018
'Dare to Stop Us': Japanese cinema's bad boy as seen by one of the women who worked with him
In the 1960s Koji Wakamatsu was Japanese cinema's enfant terrible: A real-life outlaw — he once joined a yakuza gang and served time in prison — he made pioneering "pink" (softcore porn) films such as "The Embryo Hunts in Secret" (1966) and "Go, Go, Second Time Virgin" (1969), whose extreme sex and...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 29, 2017
'And Then There Was Light': Moments of beauty engulfed in miserabilism
Tatsushi Omori's films have been pushing boundaries since his 2005 debut "The Whispering of the Gods," with its story of a young murderer's return to a Christian community presided over by the priest who abused him as a child.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 15, 2015
Adaptation of Banana Yoshimoto's 'Asleep' is heavy with depression and Eros
Sleep is the great restorer, one we frazzled moderns eternally need, desire and lack. But for Terako (Sakura Ando), the sleepy-eyed heroine of photographer and director Shingo Wakagi's "Shirakawa Yofune" ("Asleep"), the bedroom is a battleground of the spirit.
Why are rice prices still high in Japan?
Amid shortages, the price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice during the week of April 14 was ¥4,220.
Dollar’s decline is fueling dislocations across Asian currencies
A worker counts U.S. dollar banknotes at a currency exchange office in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2022.
Tariff talks with U.S. seen influencing Japan's Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba speaks to reporters about Japan-U.S. tariff negotiations at his official residence on Saturday.
Japan, India to set up new consultation defense cooperation framework
Defense Minister Gen Nakatani (right) stands alongside his Indian counterpart, Rajnath Singh, during a ceremonial reception in New Delhi on Monday.
About 30% of those in de facto marriages refuse to marry over surname change
A survey by a private group found that 30% of people in de facto marriages in Japan have not filed for marriage registration because they or their partners do not want to change their surnames.
Why are rice prices still high in Japan?
Amid shortages, the price of a 5-kilogram bag of rice during the week of April 14 was ¥4,220.
Plug and Play wants to help Japanese startups go global
Phillip Vincent (right), Japan CEO of Plug and Play, and Ma Jingqian, head of ventures, at Plug and Play's Tokyo office, last month
Kotomi Li: 'I refuse to choose death'
Since 2017, Kotomi Li has won some of Japan’s top literary awards and built a formidable career in the face of persistent online harassment. “Authors are tenacious creatures to begin with,” she says.
Want to see the future at the Osaka Expo? Get in line.
“‘Future of life,’ by Ishiguro,” the World Expo pavilion by roboticist Hiroshi Ishiguro, displays humanlike androids.
Despite shifts in Japan's political landscape, constitutional revision still far off
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has been a staunch advocate for constitutional reform.

Podcast

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

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
By Hanako Lowry

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