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July 13, 2025
 

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DOCUMENTARIES

Activists, filmmakers and survivors attend a symposium in Tokyo marking 60 years since the discovery of Niigata Minamata disease.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 11, 2025
Film symposium marks 60 years since Niigata Minamata disease outbreak
The disease caused by mercury poisoning was documented in such films as “Fighting Pollution” and “Minamata Mandala.”
Hamdan Ballal (center right) with colleagues after winning the Oscar for best documentary feature for "No Other Land" on March 2
WORLD
Mar 26, 2025
Oscar-winning Palestinian director injured in attack by Israeli settlers released after arrest
Hamdan Ballal, co-director of the award-winning "No Other Land," was released from detention on Tuesday.
Shiori Ito is the first Japanese director to have been nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary feature film. "Black Box Diaries," which tells the story of her quest for justice following her rape in 2015, hasn't been released in Japan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 4, 2025
Can Shiori Ito’s documentary open Japan’s black box?
Concerns about footage in "Black Box Diaries" have stopped its release in Japan. But Shiori Ito's story needs to be brought to people’s attention — in all its harrowing details.
Shiori Ito, who won a civil suit over a rape case against a TV reporter, in 2018. Her former lawyers claim her documentary includes footage used without the consent of sources.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 20, 2025
Japan release of Shiori Ito's documentary in limbo
Lawyers including an attorney who fought alongside the journalist in a civil suit against her attacker have raised legal and ethical concerns over the film.
Documentary director Kaku Arakawa’s filming style — naturalistic, intimate and unobtrusive — proved essential to portraying anime powerhouse Hayao Miyazaki as a man as flawed and human as he is a visionary artist in “Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2025
Two decades of unparalleled access into the world of Hayao Miyazaki
Documentary director Kaku Arakawa has spent years filming the anime powerhouse to reveal the man beyond the myth.
“Ainu Puri” is a nuanced portrait of Shigeki Amanai (left), a modern Ainu man who strives to uphold his culture and heritage in daily life.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 12, 2024
‘Ainu Puri’: A vital portrait of indigenous culture in contemporary Japan
Takeshi Fukunaga’s documentary is an engaging examination of the life and community of a Hokkaido man devoted to his Ainu heritage.
“Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron" provides an in-depth look into the octogenarian auteur’s creative process and personal reflections.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 11, 2024
‘Hayao Miyazaki and the Heron’ documentary meditates on auteur's creativity and legacy
Filmed with unparalleled access to Studio Ghibli, director Kaku Arakawa captures the vulnerability and genius behind master animator Hayao Miyazaki’s latest feature.
Director Ema Ryan Yamazaki wanted to show situations that everyone, non-Japanese included, could relate to in “The Making of a Japanese,” her documentary about Japan’s schoolchildren. 
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2024
Documentarian praises the positives of stricter schooling
"The Making of a Japanese" director Ema Ryan Yamazaki reflects on the role of the Japanese educational system in creating empathetic children.
“A Big Home” offers a sincere portrait of the vulnerable youth who live in more than 600 group homes across Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024
Vulnerable youth look for sense of belonging in ‘A Big Home’
Ryo Takebayashi’s documentary profiles the residents of a group home, but shies away from making emphatic statements about the circumstances that brought them there.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “The Making of a Japanese” is an even-handed portrait of elementary school in Japan, where the citizens of tomorrow are forged.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 5, 2024
‘The Making of a Japanese’: A warm and engaging portrait of Japanese schoolchildren
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary is a candid and heartfelt glimpse of elementary school in Tokyo.
From left: Pakistani education activist and producer Malala Yousafzai, U.S. actress Jennifer Lawrence, producer Justine Ciarrocchi and director Sahra Mani attend the Los Angeles premiere of "Bread and Roses" on Nov. 14.
WORLD / Society
Nov 19, 2024
Phone documentary details Afghan women's struggle under Taliban rule
Exiled Afghan filmmaker Sahra Mani reached out to a dozen women after the fall of Kabul in 2021, tutoring them on how to film themselves for the purpose of the film.
Kazuhiro Soda’s “The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” follows not only the felines that live on the grounds of the title shrine in Ushimado, Okayama Prefecture, but also the local community members, many of whom are of retirement age.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 25, 2024
‘The Cats of Gokogu Shrine’: Documentary paints intimate portrait of a community in decline
While stray cats that inhabit the grounds of a local shrine take center stage, the film also celebrates the aging humans doing their best to preserve their neighborhood.
“The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” centers on a local shrine in Ushimado’s Honmachi district, which has become home to a colony of street cats.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2024
Kazuhiro Soda embraces the wisdom of street cats
The filmmaker turns his camera closer to home in his new documentary, “The Cats of Gokogu Shrine,” and brings a community into focus.
A scene from "Whale Restaurant," a documentary film about whale food culture in Japan
JAPAN / Society
Sep 30, 2024
Documentary on whale food culture in Japan showing in U.S.
Director Keiko Yagi said she found it difficult to find theaters that would agree to show the film.
Hiroshi Sunairi’s documentary “From Okinawa with Love” follows the unwavering Okinawan photographer Mao Ishikawa, who made her name documenting the relationships between Japanese bar girls and African American servicemen.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 30, 2024
‘From Okinawa with Love’: A revealing documentary about a true original
Hiroshi Sunairi takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to explore the life of Mao Ishikawa, who photographed Okinawans and the effects of the U.S. military.
Masahiro Nimura’s “Mommy” features interviews with family members of Masumi Hayashi (right), who was convicted of killing four people and poisoning over 60 others with arsenic-laced curry.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2024
‘Mommy’: A flawed but fascinating dive into a notorious murder case
Masahiro Nimura’s documentary raises reasonable doubts about a crime that gripped the nation over 20 years ago.
Comedian Daisuke Muramoto has been shunned by the Japanese media for taking his act into political territory. Filmmaker Fumiari Hyuga traces his post-pandemic search for a place in show business in "I Am a Comedian."
CULTURE / Film
Jul 3, 2024
‘I Am a Comedian’: A documentary following Daisuke Muramoto’s rocky comedy journey
Documentarian Fumiari Hyuga captures the story of an uncouth Japanese comedian’s efforts to say what can’t be said.
The documentary short “Now and Then" traces how the Beatles honored John Lennon after his death by crafting a tune he wrote into the “last Beatles song.”
CULTURE / Film
May 30, 2024
Eight standout films to catch at this year's Short Shorts Film Festival
The event will screen roughly 270 films that range from dramas about current social issues to animations that push the limits of the imagination.
Veteran peace activist Setsuko Yamazato warns of the gathering “clouds of war” in Chie Mikami’s eight-year chronicle of the militarization of Okinawa.
CULTURE / Film
Mar 14, 2024
‘Clouds of War’: The real story of Okinawa is its people
“Clouds of War” is an unwieldy but heartfelt portrait of citizens fighting back against militarization in Okinawa.
Diagnosed at a young age with a rare variant of glycogen storage disease type IV, Mark Bookman went on to distinguish himself in academia in both the United States and Japan.
COMMUNITY / Issues / The Foreign Element
Feb 19, 2024
New film honors life and legacy of disability pioneer Mark Bookman
Free screenings of THE new documentary on Japan-based disability rights advocate Mark Bookman will be held around Tokyo on Feb. 24, 25 and 27.
Tokyo hit by torrential rainfall at rush hour
People line up at Shibuya Station in Tokyo as they try to avoid the heavy rain on Thursday.
Foreign drivers in Japan to face tougher license conversion rules from October
According to the National Police Agency, there were 75,905 people who converted their foreign driver’s license to a Japanese one in 2024, up from 48,885 in 2019.
Nissan clinches $4.5 billion bond deal after orders soar
Nissan Motor has raised $4.5 billion through a junk bond sale in U.S. dollars and euros, part of which carries a record-high coupon rate.
Chinese fighters came within 30 meters of Japanese spy aircraft, Tokyo says
A Chinese JH-7 fighter jet makes an near an Air Self-Defense Force YS-11EB surveillance aircraft over the East China Sea this week in this image released Thursday.
What Japanese politics could look like after Upper House election
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who heads the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (center) waves to attendees as he departs after delivering a campaign speech in Yokohama on Sunday.
An emoji used to say it all. Now it might say too much.
Apple’s Craig Federighi shows off a set of emoji at a conference on June 13, 2016. While the small pictures have proved helpful in conveying nuance in our texts, younger people are using them less often.
‘Our ultimate goal is to save every single Japanese video game’
After nearly shuttering earlier this year, the Tokyo-based Game Preservation Society continues its work to save the early history of Japanese gaming.
Rare vintage shots and first-time shows at TOP’s 30th anniversary
The museum's curators selected a wide array of works from the archives for the milestone exhibitions. Among other photos, Nobuyoshi Araki's work from the series "Winter Journey" (1990) was included in the "Continuity and Change" exhibition that concluded in June.
New IG Arena set to dial down temperature at Nagoya Basho, in a good way
With IG Arena getting glowing early reviews as the Nagoya Basho’s replacement venue, it may be a while before fans wax nostalgic about the Aichi Prefectural Gymnasium.
Once a niche, anime is now mainstream content for Netflix and other streaming services
Though Netflix remains the dominant choice globally for anime viewers, Amazon Prime Video has also invested heavily in anime, steadily adding titles to their catalogue.

Podcast

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

Longform

Mount Fuji is considered one of Japan's most iconic symbols and is a major draw for tourists. It's still a mountain, though, and potential hikers need to properly prepare for any climb.
What it takes to save lives on Mount Fuji
By Alex K.T. Martin

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