Let them eat pancakes: A new film looks at Yoshihide Suga's brand of politicking
Producer Mitsunobu Kawamura hopes that a new political documentary, "Tasting the Pancake for Poison," will entice younger voters to take part in the upcoming election.
Sari Kaede: 'It's possible to be an ordinary person who just happens to be a trans woman'
Sari Kaede brings her journey as a transgender woman to the screen in a documentary titled "You Decide." She hopes to provide some support for young people in the process.
Daido Moriyama documentary brings the photographer’s legacy into focus
A new film by Gen Iwama centered around reproducing photographer Daido Moriyama’s out-of-print book from 1968 captures a master unconcerned with reliving past glories.
Docu Meme highlights unseen victims of coronavirus pandemic in Japan
As the number of novel coronavirus infections continues to grow, so do the stigmas and stereotypes associated with certain segments of Japan’s population, be they caregivers, entertainment-district workers, foreign residents, students or the unemployed and homeless.
Political documentaries in Japan struggle to inspire
Japanese documentaries analyze entrenched political power with largely unsurprising results.
‘Zero as You Are’: An intimate look at a journey of self-discovery
Director Miyuki Tokoi documented Takamasa “Sky” Kobayashi’s life as a transgender teenager and adult over the course of nine years.
‘Why You Can’t Be Prime Minister’: A Sisyphean slog toward the top office
Shinzo Abe has been with us for so long now, it’s easy to forget that there was a time when Japan’s premiership seemed to rotate as frequently as the membership of AKB48. Junya Ogawa was one young hopeful who thought he had a shot at ...
'Zero': Practicing kindness in life and in love
In Japan, people with mental illnesses have long been stigmatized, marginalized and isolated from broader society. In 2009, documentary filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda released “Mental,” a film about Masatomo Yamamoto, an elderly psychiatrist in Okayama Prefecture who respected his patients as individuals and built close ...
'Mishima: The Last Debate': Careful revival of a battle of wits
It was the title match of the decade: the rumble in the academic jungle. On May 13, 1969, literary titan Yukio Mishima strutted onstage in front of a 1,000-strong audience at the University of Tokyo to debate with representatives of the All Campus Joint ...
Documentary juxtaposes both sides of contentious debate on 'comfort women'
On May 30, three people held a news conference in Tokyo to speak out against a documentary titled "Shusenjo: The Main Battleground of the Comfort Women Issue," which focuses on the rhetorical battle over the women who sexually serviced Japanese soldiers before and during ...
Japanese director's pro-whaling documentary wins award at London film festival
A 2015 documentary on local supporters of Japan’s traditions of whaling and dolphin-hunting won an international film festival award Saturday in London.
Documentary filmmaker Megumi Sasaki learns to live in the moment in New York
For a long time Megumi Sasaki felt that something did not quite fit. ...
