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July 13, 2025
 

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DOCUMENTARY

Journalist and filmmaker Shiori Ito made the documentary “Black Box Diaries” about her years-long battle to find justice following her sexual assault.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2025
Oscar-nominated documentaries put Japan under the microscope
Shiori Ito’s “Black Box Diaries” and Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “Instruments of a Beating Heart” both mark firsts in their respective categories.
Journalist Shiori Ito sheds a tear as she speaks to reporters outside the Tokyo district court on Dec. 18, 2019, after hearing the ruling on a damages lawsuit by her, accusing a former TV reporter of rape.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 21, 2024
Japanese journalist brings lonely #MeToo battle to Sundance
Shiori Ito's fight for justice is the subject of "Black Box Diaries," a documentary she herself directed.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 23, 2022
'Tokyo 2020 Side B': Behind the scenes of the 'pandemic Olympics'
While the overall tone is positive and inspirational, the second volume of Naomi Kawase's documentary on the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games feels overloaded with aural and visual details.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 16, 2022
‘Soup and Ideology’: A touching family portrait that feeds the soul
Director Yang Yonghi comes to terms with her mother's past trauma and animosity toward South Korea in the moving final chapter of her documentary trilogy on familial ties.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 4, 2022
'Tokyo Side A': Making sense of the 'pandemic Olympics'
Official Olympics documentaries can be as triumphant as a gold-medal performance or they can end up in infamy.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 26, 2022
‘Mlabri in the Woods’ offers a rare look at former hunter-gatherers
Director Yu Kaneko's documentary about an ethnic group living in the hills of Laos and northern Thailand began with an encounter with a Japanese linguist fluent in the Mlabri language.
Japan Times
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Jan 15, 2022
‘The Mating Game’: NHK's 8K nature series reveals all
The national broadcaster's 5-episode natural history series, which follows the courting rituals of 80 species in 22 different countries, is the first of its kind to be shot entirely in 8K.
TENNIS
Feb 15, 2020
Netflix to air Naomi Osaka documentary series
Two-time Grand Slam singles winner Naomi Osaka will be featured in an upcoming documentary series to air on Netflix, and the project has the backing of one of global sports' most prominent individuals.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL / HOOP SCOOP
Dec 26, 2019
New Stephen Curry documentary takes look at Japan's grassroots hoops
Do yourself a favor. Set aside 30 minutes to watch a short documentary. Actually, that's enough time to watch it twice. Do it twice. You'll come away with an even greater appreciation for the crisp cinematography, lively action and compelling insights more by absorbing the information twice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2019
Yayoi Kusama: The underdog story of a Japanese art maverick
A documentary tells the story of Yayoi Kusama's battles with racism, sexism and mental illness during her 70-plus years of creating art.
Japan Times
BASKETBALL
Aug 10, 2019
New four-part documentary showcases history of FIBA World Cup
Before the 2019 FIBA World Cup begins on Aug. 31 in China, basketball's global governing body is celebrating its rich history with a new four-part documentary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Jun 5, 2019
Ron Howard frames Pavarotti story through arias for new documentary
Director Ron Howard did not know much about opera, but he understands drama when he sees it, and Italian tenor Luciano Pavarotti's life was packed with it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 20, 2019
'Shinjuku Tiger': A story of one man and his mask
Spend enough time on the streets of Shinjuku, and you'll eventually spot a flamboyantly dressed figure in a tiger mask carrying fake flowers, stuffed animals and a boombox. This is Shinjuku Tiger, the subject of a documentary of the same name out this week.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 19, 2018
'In Pursuit of Silence': A documentary looks at what it'll take to finally get some peace and quiet
The 1964 tune "The Sound of Silence" by Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel is a bona fide classic, but it never really identifies just what this "sound of silence" is. That task instead falls to "In Pursuit of Silence," the documentary about this surprisingly hard-to-pin-down aural quality and why it's worth...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 7, 2018
Documentary to capture views of young Okinawans on U.S. Futenma base issue
As Okinawa continues to be roiled by tensions over a plan to move a key U.S. air base within the prefecture, filmmakers from Iwate Prefecture are using their next documentary to give younger Okinawans a greater voice.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 18, 2018
Soundtracking the thrill of the climb in Jennifer Peedom's 'Mountain'
With "Mountain," director Jennifer Peedom has done for the mountaineering film what Marks & Spencer's did for food advertisements years ago: taken the concept and beautified it to such an extent that it provokes a visceral response. Salivating over the movie's visual perfection is the only appropriate...
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2018
Filmmaker Kazuhiro Soda visits the stadium that's home to all of America
'The Big House' captures more than just football in a documentary about the University of Michigan's main stadium.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 17, 2018
'The Shoot Must Go On': Masayoshi Sukita captures some of rock music's most iconic figures
Even if you don't recognize the name, you probably know his shots. Photographer Masayoshi Sukita has captured images of rock gods and movie stars that deserve that most overused of epithets: iconic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 16, 2018
Hyoe Yamamoto dives into Japan's culture of corporate corruption in 'Samurai and Idiots: The Olympus Affair'
Speaking as a Japanese person, it's a bit disheartening to see the words "samurai" and "idiot" in the same sentence. Filmmaker Hyoe Yamamoto's documentary "Samurai and Idiots: The Olympus Affair" not only pairs the two, it shows the lack of logic and wisdom behind the so-called samurai spirit that many...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 7, 2018
'Tremorings of Hope': The aftershocks linger in a town devastated by 2011 disaster
After the Great East Japan Earthquake and resulting nuclear disaster of March 11, 2011, dozens of documentary filmmakers headed north to the devastated Tohoku region, specifically the hard-hit coastal areas of Fukushima, Miyagi and Iwate prefectures. One filmmaker, however, had already been filming there...
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

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Muji has been sustainable from the beginning
Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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