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September 05, 2025
 

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J HORROR

A call girl (Kaho Seto) traumatized by the death of her young daughter becomes entangled with a strange client in “New Religion.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2025
‘New Religion’: Chic debut is low on shivers
Keishi Kondo’s horror film dives deep into dream logic and dread, but its emotional detachment leaves a chill that’s more cold than scary.
Strange things are afoot in Ryota Kondo’s “Missing Child Videotape” as Keita (Rairu Sugita) investigates the 13-year-old disappearance of his younger brother.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 23, 2025
‘Missing Child Videotape’: Subtle chiller may leave J-horror fans underwhelmed
Ryota Kondo’s eerie ghost story debut goes for ambient dread rather than jump scares.
Japanese film director Kiyoshi Kurosawa gestures as he poses for photos during a press conference at the 29th Busan International Film Festival.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 5, 2024
Japan's 'master of horror' Kiyoshi Kurosawa highlights 'B-movie' appeal
The director, who received the Busan International Film Festival's Filmmaker of the Year Award on Wednesday, said he'd like to see more artists explore genre cinema.
A grandmother fights back when the angry ghost of a social recluse starts killing off family members in “House of Sayuri.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 29, 2024
'House of Sayuri': J-horror fights ghosts with pitch-black humor
Koji Shiraishi’s horror comedy matches the darkness of the deeds on display with a fiery grandma who takes on a wicked spirit with her tai chi skills.
A substitute teacher (Nagisa Shibuya, center front) at a junior high school finds herself caught up in strange goings-on with violent outcomes in “Who’s That Girl?”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 26, 2024
‘Who’s That Girl?’: Junior high school antics just got scarier
J-horror master Takashi Shimizu’s latest offers familiar genre elements with a practiced hand and fresh twists.
Horror artist Junji Ito adds just a dash of comedy to his work, though he aims for it to be understated. “If it’s truly a horror story, the humor must be restrained and more veiled,” he says.
CULTURE / Art
Jun 29, 2024
Fear still matters to Junji Ito
Currently on view at Tokyo's Setagaya Literary Museum is an extensive collection of the horror master's work, the first large-scale exhibition of it's kind in Japan.
A bloody demonic outbreak strikes Japan in “Visitors: Complete Edition.”
CULTURE / Film
Feb 22, 2024
‘Visitors’ revels in all its gory glory with deadpan humor
Kenichi Ugana’s extended version of his brilliant splatter short is endearingly shaggy — and messy.
Two lovers on the run (Misa Wada, left, and Takahiro Fukuya) wrestle with poverty and a monstrous mutant appendage in Taichiro Natsume’s “The Beast Hand.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 25, 2024
‘The Beast Hand’: Splatter movie has more soul than guts
Misa Wada proves a standout in Taichiro Natsume’s surprisingly soulful low-budget horror flick.
A nursing student (Kotone Furukawa, right) is terrified by the bizarre goings-on in her hometown in “Best Wishes to All.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 18, 2024
‘Best Wishes to All’: Home is where the horror is
Yuta Shimotsu’s first feature about a small town gone mad delivers shocking frights but its message fails to surprise.
After losing her eyesight in a car accident, a woman goes to the home of an eye doctor and his son to receive a miracle device to restore her sight in “My Mother’s Eyes.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 23, 2023
‘My Mother’s Eyes’: Psychodrama pushes to mad extremes
Takeshi Kushida’s atmospheric horror film about toxic parent-child relationships unfolds in a fantasy world that strains credulity.
Meiji University professor and cinema expert Lindsay Nelson writes about J-horror (Japanese horror) in her book, “Circulating Fear.”
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / 20 QUESTIONS
Oct 28, 2023
‘Horror has always been a vehicle to talk about social problems’
A J-horror expert gives her take on the essence of the genre and the cultural roots of its creative choices.
The classic Japanese ghost story often features a vengeful female ghost.
PODCAST / deep dive
Oct 12, 2023
[Rebroadcast] Japan’s got ghosts
This week we discuss a few horror movies before “Uncanny Japan” podcast host Thersa Matsuura tells a classic Japanese ghost story.
A TV director (Kanna Hashimoto, left) is haunted by the dead wife of an old office crush (Daiki Shigeoka) in “The Forbidden Play.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 21, 2023
‘The Forbidden Play’: J-horror mishmash offers satisfying scares
Horror legend Hideo Nakata's latest flick is a halfway return to form, in part due to actor First Summer Uika's chilling turn as a vengeful wraith.
A couple with a young daughter move into their dream house but soon realize there is something sinister afoot in “Home Sweet Home.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 2, 2023
‘Home Sweet Home’: Horror house is light on frights
While the main cast delivers strong performances, Takumi Saitoh’s film about a dream home with spooky secrets offers chills rather than true terror.
A deceased schoolgirl lures members of pop group Generations into her world with a killer earworm in “Sana.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 10, 2023
‘Sana’: Boy band horror flick is largely fan service
Takashi Shimizu’s film about a deadly ditty infecting members of J-pop group Generations offers generic scares with real-life concert footage.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.
Anger in Japan after Instagrammer drinks burial site offering
Foreign tourists visit a park near the Imperial Palace in Tokyo in August.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Musk voices support for anti-immigration rally in Japan
Elon Musk has voiced support for anti-immigration protest in Japan, where a "Japanese First" party saw gains in recent elections.
Japan Post ordered to suspend delivery vans at 100 post offices
Japan Post has been under investigation by the transport ministry since it was revealed that improper alcohol and health checks were widespread across the company.
Xi — joined by Kim and Putin — delivers stark warning at military parade
Chinese leader Xi Jinping walks with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un before a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II, in Beijing on Wednesday.
Tamagotchi hatches 100 million shipments worldwide thanks to ’90s nostalgia
The latest version of Tamagotchi, called Tamagotchi Paradise, is awarded the best digital toy at Tokyo Toy Show on Aug. 28.
Why Stalin didn’t invade Hokkaido still largely unknown, 80 years after WWII
During a survey to collect the remains of victims from the Taito Maru, one of the vessels involved in the Three Ships Incident, a metal helmet was found near the stern of the vessel on Aug. 5, 1984, at Rumoi Port. No human remains were discovered.
More sweltering days forecast for September after hottest summer on record
By the end of August, 8,341 people had been transported by ambulance for heatstroke in Tokyo alone.
Surrounded by Chinese bases, a tiny Philippine island stands firm
A Philippine Navy sailor looks at a China Coast Guard vessel just off the coast of Pag-asa Island in the disputed South China Sea last month.

Podcast

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

Longform

Tetsuzo Shiraishi, speaking at The Center of the Tokyo Raids and War Damage, uses a thermos to explain how he experienced the U.S. firebombing of March 1945, when he was just 7 years old.
From ashes to high-rises: A survivor’s account of Tokyo’s postwar past
By Alex K.T. Martin

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