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July 07, 2025
 

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JAPANESE FILM

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 4, 2015
Present For You: Baffling but pioneering stop-motion film
Stop-motion animation, in which objects are photographed frame by frame to achieve the illusion of motion, is nearly as old as the movies.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 28, 2015
Back to the love hotel for ex-pink film director
Interviews with people you know well can turn awkward if you try to be the probing questioner instead of the coffee-shop companion. No such worries with 61-year-old Ryuichi Hiroki, the former pink film (i.e., soft pornography) director who made his commercial and critical breakthrough with the erotically...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 1, 2015
The Vancouver Asahi: Angels are not in the outfield for immigrants
Of making baseball films there is no end. The sport provides an endless supply of ready-made narratives: from a fight to win the pennant ("Damn Yankees") or to simply win ("Major League"), to a player's struggle with illness ("Pride of the Yankees"), or an oversized ego ("Mr. Baseball").
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 10, 2014
And the Mud Ship Sails Away: Knee-deep in it without a care in the world
After premiering at the 2013 Tokyo International Film Festival, Hirobumi Watanabe's slacker comedy "Soshite Dorobune wa Yuku (And the Mud Ship Sails Away)" became an international festival favorite, and it's easy to see why.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 3, 2014
Looking Japan's film-industry myths in the eye
Who doesn't love a listicle titled "(X) surprising things you never knew about (Y)"? What surprises me about a lot of commentary on the Japanese film industry — from insiders and outsiders alike — is how it substitutes judgment calls (usually of the "Japanese films are crap" variety) for out-in-plain-sight...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2014
Yokudo: Lingering but confused gaze of indie director
Major film festivals, with their hurry-hurry schedules, are places to polish your sound bites, not launch into nuanced disquisitions. People want your opinion in 25 words or less. When someone asked me what I thought of Kiki Sugino's "Yokudo (Taksu)" after a screening at last month's Busan International...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014
Hurt-till-you-laugh approach to making comedies
When Yosuke Fujita's debut feature "Zenzen Daijobu (Fine, Totally Fine)" started making the international festival rounds in 2008, it charmed nearly everyone who saw it.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2014
Parasyte: Gory invasion of the cannibal body snatchers
The closing film of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival, Takashi Yamazaki's "Kiseiju: Part 1 (Parasyte: Part 1)," arrives in theaters with a lot of hype. Based on Hitoshi Iwaaki's best-selling manga about the stealth invasion of Earth by alien parasites, the film is the first of a two-part...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014
Pale Moon: Bored bank teller embraces the root of all evil
American bank robber Willie Sutton, who allegedly made more than $2 million over a 40-year criminal career, once told a reporter that he robbed banks because "that's where the money is." In the usual heist movie, however — with Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" (1956) serving as a template — the stolen...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 29, 2014
Takeshi Kitano blasts domestic film industry
Rather than seeking bloody vengeance, Takeshi Kitano, director of yakuza films "Violent Cop," "Outrage" and "Beyond Outrage," expressed his frustrations with the domestic film industry with pointed comments at a recent talk event in Tokyo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 27, 2014
Scenes from Tokyo International Film Festival 2014
The made-in-Japan anime moves into the spotlight for the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival. Accordingly Ultraman and Doraeman and other less famous characters dropped by the festival on opening day to take part in the red carpet event.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
Vision of anime's future at Tokyo International Film Festival
The Tokyo International Film Festival, running through Oct. 31, is no longer Asia's biggest or most important festival — that honor is now claimed by the recently held rival Busan film festival. But its 27th edition — the first to reflect the full influence of TIFF's current director-general, Yasushi...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
TIFF Critic's Picks: Films from countries famed for unrest and oppression
According to TIFF's visual programming director Yoshihiko Yatabe, the semiofficial theme for this year's festival is "People on the Edge." They may be pursued, stuck in a rut, in dire trouble or just plain confused, but their stories are some of the most compelling at this years festival. These films...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2014
TIFF Critic's Picks: Japanese directors to watch
Despite TIFF's anime focus this year, its lineup of live-action Japanese films is as wide ranging as ever, with one glaring exception: Classic Japanese movies are almost nowhere on the program, and only one Japanese film, Daisuke Yoshida's "Kami no Tsuki (Pale Moon)," is being shown in the competition....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2014
Hideaki Anno: emotional deconstructionist
With dozens of the renowned filmmaker's works scheduled to be screened at the Tokyo International Film Festival over the next two weeks, we speak to the man behind the 'Evangelion' sci-fi franchise about his apocalyptic influences and prod him on the question that is on every fan's lips
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2014
Tokyo International Film Festival contender 'Pale Moon' gets to the root of all evil
The bad news? Japan has only one entry in the Competition section at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. The good news? The submission, Daihachi Yoshida's "Pale Moon," is a major contender for the $50,000 Tokyo Grand Prix.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 15, 2014
Two men and a tot make a half-decent film
When indie directors take a more commercial turn, the usual explanation is the bigger paycheck, but it's not always so simple. Yuya Ishii's shift from the raucous films of his early career to the more genteel, mainstream 2013 film "Fune wo Amu (The Great Passage)" raised not only his standard of living...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2014
Harmonic slips in time, identity and language
World War II-themed films by elderly Japanese directors with direct experience of the war are not only becoming scarcer, but are also distinctly different from those of younger filmmakers trying to appeal to a mass audience. Kazuo Kuroki's 2006 film "Kamiya Etsuko no Seishun (The Blossoming of Kamiya...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 1, 2014
Death-row samurai spills ink, not blood
Why have samurai movies become so middle-aged and sedate? Starting in the silent days and continuing through their 1950s peak, period films with top-knotted heroes typically featured a big one-against-many finale with flashing swords and the occasional firearm. Especially in the early days, both actors...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 17, 2014
'My Fair Lady' wrapped in a geisha's kimono
The musical used to be among the rarest of Japanese film genres. Plenty of films here — going back to the early talkies — featured singing and dancing, but Broadway-style musicals, which integrate the songs into the story, never really caught on.
Japan braces for more quakes as authorities dismiss doomsday hype
Evacuees from Akuseki Island, located in the Tokara island chain in Kagoshima Prefecuture, arrive at Kagoshima Port on Friday.
Heatstroke alert issued for 19 prefectures as Japan enters 'once-in-a-decade' heat wave
Japan will experience a heat wave through mid-July on a “level only seen once in a decade,” the Meteorological Agency said on June 30.
Hidden AI prompts in academic papers spark concern about research integrity
Waseda University is one of 14 institutions in eight countries found to have used hidden prompts in research papers.
Tokyo and Kyoto feature among top ‘noctourism’ destinations
Tokyo ranked second after New York and ahead of Dubai and Singapore in a ranking of the top global cities for nighttime tourism.
Elon Musk says he has created a new U.S. political party
Elon Musk looks on during a news conference with U.S. President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 30.
Ghibli’s Isao Takahata exhibit shows how beloved anime is made
“The man who planted Japanese animation” exhibition includes a variety of sketches, drawings and animation cels from Isao Takahata films such as color design for characters by Michiyo Yasuda from "Grave of the Fireflies."
Flag football facing challenges and opportunities ahead
Japan’s women’s flag football team at the 2025 International Bowl in Los Angeles in June. The sport is enjoying continued growth in the country.
From Hokusai’s Great Wave, shinkansen to One Piece: a cultural treasure box for Lego Japan
Michael Ebbesen, general manager of Lego Japan, says Lego bricks based on Japanese culture have a rich global appeal and are sellable around the world.
With farmed fish, RelationFish swims against the tide in fine dining
Chef Hideaki Matsuo (middle) and the staff of Oseto Suisan Fisheries prepare to check on their sustainably farmed fish.
As Southeast Asia heats up, a Japanese cooling giant sees a major opportunity
An employee of Daikin Cambodia explains the use of different tools during an air conditioner installation training session in Phnom Penh. Daikin is one of Japan’s oldest air conditioning companies, but as Japan’s population falls, the firm is keying in on overseas growth.

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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