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July 12, 2025
 

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KOJI YAKUSHO

Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “Evil Does Not Exist,” released in Japanese theaters in April, sharply dramatizes the clash between rural and urban values. The film won five awards at the 2023 Venice Film Festival, including the second-place Silver Lion prize.
CULTURE / Film / 2024 in Review
Dec 20, 2024
A year of Oscar wins and a quiet push for diversity
International collaborations and indie risk-takers steered the film industry in a fresh direction in 2024.
Eight warriors fight to end a curse placed on a samurai clan in “Hakkenden: Fiction and Reality.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2024
‘Hakkenden’ has fun with Edo-era pulp fiction
The film presents both a bio of Takizawa Bakin, whose writing had a large impact on Japanese pop culture, and a snazzy live-action digest of his influential novel.
Wim Wenders (left) co-wrote the script for “Perfect Days” with top advertising creative Takuma Takasaki. Japanese star Koji Yakusho (right) won best actor at Cannes last year for his performance as the film’s protagonist, a taciturn toilet cleaner in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 27, 2024
Oscar-nominated 'Perfect Days' is 'not about toilets,' Wenders says
The director's film about a taciturn cleaner who keeps Tokyo's public toilets spotless prompts reflections on urban solitude, community and growing older.
A Tokyo toilet cleaner (Koji Yakusho, left) bonds with his teenage niece (Arisa Nakano) in “Perfect Days.”
CULTURE / Film
Jan 4, 2024
Wim Wenders’ ‘Perfect Days’ finds beauty in small pleasures
Koji Yakusho gives an evocative, multilayered performance as a Tokyo toilet cleaner with a passion for simple joys in this poetic drama.
Director Wim Wenders served as president of the competition jury at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival. Wenders' "Perfect Days," which opened the festival and features Koji Yakusho as a toilet cleaner in Tokyo, is Japan’s nominee for the Academy Awards’ best international feature film category.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 11, 2023
'Perfect Days' and '(Ab)normal Desire' turn heads at Tokyo International Film Festival
Wim Wenders' film opened the event, while Yoshiyuki Kishi’s multilayered drama made a splash, taking both the Audience Award and the best director prize.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 3, 2023
‘Father of the Milky Way Railroad’: Writer biopic plays to domestic audience's love of a good cry
Koji Yakusho and Masaki Suda give strong performances as father and son in a film about Kenji Miyazawa, one of Japan’s beloved authors of children’s literature.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 18, 2021
'Under the Open Sky' depicts what lies between good and evil
Director Miwa Nishikawa's latest film stars Koji Yakusho as a hardened ex-con trying to restart his life after spending 13 years behind bars.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 10, 2021
‘Under the Open Sky’: Harsh realities about ex-cons hit home
Koji Yakusho delivers a captivating performance as a former yakuza thug struggling to adjust to life after leaving prison in Miwa Nishikawa's drama.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 7, 2021
Japanese films you won't want to miss in 2021
This year's release lineup is stacked with domestic films that have little competition for audiences as many Hollywood films have been set back by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 22, 2020
Veteran Koji Yakusho brings his movie star clout to the Tokyo International Film Festival
This year's TIFF ambassador discusses the festival experience, the effects of COVID-19 on the film industry, and discovering his inner Marie Kondo.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2018
'The Blood of Wolves': Old-school yakuza thrills are back
The yakuza movie used to bestride the Japanese film industry like a colossus, but now clings to its margins. A well-known director occasionally essays the genre, as Takeshi Kitano did last year with "Outrage Coda," but a true revival has yet to come.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 3, 2018
Koji Yakusho reveals what makes a good director and how it feels to play 'dirty'
With a career spanning four decades, Koji Yakusho has been both a star overseas ("Memoirs of a Geisha," "Babel") and an award-winner at home, most notably for his 1996 breakthrough "Shall We Dance?" But through it all he has maintained a Tom Hanks-esque nice guy image.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 6, 2017
'The Third Murder': Director Hirokazu Koreeda triumphs with a trial drama that keeps the focus on character
Murder mysteries are popular film and television fodder in Japan, but most revolve around puzzle plots that hold as much real-world probability as the cases of Sherlock Holmes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Aug 5, 2015
A more complex portrayal of Emperor Hirohito
Emperor Hirohito, who is posthumously known as Emperor Showa, had a procession of public images during his long reign from 1926 to 1989 — though none were quite accurate.
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...
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.
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.
Air India crash report to offer peek into last seconds
Members of the Indian Army's engineering arm prepare to remove the wreckage of an Air India aircraft in Ahmedabad on June 14.
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.
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.
NGOs condemn rise in anti-immigrant rhetoric ahead of Upper House vote
Sanseito head Sohei Kamiya holds a board that reads "Japanese First" in Tokyo on July 2. In a joint statement on Tuesday, eight human rights nongovernmental organizations described the far-right party's stance as "hate speech."
Japanese dancers find a home abroad at Houston Ballet
“Giselle” lead Yuriko Kajiya (center), performing with Connor Walsh as Albrecht, is one of six Japanese dancers at Houston Ballet.
From the Abes to the Ohtanis: How siblings shape athletic development
Olympic judoka Uta Abe (second from left) and Hifumi Abe (second from right) with their brother Yuichiro (center) and their parents. “I’m always consciously trying to be a good older brother,” Yuichiro said.

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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Muji has been sustainable from the beginning

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