Tag - renji-ishibashi

 
 

RENJI ISHIBASHI

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 2, 2020
‘I Never Shot Anyone’: This nostalgic neo-noir misses its mark
Junji Sakamoto's neo-noir film about a writer leading a shadowy double life has a cast laden with heavyweight talents, but it doesn't quite hit the spot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 11, 2017
'A Drop from Tomato': Planting the seeds of reconciliation
For independent filmmakers from elsewhere in Asia with high censorship or distribution hurdles, Japan must look like paradise. Last year, most of the 581 local films released here were low-budget indie titles. Hardly any of their makers got rich, but at least their films saw the theatrical light of day. But as illustrated by the troubled history of "A Drop from Tomato," a heart-warming drama by actor-director Hideo Sakaki, dozens of Japanese indie films fail to make the transition from production to release for years — or forever.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jun 1, 2016
'Danchi': The extraordinary everywoman
"Danchi" doesn't translate easily into English. "Apartment complex" or "housing estate" are only rough equivalents for the thousands of public-housing units thrown up in the postwar boom years to cope with Tokyo's exploding population. Equipped with running water, flush toilets and other amenities, with stores and schools close by, danchi symbolized middle-class prosperity for escapees from hardscrabble lives in the countryside. But today Showa Era (1926-1989) danchi, with their tiny rooms, lack of elevators and general air of decrepitude, are relics of another time, with a shrinking, mostly elderly resident population.
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 dough soon proves to be a disastrous sort of fairy gold. Instead of rich, the crooks end up arrested or dead. Sutton himself spent more than half his adult life behind bars.

Longform

Later this month, author Shogo Imamura will open Honmaru, a bookstore that allows other businesses to rent its shelves. It's part of a wave of ideas Japanese booksellers are trying to compete with online spaces.
The story isn't over for Japan's bookstores