Film / Reviews Mar 11, 2021
‘The Sun Stands Still’: Race against time fails to pick up the pace
by James Hadfield
Eiichiro Hasumi’s big-budget thriller about globe-trotting spies is not quite Japan’s answer to the “Mission: Impossible” movies.
Film / Reviews Aug 1, 2018
'Sensei Kunshu': Looking for love in all the wrong places
by Mark Schilling
Student crushes on teachers are a pop culture staple (ask any Van Halen fan). In real life, they're a minefield, with trip wires becoming ever more sensitive. "Sensei Kunshu," Momoko Koda's hit manga about a teenage girl (Minami Hamabe) goo-goo-eyed over a handsome math teacher ...
Film / Reviews Aug 17, 2016
'Yell For the Blue Sky': High school drama never really changes
by Mark Schilling
The seishun eiga or "youth film" is one Japanese genre that doesn't travel well abroad. With only a few exceptions, these films assume a familiarity with the insular world of the Japanese high school (or, once in a while, junior high school) that outlanders ...
TV | CHANNEL SURF Jun 10, 2016
'Aiba Learns'; 'Good Fortune! Appraisal Team for Anything High Quality Treasure Salon'; Lotte — So
by Philip Brasor
In addition to singing and dancing, the popular male idols managed by Johnny & Associates do a lot of educational TV, including "Aiba Manabu" ("Aiba Learns"; TV Asahi, Sun., 6 p.m.), in which Masaki Aiba, a member of boy band Arashi, learns about some ...