Film Apr 10, 2020
Shochiku celebrates a century of Japanese cinema hits
by Mark Schilling
Despite setbacks caused by COVID-19, film studio Shochiku is determined to go ahead with its program of anniversary events and releases where possible.
Stage Feb 15, 2020
Virtual idols, anime and a rock 'n' roll spirit: Nakamura Shido II leads kabuki's evolution
by Andrew McKirdy
The audience, most of whom are in their 20s and 30s, wave glow sticks and holler as the lights go down for the start of the show. Above the stage, a frame of blue lights throbs and pulses like a circuit board before the ...
National / History | JAPAN TIMES GONE BY Feb 2, 2019
Spanish influenza again holds Tokyo in its deadly grip, favored by the changeable weather.
National May 8, 2017
Actress Yumeji Tsukioka, who starred in numerous popular films during the 1950s, died of pneumonia at a hospital in Tokyo last Wednesday, her office said. She was 95. Tsukioka, whose real name was Akiko Inoue, became a top actress in the Takarazuka all-female musical troupe ...
Film Dec 7, 2013
Re-examining Yasujiro Ozu on film
by Mark Schilling
Yasujiro Ozu once had a reputation for making films only other Japanese could understand. His studio bosses believed overseas audiences wanted the exoticism of samurai and geisha, not Ozu's quietly realistic dramas about contemporary middle-class families. This explains the reluctance of Ozu's studio, Shochiku, to export ...
Film Dec 7, 2013
Tracing the unhurried history of iconic director Yasujiro Ozu
by Mark Schilling
Dec. 12, 1903: Yasujiro Ozu is born in Tokyo's Fukagawa district, the second of five siblings. His father is a prosperous fertilizer wholesaler from Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture. Ozu lives in Matsusaka with his brothers and sisters from 1913 to 1924. Aug. 2, 1923: After failing ...
National May 12, 2013
Film studio Shochiku Co. will celebrate the 110th anniversary of the birth of legendary director Yasujiro Ozu this year by making digitally restored versions of four of his color films and staging special events. The restored "An Autumn Afternoon" will be screened for the first ...
Stage Mar 29, 2013
Revamped Kabukiza theater aims to charm a new audience
by Tomoko Otake
The Kabukiza is back — with big ambitions and aspirations to make the nation's classical theatrical entertainment more attractive to a 21st-century audience. The reopened kabuki theater — now reconstructed for the fifth time — in the upscale shopping-entertainment district of Ginza, will roll out ...
Reference | EXPLAINER Mar 19, 2013
Ginza stage set for Kabukiza's fifth coming
by Jun Hongo
The venerable Kabukiza Theater in Tokyo's Ginza district reopens April 2 after three years of renovations and the addition of a 29-floor attached office tower. A key venue for kabuki and other performances since 1889, the theater will retain its original ornate Japanese facade. Following are ...