Tag - wide-angle

 
Menu
Search
 
April 28, 2024
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

WIDE ANGLE

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Feb 1, 2017
Hiroki Matsukata: a gangster farewell
Hiroki Matsukata, who died at age 74 on Jan. 21, may have been born into an acting family — his father was jidaigeki (historical drama) actor Jushiro Konoe — but in his yakuza films for the Toei studio in the 1960s and '70s, Matsukata's portrayals of feral-but-charming hoods seemed to boil up off the streets, not a studio lot.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 25, 2017
Helen Pankhurst: The suffragettes were just the beginning
As women march to protest Donald Trump's presidency and "Suffragette" is released in Japan, the words of Helen Pankhurst, activist and British suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst's great-granddaughter, should resonate with many filmgoers.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 18, 2017
The truth is still out there
"The truth is out there." This tagline to the sci-fi TV series "The X-Files" used to give me chills when it was first aired on Fox in 1993. The series touted an intriguing minimalist elegance — from its set designs to FBI agent Dana Scully's pristine white shirts and smart suits, contrasted with the slightly rumpled look of her partner Fox Mulder. It was an unusual aesthetic for the horror-heavy content derived from the two agents chasing serial murderers, government conspiracies and Little Green Men.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 11, 2017
'The Knick': Still gnarlier than 'The Walking Dead'
A number of auteurs have dabbled in TV series, such as David Fincher with "House of Cards" and Martin Scorsese with "Vinyl"; but with "The Knick," Steven Soderbergh becomes the first to hands-on direct every episode of a show from beginning to end. The result is a two-season arc of absolutely gripping television, now available on Hulu.jp.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Jan 4, 2017
'Tampopo' has blown back to our screens
Released in 1985, Juzo Itami's "Tampopo" was famously a flop in Japan, but a hit abroad, especially in the United States, where it became the second-highest-earning Japanese film ever. This "noodle Western" about a rough-hewn truck driver (Tsutomu Yamazaki) who helps a spunky widow (Nobuko Miyamoto) make her struggling ramen shop a success may have been inspired by Hollywood models, but its take on Japan's bubble-era (1980s) gurume (gourmet) boom was bitingly satirical and imaginatively unconventional in ways unique to Itami.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Dec 28, 2016
'Ruined Heart': a belated release
When you're covering a film fest, sometimes you crave a quick jolt. I'm still not sure how Khavn's "Ruined Heart" (Japan title: "Kowareta Kokoro") snuck into the main competition section of Tokyo International Film Festival in 2014, but watching it at the time felt like necking a triple vodka and Red Bull.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Dec 14, 2016
'Beep' tracks down 8-bit maestros
Here's one for the gamers: "Beep: A Documentary History of Game Sound" interviews more than 80 composers, sound designers and voice actors in a comprehensive look at its topic. Starting with mechanical pinball bells, "Beep" moves through the bleepy 8-bit sounds of 1980s arcade games to the present, where an entire otaku subculture is dedicated to the live performance of game music.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Dec 7, 2016
'Crazy Thunder Road' is still a mad, but great film
Sogo Ishii — or Gakuryu Ishii, as he now prefers to be known — was just 23 when he released "Crazy Thunder Road," perhaps one of the greatest films to emerge from Japan's punk era (an honor it shares with the director's 1982 follow-up, "Burst City"). A nihilistic tale of warring biker gangs and ultra-nationalist militias, the movie drew comparisons to George Miller's "Mad Max," released a year earlier, though it was closer in spirit to the low-budget filmmaking that was then being pioneered by Sam Raimi in the United States.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 30, 2016
The diversity of religion captured on film
Reflecting on the rise of a generation of Japanese that has grown up suspicious of organized religion — particularly those who came of age in the shadow of 1995's terror attacks by the Aum Shinrikyo cult — Nihon University's College of Art has put together a Religion Film Festival, which will be screening at Shibuya's Eurospace Dec. 10-16.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 23, 2016
The gritty side of Polish film
European cinema lost one of its greats in October, when Polish director Andrzej Wajda passed away at the age of 90. Wajda, perhaps best known for his 1981 Cannes Palme d'Or winner "Man of Iron," had a long association with Japan, being awarded both the Kyoto Prize in 1987 and the Order of The Rising Sun in 1995.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 16, 2016
'Nuclear Nation' offers a long, hard look at Fukushima refugees' plight
'Nuclear Nation 2016' re-examines the situation facing Fukushima refugees forced to abandon their homes and evacuate from their hometowns after the Fukushima disaster.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 9, 2016
Tokyo Filmex sharpens its focus
Is Tokyo Filmex losing its raison d'etre? Opening less than a month after the Tokyo International Film Festival ends, Tokyo Filmex was once the hard-core indie antithesis of the larger, more mainstream TIFF, but the latter is now more welcoming to the kind of young, up-and-coming Japanese and Asian directors who might have once naturally gravitated to the former.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Nov 2, 2016
Tokyo Station Gallery celebrates Ken Takakura's traditional virtues
Ken Takakura (1931-2014) was a major film star for nearly five decades. He also became a national icon for embodying traditional virtues, especially in his dozens of gang films for the Toei studio in the 1960s and '70s.
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 26, 2016
Staring into the 'Black Mirror'
After two short seasons on British broadcaster Channel 4, the near-future techno-dystopian sci-fi series "Black Mirror" moves to Netflix, with a bigger budget and more episodes.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 19, 2016
Kyoto International Film Festival wraps up in style
Kyoto is a great destination for a variety of reasons — and the Kyoto International Film and Art Festival (KIFF) wants to be one of them. Its third edition, which just wrapped up on Oct. 16, offered everything from the arts and crafts for which Kyoto is famous to screenings of 108 short and feature films at 21 venues around the city.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 12, 2016
Feel the Latin film beat
The Latin Beat Film Festival enters its 13th year, offering cinephiles in Tokyo, Osaka and Yokohama a chance to check out the latest in Spanish-language cinema with a dozen new films.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Oct 5, 2016
Swedish silent movies worth talking about
The National Film Center has collaborated with the Swedish Film Institute to put together a silent-film festival, which kicks off on Oct. 11 and runs until Oct. 16. Screening seven re-mastered classics, "Silent Film Renaissance 2016: Treasures From the Archive of the Swedish Film Institute" is a showcase of unusual gems.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 28, 2016
Shep Gordon lives life like a movie
Behind every star, you can be sure there's a schmoozing, shouting manager who got them where they are. It's not a profession noted for its integrity; managers most often make news when being sued by a former client. Yet comedian Mike Myers ("Austin Powers") likes his manager so much, he made a film about him.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 21, 2016
'Stranger Things' happened in the 1980s
The streaming wars continue, and one advantage Netflix has over its rivals is that it releases its original content in Japan without much annoying time lag. That's true of their new paranormal series "Stranger Things," which came out in the dog days of summer but is still building buzz.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Sep 14, 2016
Director Naomi Kawase celebrates her hometown with the Nara Film Festival
Film festivals can be the product of one person's passion, but that person is rarely a regular invitee to that most prestigious of festivals: Cannes. Director Naomi Kawase, who has both won Cannes prizes and sat on Cannes juries, fits that description as the executive director of the Nara International Film Festival (NIFF), whose fourth edition will be held Sept. 17-22.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Ukraine is far from doomed
When comparing Ukraine’s military situation in 2024 to Europe’s in 1941, Russia’s defeat seems entirely possible.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Tokyo's Koto Ward by-election a race unlike any other
Natsumi Sakai, the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan’s candidate and one of four female candidates running in the by-election, touts her experience as a cancer survivor and midwife as having prepared her to tackle issues that women currently face.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.

Podcast

From easily navigable train stations to the helpfulness of its municipal staff, Tokyo has earned high praise for its commitment to accessibility for disabled travelers.
[Rebroadcast] Japan is doing better on accessibility than you may think

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
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass
Prize winner Maki Imoto catches light with glass

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER