In Japan, pandemic and celebrity deaths likely behind rise in suicides
One counseling service saw daily queries jump from around 200 to about 1,800 shortly after the death of popular actress Yuko Takeuchi in an apparent suicide.
The pressure to be perfect turns deadly for celebrities in Japan
Yuko Takeuchi is the latest in a succession of suicides that has shown the burdens of a society where many feel that they must conceal their personal struggles.
Award-winning actress Yuko Takeuchi dies in apparent suicide
The Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department has launched an investigation. No suicide note has been found.
Yuko Takeuchi steps into an iconic role on 'Miss Sherlock' with elementary ease
Guinness World Records announced in 2012 that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes was the most portrayed character on film and TV, depicted 254 times by more than 75 different actors. While familiar with the original, Japanese audiences also know the detective via an anime ...
'Creepy': It doesn't get much eerier than this
The title of "Creepy," the new shocker by horror maestro Kiyoshi Kurosawa, sounds like an in-jokey self-parody. It's like titling a new Adam Sandler comedy "Goofy" (or if you're not feeling charitable, "Crappy"). But "Creepy," which premiered at this year's Berlin Film Festival, is ...
J-horror master Yoshihiro Nakamura returns to form
Yoshihiro Nakamura entered the film world on a well-trodden path. After making 8 mm films while studying at Tokyo's Seijo University and winning a prize at the 1993 Pia Film Festival — a famous incubator for young Japanese filmmakers — he worked as an ...
Ghosts go hunting for the living in 'The Inerasable'
Have you ever walked down a corridor or into a room in the dead of night with your heart beating and your skin crawling? Something spooks you, for reasons that — in the clear light of day — seem to have to nothing to ...
Women are in trouble at the Tokyo International Film Festival
Bad things can happen to good women, especially in the movies. For me, the most intriguing films at TIFF this year feature women in trouble. Yes, men may be a lot harder to take down on-screen than women — requiring explosives, monsters and extremely ...
