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December 08, 2024
 

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CULTURE

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¡°A Big Home¡± offers a sincere portrait of the vulnerable youth who live in more than 600 group homes across Japan.
CULTURE / Film
Vulnerable youth look for sense of belonging in ¡®A Big Home¡¯
Ryo Takebayashi¡¯s documentary profiles the residents of a group home, but shies away from making emphatic statements about the circumstances that brought them there.
CULTURE / Film
¡®The Making of a Japanese¡¯: A warm and engaging portrait of Japanese schoolchildren
Ema Ryan Yamazaki¡¯s documentary is a candid and heartfelt glimpse of elementary school in Tokyo.
CULTURE / Film
¡®Faceless¡¯: Fugitive thriller turns a blind eye to hard truths
Michihiro Fujii¡¯s latest offers stylistic flourishes while treading the familiar terrain of the fugitive film.
Eriko Nakamura (left) and Ryo Narita play star-crossed lovers in Shinzo Katayama¡¯s hallucinatory romp through past and present, dreams and reality.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 28, 2024
The mind-bending melancholy of ¡®Lust in the Rain¡¯
By Mark Schilling
Shinzo Katayama¡¯s hallucinatory film boldly explores both the absurdities of wartime violence and the erotic psyche.
¡°What Divides Us" producer Cannon Hersey says his grandfather, who wrote about the aftermath of nuclear destruction in Hiroshima, never spoke about what he had seen while working with Japanese minister Kiyoshi Tanimoto to preserve the stories of survivors.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 27, 2024
¡®What Divides Us¡¯ producer honors grandfather¡¯s Hiroshima reportage
By Himari Semans
The feature film centers on the bond between a Japanese minister and an American journalist who worked together to document the aftermath of nuclear destruction.
A 19th-century warrior gets struck by lightning and wakes to find himself in 21st-century Kyoto in Junichi Yasuda¡¯s surprise hit ¡°A Samurai in Time.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024
The slow-burn success of ¡®A Samurai in Time¡¯
By James Hadfield
Junichi Yasuda¡¯s film about a time-traveling warrior is a loving tribute to the ¡°jidaigeki¡± (period drama) genre and its practitioners.
A strait-laced tax officer (Seiyo Uchino) teams up with a gang of con artists to take down a crooked property developer in ¡°Angry Squad: Civil Servant and Seven Swindlers.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024
¡®Angry Squad¡¯: A caper comedy with a lot of heart
By James Hadfield
The film¡¯s two-hour running time breezes by as a strait-laced tax officer joins a colorful crew of con artists.
A failed actor (Koji Seki, left) revisits memories of his ex-wife (Kano Ichiki) after learning about her unexpected death in ¡°Performing Kaoru's Funeral.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 21, 2024
¡®Performing Kaoru's Funeral¡¯: Ambitious drama reflects on love that doesn¡¯t die
By Mark Schilling
Koji Seki brings gravitas to his role as a man tasked with serving as chief mourner for his dead ex-wife in Noriko Yuasa¡¯s drama.
A socially awkward janitor (Haruka Ayase, left) hits the road to pick up a dying woman¡¯s daughter (Kana Osawa) in ¡°Route 29.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 18, 2024
¡®Route 29¡¯: Misfits come together in touching road movie
By Mark Schilling
Though the protagonists spend more time on their feet than in a car, Yusuke Morii¡¯s feature about two strangers hitting the road is picaresque and borderline precious.
Childhood friends Hiroto (Hiroya Shimizu, right) and Kanamori (Mahiro Takasugi, left) find their gangland loyalties put to the test in Takuro Iwaya¡¯s ¡°Oasis.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 14, 2024
¡®Oasis¡¯: Real-life bromance elevates a generic crime drama
By James Hadfield
Co-stars Hiroya Shimizu and Mahiro Takasugi¡¯s convincing chemistry as childhood friends carries Takuro Iwaya¡¯s pulpy B-movie.

Miho Nakayama, known for 'Love Letter' and a decadeslong music career, dies at 54
Miho Nakayama
A $105 trillion inheritance windfall is on the way for U.S. heirs
About $105 trillion is projected to be passed down from older generations over the next quarter century, according to research firm Cerulli Associates, an amount roughly equal to global gross domestic product in 2023.
Japan's soft power soared to new heights in 2024
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for ¡°Godzilla Minus One,¡± while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in ¡°Shogun.¡± Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.
Japan's honorific language can be challenging for native speakers, too
People walk around an outlet mall in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. At stores across Japan, clerks use a form of polite language called "manyuaru keigo," literally, ¡°manual honorifics,¡± named for the service manuals they study it from.
Police may be able to use fake IDs to investigate yami baito
A Metropolitan Police Department flyer on high-paying illegal work advertised on social media, known as yami baito
What constitutes fatal dangerous driving in Japan?
Critics have said that drivers who were speeding well over the speed limit or those who were extremely drunk were not indicted for dangerous driving because of its vague definition.
Japan's soft power soared to new heights in 2024
Japanese creatives, athletes and activists saw their efforts recognized on the world stage in various ways this year. At the Oscars (left) Takashi Yamazaki and his team took a prize for ¡°Godzilla Minus One,¡± while later in the year Anna Sawai and Hiroyuki Sanada (center) took Emmys for their work in ¡°Shogun.¡± Shohei Ohtani (right) was arguably the biggest Japanese star of the year.
Lightning strikes twice for Shun Ikeda at All Japan Championships
Shun Ikeda holds the trophy after winning his second consecutive amateur yokozuna title on Sunday at Tokyo¡¯s Ryogoku Kokugikan.
Yoon¡¯s gambit a tempest in a teapot for financial markets
A screen displays market data at Hana Bank in Seoul on Wednesday.
U.S. Space Force launches first unit in Japan
Activated on Wednesday, U.S. Space Forces Japan ¡ª a component similar to the one established at South Korea¡¯s Osan Air Base in 2022 ¡ª will operate out of Yokota Air Base in the city of Fussa, western Tokyo, with a staff of about 10.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

People in cities across Japan will pop into their local convenience store for any number of products they believe will help them with a night of drinking.
Hangover cures are everywhere in Japan ¡ª but do they work?
By Thu-Huong Ha

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