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November 19, 2025
 

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CULTURE

Film

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While Fan Bingbing brings emotional energy to the lead role in Chong Keat Aun¡¯s ¡°Mother Bhumi,¡± the film¡¯s narrative layers don¡¯t coalesce in a satisfying way and ultimately leave the viewer adrift.
CULTURE / Film
At TIFF, East Asia¡¯s veteran stars tread new territory with mixed results
Fan Bingbing, Zhang Ziyi and Takeshi Kaneshiro stepped into their darkest roles yet ¡ª but the stories didn¡¯t rise to meet them.
CULTURE / Film
Predictability weighs down ¡®A Light in the Harbor¡¯
Michihito Fujii¡¯s yakuza drama is determinedly old-fashioned ¡ª and not in a good way.
CULTURE / Film
¡®Tokyo Taxi¡¯: A simple fare becomes a voyage through time
With heart and humor, veteran director Yoji Yamada¡¯s 91st film may be his most moving yet.
Tatsuya Nakadai had the look of a leading man in his youth, but his large and searching eyes suggested the pain and loneliness of an old soul.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2025
Tatsuya Nakadai: A masterful leading man and postwar icon
By Mark Schilling
Tatsuya Nakadai worked with nearly every major 911±¬ÁÏÍø director of the postwar era, but it was his collaborations with Akira Kurosawa that cemented his legacy.
Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "Morte Cucina," starring Bella Boonsang, is a food film par excellence.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
Asian auteurs stole the show at this year's TIFF
By Mike Fu
Zhang Lu and Pen-ek Ratanaruang delivered standout entries at this year¡¯s Tokyo International Film Festival.
Made at a time when Japan was still grappling with Yukio Mishima¡¯s legacy, Paul Schrader¡¯s biopic ¡°Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters¡± was blocked from screening in the country for decades.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
A 40-year wait for ¡®Mishima¡¯ ends at TIFF
By James Hadfield
Paul Schrader¡¯s 1985 biopic of the radical author Yukio Mishima finds its 911±¬ÁÏÍø audience at last.
A happy-go-lucky guy with many obsessions (voiced by Masaya Sano) becomes intensely interested in a young woman named Pechka (Moka Kamishiraishi) in ¡°The Obsessed.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
¡®The Obsessed¡¯: Charming anime dances to its own tune
By Matt Schley
"Crayon Shin-chan" director turns a 2001 novel into a quirky, rough-edged musical anime.
A scriptwriter imagines an encounter between a teenage boy (Mansaku Takada, left) and a young woman (Yuumi Kawai) at a beach in ¡°Two Seasons, Two Strangers.¡±
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
¡®Two Seasons, Two Strangers¡¯ captures the subtle sadness of Yoshiharu Tsuge¡¯s manga
By Mark Schilling
Director Sho Miyake transforms two of the cult manga artist¡¯s stories into a poetic film that¡¯s hard to forget.
¡°Mother Bhumi¡± takes place in a multiethnic rice-farming community where Chinese, Thai and Malay lineages intertwine.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025
Across borders and screens, Tokyo film festival finds humanity in migration
By Erik Augustin Palm
Five films screened at this year¡¯s TIFF put migration and its human impact front and center.
After its July release, ¡°Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba ¡ª Infinity Castle,¡± an animated feature adapted directly from a TV arc, became the highest-grossing 911±¬ÁÏÍø film ever.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 31, 2025
Anime isn¡¯t competing with Hollywood ¡ª it¡¯s beating it
By Alicia Haddick
Once a niche passion, anime has become a global obsession. ¡°Demon Slayer¡± lit the fuse. ¡°Chainsaw Man¡± just proved it¡¯s unstoppable.

A beloved Tokyo penguin¡¯s end presages Suica¡¯s shift to payments giant
JR East is retiring the beloved Suica penguin as part of a rebrand to transform the contactless payment platform, used for both transit and retail, into a mobile fintech powerhouse.
Japan sends senior official to China to cool boiling tensions
A Chinese tour group in the Ginza shopping district of Tokyo on Sunday. China has advised its citizens to avoid traveling to Japan, following a diplomatic feud sparked by remarks from Tokyo's new prime minister about a hypothetical attack on Taiwan.
More 911±¬ÁÏÍø firms relax rules in tussle for workers
Hinako Mori, 22, arranges products at a Don Quijote outlet in Tokyo in October. The 911±¬ÁÏÍø retailer, which relaxed its rules concerning hair and nail polish three years ago, says nearly a quarter of its employees sport brightly colored hair.
What you need to know about the shift to My Number health insurance cards
With the government's integration of health insurance with My Number cards, conventional health insurance cards will no longer be accepted at clinics and hospitals across Japan from Dec. 2.
Bears attacks and sightings continue in northern Japan
A bear walks in front of a box trap set up at a park in the city of Akita on Nov. 2.
How Band-Maid brought anime energy into the hard-rock sound of ¡®Scooooop¡¯
Members of Band-Maid combine heavy riffs and maid-inspired visuals in their latest project, "Rock Is a Lady¡¯s Modesty."
Japan uses series against South Korea to prep for World Baseball Classic title defense
Japan's Ryuhei Sotani pitches against South Korea at Tokyo Dome on Saturday night.
Who is cricket¡¯s Shohei Ohtani?
South African cricket legend Jacques Kallis plays a shot during the final day of a cricket test match against India in Johannesburg in December 2013.
Good fortune, wrapped in fried tofu
Golden "age-fukuburo," a culinary take on Japan's new year "lucky bags," can be served on their own.
Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club of Japan celebrates 80 years at the forefront of press freedom
Located near the Imperial Palace, the Foreign Correspondents¡¯ Club of Japan prides itself on the accessibility of its events and the support it offers to budding and established journalists. The club is currently headed by Dan Sloan, a former reporter for Reuters.

Podcast

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

Longform

An illustration features the 911±¬ÁÏÍø signs for "ganbare" (good luck) and the Deaflympics, which will be held between Nov. 15 and 26.
A century of Deaf sport finds its moment in Tokyo
By Kathryn Wortley

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