japan
‘Touch’ Review: Baltasar Kormákur Shifts Gears With a Delicate Study of Passion Suspended by Time and Distance
The Icelandic director’s latest is a novelistic saga of an elderly widower who sets out to solve the mystery of his first love’s sudden disappearance 50 years earlier.
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Soho House Set to Open First Japan House in 2026
Soho House will finally reach Japan, after the global private members club for creatives revealed plans for a Tokyo house that is set to open in 2026. Located in the Tokyo’s upmarket Aoyama district, an area known for independent boutiques, fashion stores that is a stone’s throw from the Omotesando shopping area, Soho House Tokyo […]
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How ‘Tokyo Vice’ Captured More of Japan’s Capital City on Camera Than Any TV Show Has Before
When the skies cleared above Tokyo’s historic Akasaka district late one evening in March 2023, no one in the city of 37 million people could have been more relieved than Masanori Aikawa, the tireless location manager employed by Warner Bros. Discovery’s Max and its hit TV series Tokyo Vice. The neo-noir crime drama was then […]
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Berlin: Toei Animation’s Yoshi Ikezawa on Ambitious New CGI Feature ‘Hypergalactic’
Instrumental in bringing anime to the world through properties such as Sailor Moon, Dragon Ball and One Piece, Toei Animation is now on a mission to reach even wider audiences by combining Japanese aesthetics with storytelling and themes from around the globe. The storied studio, where Hayao Miyazaki began his career, landed a huge hit […]
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Anime and ‘Godzilla Minus One’ Push Japan’s Box Office Higher in 2023
Japan’s box office climbed 4 percent to a post-pandemic high of $1.5 billion (221.5 billion yen) in 2023, driven again by a strong slate of anime and a steady return to theaters. Hollywood films maintained the same market share of around 31 percent as the previous year, though a very weak yen reduced earnings in […]
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‘Oppenheimer’ to Get Japan Release
Oppenheimer will get a theatrical release in Japan. Japanese distributor Bitters End has confirmed it will bow Christopher Nolan’s biopic in local cinemas next year, though it did not set a specific release date. In a statement, Bitters End said it had made the decision after screening the film and “following months of thoughtful dialogue […]
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Tokyo: ‘Komada — A Whisky Family’ Director Talks Making an Original Anime, Challenges Facing Industry
It’s been a long time coming, but anime veteran Masayuki Yoshihara finally helmed his first feature-length film with the 2023 release Komada — A Whisky Family. Yoshihara is best known for his anime projects on television, with credits including Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, Eden of the East and Dragon Ball Z. In […]
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Tokyo: Wim Wenders Leads Festival Tribute to Legendary Auteur Yasujiro Ozu
Leading filmmakers from China, Germany, Japan and the U.S. spoke of their admiration for Yasujiro Ozu as part of the celebrations at Tokyo International Film Festival for the 120th anniversary of the legendary Japanese director’s birth. Wim Wenders opened proceedings by introducing a screening of a 4K digitally restored version of the 1959 comedy Good […]
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Tokyo: Director Yoshiyuki Kishi on Challenging Taboos With Competition Film ‘(Ab)normal Desire’
Following decades in television and film, including stints as a producer, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker, Yoshiyuki Kishi made his feature directorial debut in 2016, aged 52, with Double Life, attracting some international festival attention. He returned the following year with the ambitious Wilderness, based on the only novel by Shuji Terayama. Released in two parts […]
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Tokyo: Japan’s New Production Incentives Scheme Dominates MPA Seminar
Japan’s new production incentives scheme dominated discussions at the Motion Picture Association’s special talk session at the Tokyo International Film Festival on Wednesday. Officially launched in September, the 1 billion yen ($6.7 million) scheme is by far the largest from Japan to date, although it is smaller than the production incentives offered by many […]
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Tokyo: TIFFCOM Content Market Returns With Renewed Momentum, Bigger Venue
Opening its doors on Wednesday for its first in-person event since 2019, the TIFFCOM content market in Tokyo is celebrating its 20th-anniversary edition in a new venue and with an even more international flavor to its exhibitors. “In terms of the exhibition area, it is now almost 50-50, compared to 60 percent domestic and 40 […]
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‘The Boy and the Heron’ Review: Hayao Miyazaki Emerges From Retirement With a Profoundly Personal Swan Song
The Japanimation legend draws on childhood memories to ruminate on love, loss and the intersection between life and death in a world spinning out of control.
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