In the newsletter this month I wrote about 角ハイ (kakuhai). This is a combination of 角瓶 (kakubin), Suntory’s flagship whiskey, and ハイボール (highball), a mixed drink made from liquor and usually some kind of carbonated beverage, often soda water. Go … Continue reading →
Mar 16, 2024 • Subscribe
More like this
Ora, Ora Be Goin’ Alone (おらおらでひとりいぐも, Shuichi Okita, 2020)
An older woman living alone is plagued by three strange sprites forcing her to confront the reality of her life in Shuichi Okita’s surreal meditation on loneliness and…
I Go Gaga, Welcome Home Mom (ぼけますから、よろしくお願いします。～おかえりお母さん～, Naoko Nobutomo, 2022)
In a followup to her hugely popular documentary, Naoko Nobutomo follows her parents as her mother’s health continues to decline.
Tokyo Onigiri Girl / 東京おにぎり娘 / Tokyo onigiri musume / (aka ‘Triangle Moods’, 1961)
Obscure Japanese Film #149 Ayako Wakao and Ganjiro Nakamura Ganjiro Nakamura and Murasaki Fujima Mariko (Ayako Wakao) is the daughte...
Festival Champ (お祭り野郎 魚河岸の兄弟分, Norifumi Suzuki, 1976)
A festival-obsessed young man finds himself at the centre of a number of community crises in Norifumi Suzuki’s warmhearted dramedy.
お久しぶりですね。 I was so disheartened by the untimely demise of my...
お久しぶりですね。 I was so disheartened by the untimely demise of my comment system that I couldn't bear to update this tumblr for almost a year. OK maybe my embarrassment…
Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております)
I picked up a copy of Private ha Honnin-tachi ni Makasete Orimasu (プライベートは本人たちに任せております) (translated in English on the frontispiece as Private Life Is Left To Them, Yuri Talext…
「MASTER キートン」風なコマ割りをお見せします。How to draw a “MASTER KEATON”-esque layout
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。「MASTER キートン」電子版解禁を記念して、花鳥風月を感じる"キートン風コマ割り"を描く様子をお見せします。 “Urasawa Channel” by a Japanese manga artist, Naoki Urasawa. To celebrate the digitalization of “MASTER KEATON”, Naoki Urasawa shows how to draw a “MASTER KEATON”-esque layout, which…
入りませんか？ vs 入ります？ #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
おやすみ、東京
Atsuhiro Yoshida’s 2018 linked short story collection おやすみ、東京 chronicles the adventures of a cast of slightly odd characters with subtle connections to one another. Each of the stories…
A Girl Missing (よこがお)
Early on in Koji Fukada’s A Girl Missing (Yokogao), protagonist Ichiko (Mariko Tsutsui) is spying on people from an apartment window. We hear the faint sound of a…
傘の下、ふたり
Author & Artist: ぢゅん子 (Junko)Released March 2012 by Kaiohsha’s Gush ComicsGenre: Drama, Romance
Moving (お引越し, Shinji Somai, 1993)
A young girl struggles to come to terms with her parents’ impending divorce in Shinji Somai’s ethereal coming-of-age drama
"How About Saying 入りましょう Instead of 入ります?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
となりのメタラーさん
Author & Artist: マミタ (Mamita)Released April 2020 by Tokuma Shoten Publishing’s Chara ComicsGenre: Romance, Drama
帰り道 ~The long road home~
Myself;Yourself concerns a city boy and the country girl. Both are people who grew up in the same place but went separate ways just before the edge of…
Good Morning (お早よう, Yasujiro Ozu, 1959)
Frustrated by adult hypocrisy, two little boys go on a pleasantries strike to force their parents to buy a TV in Yasujiro Ozu’s charming family drama.
Ojo-san / お嬢さん (‘Young Miss’, 1961)
Obscure Japanese Film #131 Ayako Wakao Kasumi (Ayako Wakao) is a young woman of marriageable age prone to daydreaming who believes that ar...
Miss Oyu (お遊さま, Kenji Mizoguchi, 1951)
Oppressive social codes and repressed desire provoke a tragic love triangle in Mizoguchi’s adaptation of the story by Tanizaki.
Mother (おかあさん, Mikio Naruse, 1952)
A teenage girl struggles to understand her self-sacrificing mother in Mikio Naruse’s subversive take on the hahamono
Oyafuko dori / 親不孝通り (1958)
Obscure Japanese Film #168 Hiroshi Kawaguchi and Yoko Katsuragi Katsuya ( Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is a cynical student who studies as little ...
Bushido (碁盤斬り, Kazuya Shiraishi, 2024)
A stoical ronin’s peaceful life is disrupted by a face from the past in Kazuya Shiraishi’s elegantly lensed period drama.
浦沢直樹より重大なお知らせ。YouTube更新が止まっていた理由… Important Notice from Naoki Urasawa
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。1981年に新人賞を受賞してから2021年でちょうど40年の節目に、〇〇を解禁します。 The year 2021 marks exactly 40 years since I won the Rookie Award in 1981, so I will be starting XX for my very first time. #浦沢直樹 #NaokiUrasawa #重大発表 ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー ◆浦沢直樹電子書籍特設サイト https://bigcomicbros.net/urasawadigital/ Naoki…
Tengu Priest (お坊主天狗, Yasushi Sasaki, 1962)
Disparate denizens of Edo are united in one thing in Yasushi Sasaki’s light hearted jidaigeki, Tengu Priest (お坊主天狗, Obozu tengu), revenge. Like many jidaigeki, what they really want…
Maria Naganawa as Platelets 長縄 まりあ
'Cells At Work' Seiyuu cosplay as their 'Cells At Work' characters. Credits: TikTok @aniplex_official
Fallen Blossoms (花ちりぬ, Tamizo Ishida, 1938)
Troubled geisha find themselves engulfed by oncoming revolution in Tamizo Ishida incendiary drama.
Fire Festival (火まつり, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1985)
A proud mountain man goes to great lengths to hold back the tides of modernity in Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s poetic fable
A Weather Report (胴鳴り, Yu Kajino, 2024)
A successful television writer is confronted with the mistakes of his past when the teenage daughter he abandoned before birth suddenly tracks him down in Yu Kajino’s indie…
浦沢流、手描き色塗りの方法をお見せします。How to color by hand in Urasawa style: Drawing and Coloring "PLUTO" 's Gesicht
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。「PLUTO」電子版解禁を記念し、アナログ色塗りでゲジヒトを描いてみました。 “Urasawa Channel“, a Youtube channel by a Japanese manga artist, Naoki Urasawa. To celebrate the release of the digital version of “PLUTO“, Naoki Urasawa draws an illustration and…
Riverside Mukolitta (川っぺりムコリッタ, Naoko Ogigami, 2021)
A young man recently released from prison discovers an unexpected sense of community after moving to a rural town to start again in Naoko Ogigami’s gently profound dramedy.
Luminous Moss (ひかりごけ, Kei Kumai, 1992)
A writer finds himself exploring an ethical dilemma after being guided to a cave containing luminous moss in Kei Kumai’s surreal psychological drama.
Haru to Midori, Volume 3 (春とみどり)
Haru is a lonely woman. She’s never really moved on with her life, even as she has lived it. There was once a girl who had meant something…
川のほとりに立つ者は
A young woman named Kiyose was recently promoted to the position of manager at an independent café. She devotes her love and attention to the business, but all…
How to Japanese Podcast – S02E08 – Roomshare.jp and のり弁
Living with Japanese roommates in Tokyo was the highlight of my time in Japan. I found those roommates on the website Roomshare.jp, a great site that I introduce…
Melting Sounds (ほとぼりメルトサウンズ, Kahori Higashi, 2021)
Displaced youngsters begin to find a new sense of place thanks to a warmhearted young woman and an old man’s ambient sound obsession in Kahori Higashi’s quirky drama
Belonging (とりつくしま, Kahori Higashi, 2024)
The recently deceased watch over their loved ones from the vantage point of a familiar object in Kahori Higashi’s wistful drama.
The Angry Street (怒りの街, Mikio Naruse, 1950)
A sociopathic student takes revenge on a changing society by seducing wealthy women in Mikio Naruse’s brooding noir.
![Featured image for Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura (2021) [Yamagata International Film Festival 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20211018/1634536955.23457.49872.jpg)
Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura (2021) [Yamagata International Film Festival 2021]
Alone Again in Fukushima sees director Mayu Nakamura visit an interesting samaritan who remained behind to look after abandoned animals. Alone Again in Fukushima ナオト、いまもひとりっきり Dir: Mayu Nakamura…
Which Yumiri Hanamori are you today? 花守 ゆみり
Sneezing Yanfei is the vibe for me...
Hana Monogatari, Volume 2 (はなものがたり)
In Volume 1, we met Hanayo, a woman whose husband has passed away, leaving her both free to do whatever she wants and confused as to what that…
Tsugaru Lacquer Girl (バカ塗りの娘, Keiko Tsuruoka, 2023)
A young woman finds herself frustrated by outdated gender norms in her desire to take over the family lacquerware business in Keiko Tsuruoka’s gentle rural drama
My Neighbor Totoro (となりのトトロ, Hayao Miyazaki, 1988)
A pair of sisters rejoice in the wonder of the natural world while befriending a fluffy forest creature in the charming Studio Ghibli family animation.
Nosari: Impermanent Eternity (のさりの島, Tatsuya Yamamoto, 2020)
An ore ore scammer’s cynical worldview is challenged when he finds temporary harbour with an elderly woman in Yamamoto’s touching indie drama
Hana Monogatari, Volume 3 (はなものがたり)
In Volume 1 we met Hanayo, an older woman, newly widowed and Yoshiko, a woman of similar age who opens Hanayo’s eyes to many things, including the pleasure…
Haru to Midori Manga, Volume 2 (春とみどり)
In Haru to Midori, Volume 2 (春とみどり) having committed to being a foster parent for her late childhood friend’s daughter, Midori struggles daily to separate her feelings for…
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり)
Hana Monogatari, Volume 1 (はなものがたり) by shwinn, is one of my new favorite series ever. Hanayo’s husband has been dead for 49 days, so her mourning period is…
Image of a Mother (母のおもかげ, Hiroshi Shimizu, 1959)
A little boy’s difficulties in accepting his new stepmother express an anxiety about the changing nature of the family in Hiroshi Shimizu’s familial melodrama.
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 4 (おとなになっても)
In previous volumes of Otona ni Nattemo, we met Akari and Ayano, who met in a bar and spent the night together, Ayano’s husband Wataru, who has wondered…
Otona ni Nattemo, Volume 9 (おとなになっても)
I am currently reading two Japanese series about adults in complicated relationships. Both series are, in equal part, compelling and interesting and annoying as heck. Today we’re looking…