Obscure Japanese Film #127 Yoko Minamida Ryoji Hayama Shinsuke (Ryoji Hayama) is a young doctor who has had to resign from his post at a...
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Jungle Block (地図のない町, Ko Nakahira, 1960)
A jaded doctor finds himself fixating on vengeance when the slum he lives in is targeted for redevelopment in Ko Nakahira’s searing noir.
The Nineteen-Year-Old’s Map (十九歳の地図, Mitsuo Yanagimachi, 1979)
An alienated young man maps out moral failure and eases his sense of futility through empty threats of violence in Mitsuo Yanagimachi’s dark youth drama.
The Town of Headcounts (人数の町, Shinji Araki, 2020)
A disaffected young man gets a fresh start in a utopian community but quickly becomes disillusioned in Shinji Araki’s slick dystopian thriller
The Great Journey / 大いなる旅路 / Oinaru tabiji (1960)
Obscure Japanese Film #110 Rentaro Mikuni and Michiko Hoshi Morioka, Iwate Prefecture, mid-1920s. Kozo Iwami (Rentaro Mikuni) works for the ...
Is That Japanese Town a “Chou” or a “Machi”?
The character 町 - pronounced either "chou" or "machi" - is common in Japanese town and neighborhood names. But how do you tell if a given town is…
Devotion to Railway (大いなる驀進, Hideo Sekigawa, 1960)
An improbable series of crises descend on an ordinary night journey from Tokyo to Nagasaki in Hideo Sekigawa’s train-bound ensemble drama
Seven Weeks (野のなななのか, Nobuhiko Obayashi, 2014)
“A death is a history” in Obayashi’s intensely moving tale of the interconnectedness of all things, love, death, war, and memory.
The Lost Alibi (黒い画集 あるサラリーマンの証言, Hiromichi Horikawa, 1960)
A salaryman is conflicted when asked to provide an alibi knowing to do so could expose his extra-marital affair in Hiromichi Horikawa’s psychological noir.
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園)
Jigoku Hanazono (地獄の花園) is absolute trash, hilarious and unforgivable, and probably puzzling to anyone who isn’t deeply interested in girl-gang lore. It’s a movie tailored almost …
Basic Japanese Sentence Structure No. 7 ～ないで
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Akiyuki Shinbo & Naoyuki Tatsuwa – Interview on Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru (And Yet the Town Moves)
Original interview from Akiyuki Shinbo x SHAFT Chronicle (2019). Check out this interview with better editing and pictures on the SoreMachi fansite too, who I wholeheartedly thank for the opportuni…
Clearandsweet - Nowhere on the Block (full album)
My first musical album! Suno Playlist and individual songs found here: https://suno.com/playlist/b4ac130d-3ccd-46f2-9bf6-9f79d8271542 0:00 Her Magical EyeZ 3:27 In the Interest of Homura the Devil 7:37 Hyperforce (Giga Girl) 11:41 Motto Hallelujah 15:21 Put that…
My Sorry Life (愛のくだらない, Kozue Nomoto, 2020)
A self-absorbed TV producer gets a wake up call when her boyfriend announces he’s pregnant in Kozue Nomoto’s ironic dramedy
Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 3 (できそこないの姫君たち)
In Volume 1, otaku and class loner Kurokawa Kaede is thrown together with school princess, Fujishiro Nanaki. In time-honored fashion, Fujishiro gives a radical makeover to the girl…
The Blue Beast / 青い野獣 / Aoi yaju (1960)
Obscure Japanese Film #140 Tatsuya Nakadai Yasuhiko Kuroki (Tatsuya Nakadai) is an ambitious young man working for a magazine publishing c...
That Complicated Guy / 複雑な彼 / Fukuzatsu no kare (aka ‘A Complicated Man’,1966)
Obscure Japanese Film #238Jiro Tamiya This Daiei production stars Jiro Tamiya as Joji Miyagi, who works as a flight attendant for a Japanese airline. One day, en route to San Francisco,…
You’re Not Normal, Either! (まともじゃないのは君も一緒, Koji Maeda, 2021)
A nerdy maths teacher turns to his student for advice on how to seem more “normal” little knowing she has an ulterior motive in Maeda’s charming rom-com
図書館
A trip to the new Haruki Murakami Library - How to Japanese - March 2022
Aoi Uroko to Suna no Machi / Mermaid Scales and the Town of Sand by Komori Yoko
The other day, at the library, I picked up this poignant manga, Aoi Uroko to Suna no Machi/Mermaid Scale and the Town of Sand from the award-winning author…
You’re Not Normal, Either まともじゃないのは君も一緒 (2021) Director: Koji Maeda
You’re Not Normal, Either まともじゃないのは君も一緒 (2021), by director Koji Maeda, is a superb screwball comedy based on the fantastic interplay between Ryo Narita and Kaya Kiyohara while it maturely touches…
Why You Can’t Be Prime Minister (なぜ君は総理大臣になれないのか, Arata Oshima, 2020)
Arata Oshima follows idealistic politician Junya Ogawa over 17 years in order to explore why his goal of becoming prime minister remains forever elusive
Yuri Manga: Dekisokonai no Hime-tachi, Volume 2 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Last spring I took a look at a pleasant “opposites attract” school life Yuri romance by Ajiichi. In Volume 1, we met otaku Kurokawa Kaede and fashionable Fujishiro…
Higashi Tokyo Machi Machi
Keita Katsushika’s manga Higashi Tōkyō Machi Machi (東東京区区) is a leisurely walking tour of East Tokyo. As suggested by their pen name, the artist lives in Tokyo’s Katsushika…
REVIEW: Shounen no Machi ZF
Aliens in flying saucers descend in tonight’s show and tell, a survivalist adventure starring 10 young people and a telepathic alien girl who push back against wizard-like deities…
Inch Forward (走れない人の走り方, Su Yu-Chun, 2023)
An indie filmmaker experiences various setbacks while trying to complete her latest film in Su Yu-Chun’s cheerful dramedy.
Onna x a Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor)
Onna x Onna Umakuikanai Renai Essay parlor, Volume 1 (女×女のうまくいかない恋愛エッセイ parlor) by Fujio, has had a long journey from there to here. This manga began more than a…
Evil Does Not Exist (悪は存在しない, Ryusuke Hamaguchi, 2023)
A glamping invasion threatens the equilibrium of a small rural town in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s haunting drama.
Mondays: See You “This” Week! (MONDAYS／このタイムループ、上司に気づかせないと終わらない, Ryo Takebayashi, 2022)
Harried office workers must get through to their dejected salaryman boss if they’re to escape a workplace time loop in Ryo Takebayashi’s zany corporate comedy.
A Bullet Hole Underground (地下街の弾痕, Kazuo Mori, 1949)
A lovelorn policeman finds himself investigating the murder of an old flame’s husband in Kazuo Mori’s procedural drama.
Dekisokonai Hime-tachi, Volume 4 (できそこないの姫君たち)
Fujishiro Nanaki, having been ostracized by her group of fashionable and popular girls, has found acceptance with the “nerd” group, Kurokawa’s friends Izumi and Iroha. Together th…
"Can We Say ラーメンを食べないの？ to Offer Friends to Eat?" #learnjapanese
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"Would it be Okay to Add か as a Question Particle in かわいいくない?" #learnjapanese
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Apart from Life (地の群れ, Kei Kumai, 1970)
Marginalised communities turn against each other while locked out of an increasingly prosperous society in Kei Kumai’s uncompromising post-war drama
銀魂 - 鍋は人生の縮図である (25)
GinTama - The hot-pot is a microcosm of life Episode 25
Boku dake ga Inai Machi episode 11: The Town Where Only Satoru is Missing
Not as meaningful since not only did we not actually get to learn much of what happened in the 15 year gap, Satoru also appears immediately after this OP.…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 4 (不揃いの連理)
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 4 (不揃いの連理) by Mikan Uji, is both a whimsical look at several Yuri odd couples and a profouns story about about found family and…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 3 (不揃いの連理)
In Volume 1, we met Iori and Minami, an career woman and a server at a izakaya whose relationship is surprisingly not fraught, and Saori and Shizuku, Iori’s…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 2 (不揃いの連理)
In Volume 1, we met Tanaka Iori, a careerwoman with a job that she does not love, and a former juvenile delinquent girlfriend, Minami, whom she does. Ultimately,…
Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 5 (不揃いの連理)
Mikanuji’s Fuzoroi no Renri, Volume 5 (不揃いの連理) continues as a smorgasbord of miscellaneous relationships between various couples. In this volume, we take time to expand on a few…
Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata - Episode 2 - Rose Sits on Block Usato
Usato's hell training under Rose has begun. Lots of running turned into pushups with stone blocks! Chiyu Mahou no Machigatta Tsukaikata - Episode 2
The Last Gunfight (暗黒街の対決, Kihachi Okamoto, 1960)
A maverick cop finds himself at the centre of a moribund gang war in Kihachi Okamoto’s anarchic western-inflected crime drama
Lust of the White Serpent (蛇精の淫, Morihei Magatani, 1960)
A village boy falls for the headman’s daughter but unwittingly embarks on an affair with a snake spirit in Morihei Magatani’s Shintoho horror
Uchi no Shishou ha Shippo ga nai, Volume 2 (うちの師匠はしっぽがない)
Weirdly, it was almost a year ago that I reviewed volume 1 of this series, in which we met Mameda, a tanuki who wanders into the big city…
Uchi no Shishou ha Shippo ga nai, Volume 1 (うちの師匠はしっぽがない)
Mameda is a tanuki who has fallen hard for the magic of rakugo, the traditional Japanese form of comedic storytelling. Mameda heads to the big city in the…
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
On This Earth / 地上 / Chijo (1957)
Obscure Japanese Film #150 Hitomi Nozoe and Hiroshi Kawaguchi Kanazawa, central Japan, c.1920. Heiichiro (Hiroshi Kawaguchi) is a student ...
Switch Back / 今はもうない
The S&M series has always had a lot of character work and philosophical tangents, and while they sometimes felt a bit overbearing, they nev...
Get ’em All (「みな殺しの歌」より 拳銃よさらば, Eizo Sugawa, 1960)
A recently released young man is forced onto a nihilistic path of meaningless violence when his bank robber brother is killed in a hit and run in Eizo…
![Featured image for Jigoku-no-Hanazono: Office Royale (地獄の花園, Kazuaki Seki, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20210909/1631146394.21046.47019.jpg)
Jigoku-no-Hanazono: Office Royale (地獄の花園, Kazuaki Seki, 2021) [Fantasia 2021]
Office ladies go to war in Kazuaki Seki’s anarchic, Bakarhythm-scripted transposition of the yankee manga to the world of the OL
Over the Town (街の上で, Rikiya Imaizumi, 2019)
An awkward young man chases love and romance on the streets of Shimokitazawa in Imaizumi’s soulful ode to the ever changing district