Shiver 戦慄せしめよ, by director Toshiaki Toyoda, is a music film that presents performances by Koshiro Hino and the taiko drumming group KODO in a visually dazzling way. Shiver 戦慄せしめよ (2022) Director: T…
May 10, 2023 • Subscribe
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Toshiaki Toyoda
By Tom Wilmot. When people think of the new masters of Japanese cinema, the same roster of names continues to crop up. Hirokazu Koreeda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and Takashi…
I’m Flash! (Toshiaki Toyoda, 2012)
A conflicted cult leader experiences an existential crisis after meeting a mysterious woman in a bar in Toshiaki Toyoda’s Okinawan drama
Monsters Club (モンスターズクラブ, Toshiaki Toyoda, 2011)
A traumatised young man still painfully in love with an imperfect world is plagued by trickster ghosts and shapeshifting monsters in Toyoda’s melancholy character study
Toshiaki Toyoda: 2005-2021 (Limited Edition Blu-ray) Unboxing
After five years, Third Window Films introduces another Toshiaki Toyoda box set covering films released between 2005 to 2021 on Blu-ray for the first time in the UK.
Toshiaki Toyoda’s Uprising 2021 in Chicago and A New Toyoda Film
Details on Toshiaki Toyoda’s Uprising 2021 in Chicago and crowdfunding for his new film.
Repast (めし, Mikio Naruse, 1951)
An unhappily married woman fed up with the drudgery of her existence considers other options but finally concludes there are none in Naruse’s bleak melodrama
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December 赦し (2022) Director: Anshul Chauhan [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2023]
December 赦し is director Anshul Chauhan’s third feature film. An impressive courtroom drama, it takes us through a harrowing criminal trial that constantly keeps us empathising with and questi…
Bread of Happiness (しあわせのパン, Yukiko Mishima, 2012)
A warmhearted couple offer gentle support to a series of lonely souls from their cosy Hokkaido cafe in Yukiko Mishima’s slice of comfort foodie cinema
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…
December (赦し, Anshul Chauhan, 2022)
Bereaved parents are confronted by the unresolved past when the woman who killed their daughter appeals her sentence in Anshul Chauhan’s empathetic courtroom drama.
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The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kahori Higashi [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2022]
The Residents, by director Kahori Higashi, is a snappy ensemble comedy that follows a traditional four-act structure of intro, development, twist, and conclusion. The Residents 暮らしの残像 Director: Kah…
よ Particle
The yo よ particle in Japanese: grammar and examples.
Shigoto no Nochi Dakishimete (仕事の後は抱きしめて)
Aota Yui is a young woman with a dream – she wants to be a chef. To get there, she needs to be accepted by the restaurant’s Taisho.…
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Grown-ups わたし達はおとな (2022) Director: Takuya Kato [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]
Grown-ups わたし達はおとな (2022) Director: Takuya Kato [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]
"Can I Say 温めてくれませんか at a Convenience Store?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
The Ghost of the Hunchback (怪談せむし男, Hajime Sato, 1965)
Morally compromised citizens of post-war Japan find themselves trapped in the purgatorial hell of a creepy old mansion in Hajime Sato’s gothic romp
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An Interview with Anshul Chauhan, Director of December 赦し (2022) [New York Asian Film Festival 2023]
An interview with director Anshul Chauhan on his third feature film December 赦し. He goes in depth behind the scenes on an impressive courtroom drama, from research to casting…
The Flesh is Weak / 美徳のよろめき / Bitoku no yoromeki (‘Faltering Virtue’, 1957)
Obscure Japanese Film #174 Yumeji Tsukioka 28-year-old Setsuko (Yumeji Tsukioka), a former member of the aristocracy, has come down in t...
Nightingale (鶯, Shiro Toyoda, 1938)
Residents of a small rural town find themselves caught in a moment of confusion amid encroaching modernity in Shiro Toyoda’s warmhearted drama.
The Blue Danube (きまじめ楽隊のぼんやり戦争, Akira Ikeda, 2021)
An earnest soldier begins to question everything he’s been told thanks to musical intervention and a curious young man in Akira Ikeda’s absurdist anti-war drama
Long Goodbye (さようなら, Yuuji Nomura, 2022)
A collection of dejected factory workers plot escape from small-town ennui by robbing their tax evading boss in Yuuji Nomura’s adaptation of his stage play.
"Can I Say 温めお願いします at a Convenience Store?" #learnjapanese
Learn Japanese with Me - https://bit.ly/4drmyU2
まとめる
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Yamato 2205 Writer/Director interviews, Feb 2022
Here we present a pair of interviews in which Writer Harutoshi Fukui and Director Kenji Yasuda both give their final word on the making of Yamato 2205, unveiling…
Yamato 2205 sound director interview, April 2022
Interview with Tomohiro Yoshida, Sound Director of Yamato 2205 Creating the “sound” of Yamato to be passed on to the next generation From issue 14 of the Star…
Bury Me Deep / わたしを深く埋めて / Watashi o fukaku umete (1963)
Obscure Japanese Film #133 Jiro Tamiya Nakabe (Jiro Tamiya) is a lawyer returning to Tokyo after a long holiday in Kyushu. In his absenc...
あっためて vs あたためて #learnjapanese
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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.
Snow Country (雪国, Shiro Toyoda, 1957)
A self-absorbed, unappreciated painter is torn between an embittered geisha and her resentful yet pure sister in Toyoda’s adaptation of the classic Kawabata novel
Let Him Rest in Peace 友よ、静かに瞑れ (1985) Director: Yoichi Sai
Let Him Rest in Peace, by director Yoichi Sai, is a solid noir set in an Okinawa shot with Western-genre stylings. Let Him Rest in Peace 友よ、静かに瞑れ (1985)…
Let Me Hear It Barefoot (裸足で鳴らしてみせろ, Riho Kudo, 2021)
Two alienated young men struggle to identify their feelings while searching for escape from moribund small-town Japan in Riho Kudo’s indie drama.
The Midnight Maiden War (真夜中乙女戦争, Ken Ninomiya, 2022)
An apathetic student is torn between nihilistic destruction and the desire for life in Ken Ninomiya’s futuristic drama.
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The Outsiders’ Club よそ者の会 (2024) Director: Hami Nishizaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2025]
Hami Nishizaki’s use of location and her cast brilliantly depict the feeling of alienation through two characters whose intentions are misconstrued by the people around them in The…
LaShawn Toyoda, Creator of FindADoc: Full-Length Interview
Thalia Harris sits down with LaShawn Toyoda to discuss her efforts to make sure English-speaking residents in Japan have access to vaccines.
神隠し(かみかくし）Gone with the Gods (an original Podcast) coming IN 2022
People have a habit of vanishing in Japan---even hundreds of years ago, it happened often enough that myths were created to explain these sudden disappearances. 神隠し (kamikakushi)--to be…
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Wash Away うぉっしゅ Director: Ikunosuke Okazaki [Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024]
Wash Away うぉっしゅ, the sophomore feature by director Ikunosuke Okazaki, may have an unlikely premise but it works well as an existential examination of loneliness. It plays at…
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Transform! へんしんっ！ Director: Tomoya Ishida [Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021]
Transform! へんしんっ！ Director: Tomoya Ishida [Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021]
Your Japanese is Good If You Understand This #2 せる・させる
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飲ませられる or 飲まれさせる？ #learnjapanese
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Small, Slow But Steady (ケイコ 目を澄ませて, Sho Miyake, 2022)
An aspiring boxer begins to lose the will to fight in Sho Miyake’s empathetic character study.
It’s All My Fault (ぜんぶ、ボクのせい, Yusaku Matsumoto, 2022)
A young orphan and a homeless drifter attempt to overcome the legacy of parental rejection in Yusaku Matsumoto’s sensitive coming-of-age drama.
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Shin Ultraman シン・ウルトラマン (2022) Director: Shinji Higuchi [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]
Shin Ultraman is a fun special effects feature that reboots the classic tokusatsu/kaiju series in a Shin Gojira style. Shin Ultraman シン・ウルトラマン (2022) Director: Shinji Higuchi [New York Asian…
Portrait of Hell (地獄変, Shiro Toyoda, 1969)
An artist finds himself in conflict with a cruel feudal lord when asked to paint a picture of heaven in Shiro Toyoda’s haunting adaptation of the Akutagawa story.
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Hold Me Back 私をくいとめて Director: Akiko Ohku (2020) [New York Asian Film Festival 2021]
Director Akiko Ohku and lead actor Non make a dream team for the film Hold Me Back, a romantic-comedy which reflects the concerns of modern women. 私をくいとめて Director: Akiko…
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As Long As We Both Shall Live (わたしの幸せな結婚, Ayuko Tsukahara, 2023) [Fantasia 2023]
A young woman with chronically low self-esteem learns to love herself after bonding with a taciturn nobleman in Ayuko Tsukahara’s adaptation of the light novel series.
決死の一発描きをお見せします。 My life risking drawing, without rough sketches!
漫画家・浦沢直樹の「浦沢チャンネル」。今回は、連載中の漫画「あさドラ！」より、主人公・浅田アサの一発描きをほぼノーカットでお見せします。 This is the channel of a Japanese Manga artist Naoki Urasawa. He draws a picture of Asa Asada from his recent work without rough sketches this time. The…
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Ribbon 2021 Director: Non [New York Asian Film Festival 2022]
Ribbon is a Covid-19-themed film about the frustrations of life in isolation and creative blockages. Combining the two, we see a coming-of-age drama where the protagonist overcomes both through…
Somebody’s Flowers 誰かの花 (2022) Director: Yusuke Okada
Somebody’s Flowers 誰かの花 「Dareka no Hana」 Release Date: January 29th, 2022 Duration: 115 mins. Director: Yusuke Okada Writer: Yusuke Okada (Script), Starring: Shinsuke Kato, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Ch…
Zero (零戦燃ゆ, Toshio Masuda, 1984)
The Zero Fighter has taken on a kind of mythic existence in a romanticised vision of warfare, yet as Toshio Masuda’s Zero (零戦燃ゆ零戦燃ゆ, Zerosen moyu) implies its time…