Japanese Cinema

Anime, yakuza, J-horror: the world of Japanese movies
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From Akira Kurosawa to Yasujiro Ozu, from Takeshi Kitano to Hirokazu Koreeda, from samurai to yakuza to the Japanese New Wave, and from anime to J-horror to pink films, this is the place to go for reviews, interviews and features about movies both classic and new from Japan.

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Entertainment
Louis Koo Tin-lok (front) in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.
Entertainment
Exhuma, Twilight of the Warriors lead Asian Film Awards nominations
Both movies are up for best picture at the 18th Asian Film Awards, as are All We Imagine as Light, Black Dog and Teki Cometh.
Japanese actor Ryo Yoshizawa, who broke into his neighbour’s home while drunk on December 30, has been let go from his contract with Asahi Breweries. Photo: Instagram/@oryojapon
Entertainment
Star face of low-alcohol beer fired over ‘unacceptable’ drunken escapade
Ryo Yoshizawa, who broke into his neighbour’s home while drunk on December 30, has had his contract with Asahi Breweries terminated.
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Somatic body mapping allows you to take a deep dive into your unconscious mind, according to Adriana Reixach Garcia, who will lead a workshop about it in Hong Kong on January 4. Photo: Instagram.com/mybodytalksnow/
Food & Drink
5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, January 3-5
Catch some bargains at a Hong Kong products expo, see a Korean artist’s pop-up show of paintings, learn how to map your body, and more.
Michael Hui in a still from The Last Dance.
Entertainment
The 12 best Asian films of 2024, including The Last Dance
From a Thai tear-jerker to a Korean cross-dressing romcom and a hand-drawn Japanese anime, our pick of the best Asian films of the past year.
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Japanese singer and actress Miho Nakayama in a photo she shared on social media. The 54-year-old, best known for her role in 1995 romance Love Letter, was found dead in her bathtub at home. Police say her death was accidental. Photo: Instagram/@_miho_nakayama_
Entertainment
Love Letter actress Miho Nakayama’s death ruled an accident
No foul play in death of Japanese singer and actress, 54, known for her role in hit 1995 romance, who was found in her bathtub at Tokyo home.
Héra (voiced by Gaia Wise) in a still from The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim. Photo: Warner Bros. Pictures.
Entertainment
Review|Anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is an exciting prequel
Kenji Kamiyama directs this animated film set 200 years before LotR and starring the voices of Gaia Wise, Brian Cox and Luke Pasqualino.
Miho Nakayama in Love Letter (1995). She has died aged 54.
Entertainment
Love Letter actress Miho Nakayama found dead in bathtub
Japanese actress best known for 1995’s Love Letter, who also had a stellar career as a singer, found dead at home, having cancelled a show.
1
Hiroyuki Sanada in a still from Shogun. Photo: Disney+.
Entertainment
Hiroyuki Sanada on how he gave Shogun a real Japanese perspective
Sanada, who has appeared in Japanese films and US blockbusters, talks about making the cultural references in TV series Shogun authentic.
Kentaro Sakaguchi and Kasumi Arimura in a still from Beyond Goodbye. Photo: Netflix
Entertainment
Beyond Goodbye’s stars open up on Netflix’s new Japanese series
Kasumi Arimura and Kentaro Sakaguchi talk coffee, playing the piano and which of their body parts they would like to live on in someone else.
Kim Go-eun (left) and Steve Noh Sang-hyun in a still from the film Love in the Big City.
Entertainment
10 of the best movies at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2024
This year’s programme includes a drama ripped from Hong Kong headlines, a social satire in a near-future Japan and a modern romantic drama.
Denkiyu, depicted in Wim Wender’s latest film, Perfect Days, is a functioning, real-life sento in Kyojima. Photo: Emil Pacha Valencia
Travel
New wave, old soak: how Japan’s retro sento bathhouses create community
Wim Wenders’ latest film, Perfect Days, shows its protagonist relaxing at a sento bathhouse – one that exists in real life. A look inside Denkiyu, in east Tokyo
A still from Happyend.
Entertainment
2024 or 1984? Films from Singapore and Japan tackle surveillance
Stranger Eyes, Happyend and 2073 take a worrying look at surveillance in Singapore, Japan and a Chairperson Trump-led future, respectively.
Takeshi Kitano in a still from Broken Rage (category TBC), also directed by Takeshi Kitano. Tadanobu Asano, Nao Omori co-star.
Entertainment
Review|Broken Rage: Takeshi Kitano’s deliciously meta yakuza comedy
Takeshi Kitano blissfully does his own thing as an ageing hitman in short-and-sweet yakuza comedy Broken Rage.
Masaki Suda in a still from Cloud.
Entertainment
Review|Cloud: Kiyoshi Kurosawa thriller takes aim at online reselling
The lead character’s get-rich-quick schemes rebound on him, and when a mob turns up the guns come out. Well enough acted and with atmospheric settings, Cloud is somehow less than the sum of its parts.
Maika Monroe in a still from Longlegs, one of five movies or shows to watch in Hong Kong this weekend, August 31 to September 1.
Entertainment
5 movies or shows to watch in Hong Kong this weekend, August 31-September 1
This weekend watch Nicolas Cage as a serial killer or see a princess K-drama, a new Hong Kong gangster film, or an absurdist Greek triptych.
Kyomoto (left, voiced by Mizuki Yoshida) and Fujino (Yuumi Kawai) in a still from Look Back.
Entertainment
Review|Look Back is a nostalgic Japanese film about manga and friendship
Fujino (voiced by Yuumi Kawai) is a schoolgirl who has built a fan base for her comic strip and who becomes jealous of another girl (Mizuki Yoshida) who is also a popular artist. Then they team up.
Photo: SCMP
East Asia
‘For people like us’: Japan anime studio hires autistic artists
Shake Hands aims to help people with autism, who usually struggle to cope in Japan’s stressful work environment.
Ha Jung-woo in a still from Hijack 1971.
Entertainment
5 movies or shows to watch this weekend August 3-4 in Hong Kong
The weekend’s viewing highlights include recent Godzilla and Planet of the Apes films, a ‘reverse heist’ caper, and from Korea, a historical hijack story and a mystery manhunt thriller.
Ethan Juan and Karena Lam in a still from Tales of Taipei.
Entertainment
11 must-sees at Summer International Film Festival 2024 in Hong Kong
The original Godzilla and King Kong films, a documentary presented by fanboy Martin Scorsese about two of Britain’s greatest filmmakers, a portrait of Hayao Miyazaki – Hong Kong film fans are in for some treats.
A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2. Image: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/Dededede Committee.
Entertainment
Review|Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2 – chaotic finish
The end of humanity and an alien invasion vie for attention with the escapades of a group of young women in part two of a story that stumbles in its efforts to fully realise the potential promised in part one.
A still from AI-generated feature film Who Said Death Is Beautiful? Photo: Rain Trail Pictures
Entertainment
Are AI-generated films the future? Festival launches competition for them
The first competition in Korea for AI-generated films has been launched by the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, where experts debated AI’s impact on content creation and the film industry.
A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction. Photo: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/DeDeDeDe Committee
Entertainment
Review|Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1: great sci-fi soap opera
Japanese anime Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 1 mixes the dramas of a group of teenagers and an alien invasion of Tokyo to great effect, leaving us eagerly awaiting Part 2.
Toshiro Mifune in a still from Seven Samurai. Photo: Janus Films via AP
Entertainment
Seven Samurai at 70: why Akira Kurosawa’s 1954 film still moves audiences
Japanese director’s 1954 epic has influenced American filmmakers from Scorsese to Coppola and is considered among the greatest movies ever made. What is it that makes the film so special?
Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in a still from Jojo Rabbit. Photo: Kimberley French/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Film & TV
Jojo Rabbit to Her, French-American entrepreneur Camille Glass’ top 5 films
Camille Glass, co-founder of wine bars Brut and Crushed in Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong, shares her top five films, from a Hayao Miyazaki classic to a comedy about Nazi Germany.
Hokuto Matsumura (left) and Mone Kamishiraishi in a still from All the Long Nights.
Entertainment
Review|All the Long Nights: meditative return by Small, Slow But Steady director
Sho Miyake’s understated, refreshingly cliché-free drama tracks the lives of two people with different disorders who bond and grow more empathetic towards each other.
A still from The Imaginary. Photo: Netflix/Ponoc
Entertainment
Review|The Imaginary: Japanese animated fantasy lacks imagination
Netflix anime The Imaginary follows an imaginary friend (voiced by Kokoro Terada) trying to get back to his human companion Amanda (Rio Suzuki) in a story that is heavily inspired by the films of Studio Ghibli.
A still from Ultraman: Rising. Photo: Netflix
Entertainment
Review|Ultraman: Rising – English-language reimagining of superhero is great fun
A baseball star who returns to Japan and inherits the superman role adopts a baby monster in Ultraman fan Shannon Tindle’s playful debut feature film.
Hana Sugisaki (front) as Kiko and Jun Shison as An-san in a still from 52-Hertz Whales.
Entertainment
Review|52-Hertz Whales: a tough yet immersive character drama
Hana Sugisaki and Tori Kuwana star in Izuru Narushima’s 52-Hertz Whales, a tough, immersive character drama that sees an abused woman try to save a boy from a similar fate.
Jiro Sato in a still from The Floor Plan.
Entertainment
Review|The Floor Plan: Japanese mystery is dread-inducing – until it isn’t
Horror film based on a viral YouTube video stars Shotaro Mamiya as a YouTuber who reports on the occult, and who investigates a mysterious house with an architect (Jiro Sato). The ending disappoints.
Opinion
On the Menu|Ever thought ‘I want to eat that dish’ while watching a film? Now you can
Picture this: while watching a cult Japanese food film, you get a craving for the dishes you see displayed on screen. At Savour Cinema in Hong Kong, you get served exactly that.
Charmaine Mok
What a view|Ju-On: Origins tells the horrifying backstory to The Grudge
The six-part series delves into the history of the Tokyo house at the centre of the Ju-On films, exploring human depravity in a way all horror fans will appreciate.
Stephen McCarty
The Projector|Independent Hong Kong filmmakers need to look beyond mainland China
A milestone Hong Kong-Japanese co-production – The Murders of Oiso – shows why the city’s independent directors should be seeking partnerships beyond the border.
Clarence Tsui
My Take|Cartoons draw wrong conclusions on second world war
Japanese anime regarding the conflict may be beautiful and heart-rending to watch, but one should not forget who started hostilities and spread horror 
SCMP ColumnistAlex Lo
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