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Asian cinema: Japanese films

Asian cinema: Japanese films
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.
last updated:
9 September, 2024
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
Plaques that form part of the Benin Bronzes, which were taken from Africa by British troops in 1897, on display at The British Museum in London. Photo: Getty Images

Should museums return antiquities to their countries of origin? Some say no

New fronts have opened up in the war of cultural restitution, raising complex ethical and legal questions as some argue against museums returning foreign artefacts.

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Running clubs, such as the She Runs Collective, are putting people through their paces all over Hong Kong. Photo: She Runs Collective

Run clubs have arrived in Hong Kong to combine exercise and community

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The Beatles with the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, in Rishikesh, India, in 1968. Photo: Getty Images

How Transcendental Meditation transformed my life, as it did for The Beatles

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Apples and Biscuits (circa 1880), by Paul Cézanne. Photo: GrandPalaisRmn/Musée de l’Orangerie

Cézanne and Renoir expo explores 2 friends’ strikingly different styles

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Participants compete at the Hyrox Open Asian Championships at AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong, in November 2024. Photo: Edmond So

3 top wellness trends to make 2025 a better year

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Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
Louis Koo Tin-lok (front) in a still from Twilight of the Warriors: Walled In.
Asian cinema: Korean films

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.

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Star face of low-alcohol beer fired over ‘unacceptable’ drunken escapade

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5 of the best things to do in Hong Kong this weekend, January 3-5

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Asian cinema

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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Michael Hui in a still from The Last Dance.
Japan

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.

Asian cinema

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.

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Cinema

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.

Miho Nakayama in Love Letter (1995). She has died aged 54.
Asian cinema

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.

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TV shows and streaming video

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.

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Asian cinema

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.

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Kim Go-eun (left) and Steve Noh Sang-hyun in a still from the film Love in the Big City.
Asia 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

Denkiyu, depicted in Wim Wender’s latest film, Perfect Days, is a functioning, real-life sento in Kyojima. Photo: Emil Pacha Valencia
Asian cinema

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.

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Asian cinema

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.

Food and Drinks

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.

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A small serving of Wagyu beef omurice is expertly done to accompany a scene in Tampopo. Photo: Charmaine Mok
Asian cinema

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.

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Masaki Suda in a still from Cloud.
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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.

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Asian cinema

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.

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Japan

Video | ‘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.

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Photo: SCMP
What to do in Hong Kong

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.

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Asian cinema: Chinese films

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.

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Asian cinema

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.

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A still from Dead Dead Demon’s Dededede Destruction Part 2. Image: Inio Asano/Shogakukan/Dededede Committee.
Asian cinema

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.

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A still from AI-generated feature film Who Said Death Is Beautiful? Photo: Rain Trail Pictures
Asian cinema

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.

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Cinema

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?

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American cinema

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.

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Taika Waititi and Roman Griffin Davis in a still from Jojo Rabbit. Photo: Kimberley French/Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
Asian cinema

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.

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Hokuto Matsumura (left) and Mone Kamishiraishi in a still from All the Long Nights.
Asian cinema

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.

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Asian cinema

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.

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