The Japan Times has long celebrated the pleasures of sitting in a dark theater and marveling at the actors on the silver screen.
Japan was an early adopter of cinema, which partially explains its precocious golden age of cinema, which produced the likes of Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu, directors who would inspire a wide range of filmmakers.
Much of the overseas appreciation of Japanese cinema was nurtured by longtime JT contributor Donald Richie and continues to be fostered by foreign film writers such as Mark Schilling.
Over the decades, The Japan Times has reviewed hundreds of domestic and overseas films and spoken with dozens of film artists. The list includes Takashi Miike, Hirokazu Koreeda, Akira Kurosawa and many more.
Sept. 13, 1998: Kurosawa: A lifetime pursuit of cinematic perfection Click to read Sept. 13, 1998: Filmmaker Akira Kurosawa Click to read Sept. 13, 1998: Final cut: Kurosawa directs a scene from “Madadayo” (“Not Yet”), the last film he directed, in Gotemba, Shizuoka Prefecture. Click to read Sept. 13, 1998: “Sanshiro Sugata” (“Judo Saga“) (1943) Sept. 13, 1998: “Rashomon” (1950) Click to read Sept. 13, 1998: “Dodesukaden” (1971) (left), “Ikiru” (“To Live”) (1951) Click to read Sept. 13, 1998: “Yojimbo” (1961) Sept. 13, 1998: “Shichinin no Samurai” (“Seven Samurai”) (1961) Click to read
June 8, 2006: Shohei Imamura: A lifetime in search of Japan’s true self Click to read June 8, 2006: Shohei Imamura promotes “Unagi” (”The Eel”) in 1983. Behind the scenes is where he preferred to be. Click to read June 8, 2006: Shohei Imamura directs Sumiko Sakamoto in a scene from “Narayama Bushiko” (“The Ballad of Narayama”), which won the top prize at Cannes in 1983. Click to read March 29, 1987: Juzo Itami dissects society Click to read July 23, 2003: Anything goes: Whether it’s straight to Cannes or straight to video, Takashi Miike is free to do as he please Click to read July 23, 2003: The stranger – Filmmaker Takashi Miike Click to read Dec. 8, 2013: Ozu on film Click to read Dec. 8, 2013: Ozu on film Click to read Directors have voted Yasujiro Ozu’s 1951 movie “Tokyo Monogatari” (“Tokyo Story”) the greatest film of all time. Click to read Yasujiro Ozu (far right) during the shooting of a scene for “Tokyo Story” Click to read Yasujiro Ozu’s 1962 “Sanma no Aji” (“An Autumn Afternoon”), starring Shima Iwashita, was his last film. Click to read Yasujiro Ozu on location during the shooting of “Ukigusa” (“Floating Weeds”) in 1959 Click to read
