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December 07, 2025
 

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CULTURE

TV & Streaming

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¡°Last Samurai Standing¡± centers on a mysterious fighting event in which participants must hack and slash their opponents apart to collect enough wooden tags to win a big-money prize.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
The secret to 'Last Samurai Standing'? Treating live action like anime.
Netflix¡¯s wild new samurai series embraces cartoonish chaos ¡ª and it works.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Taylor Swift Eras Tour six-part docuseries coming to Disney+
New documentary and concert film caps off an eventful year for the American singer-songwriter.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
With Hollywood facing headwinds, Netflix looks eastward
The streamer¡¯s Creative Asia event at the Busan International Film Festival unveiled new initiatives designed to expand the region¡¯s storytelling role.
Racehorse Oguri Cap, a superstar stallion of the late 1980s, is reimagined in anime form as a teenage schoolgirl who must perform upbeat idol-pop songs after every victory in ¡°Umamusume: Cinderella Grey.¡±
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 4, 2025
¡®Cinderella Grey¡¯ gallops past the other sports documentaries
By Patrick St. Michel
Mixing real horse-racing history with idol-pop fantasy, ¡°Cinderella Grey¡± proves anime can outpace today¡¯s flat sports shows.
¡°The Summer Hikaru Died¡± is a slow-burn horror and a coming-of-age narrative, but its thematic layers and queer undertones open conversations about friendship and belonging.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Sep 6, 2025
Dark folklore meets teenage angst in ¡®The Summer Hikaru Died¡¯
By Mike Fu
Slow-burn horror in the countryside coupled with queer undertones makes for a memorable anime adaptation.
Virtual singer Kaf got her start in 2018 by posting songs and covers to YouTube. Now, after having performed live shows at major venues including Tokyo¡¯s Nippon Budokan, she is turning to voice acting and starring in the new anime series ¡°Kamitsubaki City Under Construction.¡±
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 28, 2025
Virtual singer Kaf's music becomes magic in 'Kamitsubaki City Under Construction'
By Alicia Haddick
After evolving from an online presence into a live performer, Kaf has now stepped into voice acting as part of a multimedia project built around a supergroup of virtual artists.
Sanrio characters Kuromi (left) and My Melody star as rival bakers in a big contest in Netflix¡¯s ¡°My Melody & Kuromi.¡± When mystical forces threaten their world, the pair team up to find a solution.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / Wide Angle
Aug 27, 2025
From foil to fan favorite, Kuromi embodies Sanrio¡¯s darker side of cute
By Patrick St. Michel
Once My Melody¡¯s mischievous antagonist, Kuromi is now outshining her pastel-pink counterpart, with a rebellious personality that resonates with today¡¯s audiences.
Filmmakers interview the general manager of a Bald Men's club for an upcoming Flix Oven documentary that will be available via the streaming platform Samansa.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 14, 2025
Samansa bets on commuter cinema
By Ryne Hisada
As attention spans get shorter, a Japanese startup is banking on short films as easily digestible entertainment.
A musical genius (Takeru Satoh, second from right) recruits an unknown rookie drummer to play with Japan¡¯s hottest band in ¡°Glass Heart.¡±
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Aug 7, 2025
'Glass Heart¡¯: A flashy rock fairytale scrubbed of grit
By James Hadfield
Netflix¡¯s drama series about a musical genius forming Japan¡¯s hottest new band is glossy, shallow and strangely sanitized.
Though Haruki Murakami's trademark whiff of offbeat existentialism is threaded throughout NHK's "After the Quake," the final episode ¡ª conceived as a sequel to the story "Super-Frog Saves Tokyo" ¡ª is the most stylized, featuring an anthropomorphic talking frog (voiced by Non) and his erstwhile associate Katagiri (Koichi Sato).
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Apr 3, 2025
Haruki Murakami TV adaptation revisits 30 years of watershed moments
By Mike Fu
NHK's new four-episode miniseries, ¡°After the Quake,¡± probes the ripple effects of past major disasters across Japanese society.

Trump security strategy demands more from Japan while unveiling ¡®burden-sharing network¡¯
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a speech aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his visit to the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Oct. 28.
Spotlight shines on humanoid robots at Tokyo show
A representative from Noitom Robotics demonstraties remote robot operation at the iREX International Robot Exhibition in Tokyo on Friday.
Japan¡¯s bear-related casualties hit record on escalating attacks
Bear bells are displayed for sale at a souvenir shop at Shirakawa-go, a popular tourist spot and one of Japan's UNESCO World Heritage sites, in the village of Shirakawa, Gifu Prefecture, on Nov. 15.
Suspected ³Ù´Ç°ì³Ü°ù²â¨± masterminds in Tokyo-area robberies arrested
Takuya Saito, 26, is one of four men arrested by Japanese police on Friday on suspicion of masterminding a series of robberies in the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Average price of rice in Japan hits new record high
In the week ended last Sunday, the average price of rice sold at about 1,000 supermarkets across Japan rose by ?23 from the previous week to ?4,335 per 5 kilograms.
Trump security strategy demands more from Japan while unveiling ¡®burden-sharing network¡¯
U.S. President Donald Trump makes a speech aboard the USS George Washington aircraft carrier during his visit to the U.S. Navy's Yokosuka base in Kanagawa Prefecture on Oct. 28.
Will Takaichi bank on her high approval ratings to call a snap election?
While media polls show a high support rate for Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi¡¯s Cabinet, the support for the LDP is not as great, meaning there¡¯s no guarantee of a coattail effect if a snap poll is called.
¡®Black Box Diaries¡¯ is Shiori Ito¡¯s unflinching case for the truth
¡°Black Box Diaries¡± documents Shiori Ito¡¯s legal case, while also showing her thoughts and feelings through journal style videos she recorded herself.
Kashima or Kashiwa: J. League title chase goes down to the wire
Kashima's Yuma Suzuki (center) takes a shot during a game against Kashiwa in March.
2025 was the year Japan¡¯s box office returned
In 2025, ¡°Demon Slayer¡± and ¡°Kokuho¡± broke box-office records, while films such as ¡°Renoir,¡± A Pale View of the Hills¡± and ¡°Two Strangers, Two Seasons¡± garnered acclaim on the international film festival circuit. The year¡¯s biggest loss was the death of Tatsuya Nakadai, an highly regarded actor who had worked with nearly all of the top directors of Japanese cinema¡¯s postwar golden age.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo¡¯s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo¡¯s ¡®stadium of desire¡¯

Longform

Yumi Matsutoya began her decades-long career under her maiden name, Yumi Arai, but Japanese fans might know her better as ¡°Yuming.¡±
Yumi Matsutoya¡¯s human touch in an AI age
By Patrick St. Michel

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