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Shota Sometani stars as the assistant manager of a fictional convenience store chain in Yusuke Iwasaki’s “AnyMart.”

CULTURE / Film

Jul 10, 2026

‘AnyMart’: A surreal parable about the dark side of convenience stores

By Mark Schilling

Yusuke Iwasaki’s debut feature starts off as an observational comedy before being subsumed by creeping dread and shock horror.

Yutaka Mizutani directs and stars in his fourth feature film, an omnibus about love, loneliness and everything in between.

CULTURE / Film

Jul 3, 2026

‘Piccola Felicita’: From formulaic drama to fever dream

By Mark Schilling

Directed by Yutaka Mizutani, the four-part omnibus looks at love and loneliness in the big city, with some unexpected twists and turns.

After premiering in July 1966, the original “Ultraman” series gained a peak viewership of nearly half of all TV-owning households in Japan.

CULTURE / Film

Jul 2, 2026

The heroism and humanity of ‘Ultraman’: Documentary looks back on 60 years

By Sebastien Raineri

The iconic sci-fi franchise is the focus of a documentary, co-helmed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, that examines its cultural impact on generations of Japanese and international viewers.

A trio of women in need of cash (from left: Sara Minami, Kasumi Arimura and Haru Kuroki) starts smuggling gold from Singapore in Chihiro Amano’s “Magical Secret Tour.”

CULTURE / Film

Jun 26, 2026

An implausible but engaging crime drama unfolds in ‘Magical Secret Tour’

By James Hadfield

In Chihiro Amano’s “Magical Secret Tour,” a trio of Japanese women becomes embroiled in a scheme to smuggle gold from Singapore.

Hayato Kohsaka (right) plays a violent teenager whose potential for redemption is the core inquiry in Keisuke Yoshida’s “Unchained.”

CULTURE / Film

Jun 26, 2026

‘Unchained’ presents a grim portrait of a budding psychopath

By Mark Schilling

Keisuke Yoshida’s gritty drama concerns the misdeeds of a violent teenager and an ex-con’s efforts to rehabilitate him.

Director Yukiko Sode (center) poses with her lead actors Tadanobu Asano (left) and Yukino Kichii (right) at the 79th Cannes Film Festival.

CULTURE / Film

Jun 25, 2026

‘All the Lovers in the Night’ film adaptation brings ‘unstable beauty’ to the screen

By Blake Simons

During the Cannes Film Festival, director Yukiko Sode and actors Yukino Kishii and Tadanobu Asano reflected on the process of bringing Mieko Kawakami’s novel to life.

Ryusuke Hamaguchi spent two months in Paris conducting research for “All of a Sudden,” which centers primarily on a conversation between two women that unfolds over the course of a single evening.

CULTURE / Film

Jun 19, 2026

Ryusuke Hamaguchi wants to make the impossible possible

By Sebastien Raineri

An ethos of idealism is pervasive in the director’s first French-language film, which came with the challenge and exhilaration of shooting in Paris.

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.

Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

For many people, utility poles and power lines have become such a familiar part of Japan’s landscape that they often go unnoticed.

Why Japan’s utility poles won’t be disappearing anytime soon

By Alex K.T. Martin

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