Books
- England, Kazuo Ishiguro, Japan, Drama films, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, UK news, Culture, Film, Film adaptations
A Pale View of Hills review – two-stranded adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro novel in the shadow of the A-bomb
Kei Ishikawa’s take on Ishiguro’s first published work is frustrating and bland, undermining its fascinating c…
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Japan, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Stage, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
Scarlet review – Mamoru Hosoda turns Hamlet into tale of prowling knights and deep ‘nothingness’
The normally great director misses the mark with a wonderfully animated but narratively clunky retelling of th…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon Maid: A Lonely Dragon Wants to Be Loved review – sword, sorcery and smartphones
Those not up to speed on the Miss Kobayashi manga may struggle with the full nuance of this dimension hopping …
- Japan, Science fiction and fantasy films, Action and adventure films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
All You Need is Kill review – time loop anime offers giant alien flower for Groundhog Day with mechs
New version of the sci-fi day-on-repeat sees a perplexed duo repeatedly battle monstrous plants but leaves you…
- Family films, Japan, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Culture, Animation in film, Film, Film adaptations
Little Amélie review – tender and poignant study of the fragility of early childhood
Based on a 2000 novella, this sweet animation follows a young girl who wakes from a vegetative state on the ve…
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Sham review – Takashi Miike revisits infamous ‘murder teacher’ trial in unflinching courtroom drama
Based on a real-life case of a teacher charged with abusing a child, Japan’s master of the extreme doesn’t sit…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Television & radio, Books, Television, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution review – spectacular if baffling anime is out to thrill and bewilder
Remix of old and new material from TV series includes tremendous battle sequences but there’s an awful lot of …
- Running, Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Athletics, Life and style, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Sport, Film, Film adaptations
100 Meters review – mesmerising anime of young athletes in search of physical and spiritual high
Dazzling rotoscoped running sequences make up for a lack of narrative subtlety in Kenji Iwaisawa’s filmMuch ha…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc review – gore-soaked demonic anime squats in the manopshere
Tatsuki Fujimoto’s coming-of-age saga continues with a surreal encounter with a chainsaw-wielding demon living…
- Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Crime films, Science fiction and fantasy films, World news, Asia Pacific, Books, Anime, Culture, Animation in film, Film
Detective Conan: One-Eyed Flashback review – anime sleuth wades through a bamboozling bureaucratic maze
A labyrinthine but lively 28th instalment of the hit manga series juggles byzantine intrigue, spies and cop ri…
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Author Rie Qudan: Why I used ChatGPT to write my prize-winning novel
Sympathy Tower Tokyo attracted controversy for being partly written using AI. Does its author think the techno…
- History books, Japan, Nuclear weapons, Asia Pacific, Second world war, Books, Weapons technology, Culture, US military, Science
‘You don’t brag about wiping out 60‑70,000 people’: the men who dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
This summer will mark 80 years since the attacks stunned the world. Today, every one of the crew members who c…
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Holiday bookings to Japan are down – could a 90s manga comic’s earthquake prediction be to blame?
The Future I Saw, a Japanese graphic novel by Ryo Tatsuki, declared a major disaster would occur on 5 July 202…
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‘I had a chance to pass my mum’s story on’: Kazuo Ishiguro on growing up in shadow of the Nagasaki bomb
The film version of A Pale View of Hills, the Nobel-winner’s tale of loss, exile and a pregnant radioactive br…
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Ancient example of printed text to be displayed in Melbourne: ‘It unites us all’
A Japanese prayer scroll dating back more than 1,250 years has been acquired by the State Library of Victoria …
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‘Marriage feels like a hostage situation, and motherhood a curse’: Japanese author Sayaka Murata
The Convenience Store Woman author is renowned for challenging social norms in darkly weird near-future fictio…
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‘Am I a Cyclopian monster?’ How masked writer Uketsu went from asparagus videos to literary sensation
He gained fame in Japan posting surreal videos of meat, veg and even ears. Then he tried writing – and soon ha…
- Hobbies, Linguistics, Japan, MANGA, Comics and graphic novels, Life and style, Australian lifestyle, Books, Languages, Education
Learning to read in a foreign language has taught me to embrace ambiguity – one sentence at a time | Patrick Lum
In striving to understand Japanese books and comics, I’ve adopted the habits of a weightlifter: I find my comf…
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Shuntaro Tanikawa, giant of Japanese poetry, dies aged 92
The poet also wrote the lyrics for the Astro Boy theme song and translated Peanuts into JapaneseShuntaro Tanik…
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What a carve up! Playful, intricate Japanese leaf art – in pictures
Almost every day for the past five years, the Kanagawa-born artist Lito has drawn an image on to a leaf – usua…