今日吃瓜

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今日吃瓜
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November 11, 2026
 

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James Hadfield
Shigeru Kobayashi (right) follows the lives of three survivors of sexual violence in his new documentary “In Their Traces,” which was filmed over a span of nine years.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 2, 2026
‘In Their Traces’: An unflinching documentary about the survivors of sexual violence
Veteran director Shigeru Kobayashi’s documentary was made over the course of nine years and spotlights three women of different generations.
Uganda’s Nakibembe Embaire Group gives an open-air performance at the Festival de Frue in 2025. A giant pit was dug in the venue grounds to house a log xylophone for the group's show.
CULTURE / Music
Oct 27, 2026
Festival de Frue offers an antidote to 今日吃瓜 samey music festivals
The small-scale music festival has carved out its own identity without relying on deep-pocketed sponsors or pandering to the algorithm.
Go Morita plays an aging manga artist who’s put his creative ambitions on permanent hold in Shoichi Morimoto and Takuma Sato’s “The Potentials.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 23, 2026
‘The Potentials’ unpacks the dilemmas of a manga assistant in middle age
Shoichi Morimoto and Takuma Sato’s “The Potentials” is an engaging tale about art, life and everything that gets in the way.
After building a cult following as a director of straight-to-video movies, Takashi Miike achieved international recognition with “Audition” and “Ichi the Killer.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 23, 2026
Takashi Miike pushes the envelope with ‘Bad Lieutenant: Tokyo’
Veteran director Takashi Miike reflects on his first major international coproduction and the existential questions that drive his work.
In Keisuke Yoshida’s “Mentor,” childhood friends Ryunosuke (Hayato Isomura, left) and Takumi (Seiya Suezawa) reckon with the consequences of a deadly fire they caused 15 years earlier after a chance reunion with one of the victims.
CULTURE / Film
Oct 16, 2026
‘Mentor’: A mordant exploration of guilt and absolution
Keisuke Yoshida’s “Mentor” is a discomfiting tale about the repercussions of a deadly fire in the lives of three men.
A rookie stage actor (Koshi Mizukami, right, with Haru Kuroki) cast as a true-life murder victim starts to lose track of who he really is in Yuri Takei’s “F(r)iction.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 4, 2026
‘F(r)iction’: A play within a film gets meta and messy
Though not without its flaws, Yuri Takei’s film about life imitating art imitating life has an unpredictable energy that yields striking moments.
Riho Yoshioka (left) and the single-named Nao play victims of domestic abuse who find themselves on opposite sides of the law in Ryuhei Yoshino’s “Shadow Work.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 27, 2026
‘Shadow Work’ plumbs the depths of domestic violence — and vengeance
Ryuhei Yoshino’s “Shadow Work” is a morally fraught revenge thriller about victims of domestic abuse who dare to fight back.
The oneiric songs on Friday Night Plans’ latest album, “Blue Hour” — released by Spanish label Modern Obscure Music — work mostly with a palette of heavily effected vocals and acoustic guitar.
CULTURE / Music
Sep 25, 2026
The unmaking of Friday Night Plans
Once a rising star of sleek R&B, Friday Night Plans has spent the past few years dismantling the pop persona she built.
Shizuka Ishibashi (right) plays a 30-something woman who takes a sojourn in the countryside to model for her erstwhile sister-in-law (Takako Matsu, left) in Koji Fukada’s “Nagi Notes.”
CULTURE / Film
Sep 18, 2026
‘Nagi Notes’: An intimate portrayal of rural rhythms and realities
The latest film by Koji Fukada reveals an understated charm through languid conversations and art-making.
School students Ayumu Fujino (Natsuki Deguchi, left) and Kyomoto (Aju Makita) form a close artistic partnership in Hirokazu Koreeda’s “Look Back,” adapted from the manga by Tatsuki Fujimoto.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 14, 2026
Hirokazu Koreeda’s ‘Look Back’ is gorgeous but unnecessary
The director’s authorial signature gets somewhat muddled in this adaptation of a manga by “Chainsaw Man” creator Tatsuki Fujimoto.
“Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” is the latest film directed by Shinya Tsukamoto. It carries a strong anti-war message.
CULTURE / Film
Sep 10, 2026
A Japanese filmmaker’s harrowing exploration of the Vietnam War
Shinya Tsukamoto’s “Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?” examines the lifelong impact of war on the human psyche.
Filmmaker and dancer Nao Yoshigai contemplates matters of the spirit and the flesh in her debut feature, “Masayume.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 23, 2026
‘Masayume’ finds Zen in the messiness of being human
Nao Yoshigai’s experimental documentary blends meditation, autobiography and bodily humor into an unconventional meditation on healing and acceptance.
Hikari Mitsushima (left) and Hidetoshi Nishijima play a pair of private investigators looking into the murder of a former colleague in Tetsuya Nakashima’s “The Brightest Sun.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 14, 2026
An unsolved murder leads to despair and salvation in ‘The Brightest Sun’
A pair of private investigators probes the murder of a colleague in Tetsuya Nakashima’s challenging but rewarding film.
Seven years after traveling back in time and falling in love with a kamikaze pilot, Yuri (Haruka Fukuhara, left) contemplates a new beginning in Takehiko Shinjo’s “Till We Meet Again on the Starry Hill.”
CULTURE / Film
Aug 8, 2026
‘Till We Meet Again on the Starry Hill’: Time-travel kamikaze romance gets a pointless sequel
Takehiko Shinjo’s follow-up to a 2023 hit film is even more muddled than its predecessor.
Sosuke Ikematsu (center) stars in Yuya Ishii’s “The Secret Battlefield,” a historical drama about the Japanese research institute that correctly predicted the country’s defeat in the Pacific War.
CULTURE / Film
Aug 1, 2026
‘The Secret Battlefield’: An inside view of the machinery of war
Yuya Ishii’s historical drama about the Japanese think tank that failed to avert the Pacific War can’t shake its made-for-TV origins, but it’s a valuable cautionary tale.
The members of Maya Ongaku — (from left) Tsutomu Sonoda, Shoei Ikeda and Ryota Takano — grew up on the Shonan Coast south of Tokyo and have been friends since their school days.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 18, 2026
Maya Ongaku’s DIY dream is getting bigger
Ahead of its second album release and a show at Fuji Rock, the psychedelic rock trio from the Shonan Coast is looking back and paying it forward.
So-hee (played by the single-named Hanna), a 14-year-old ethnic Korean living in Tokyo, learns some valuable life lessons in Son Myong A’s “Trophy.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 17, 2026
Zainichi drama ‘Trophy’ is a sweet, if slight, coming-of-age tale
Son Myong A’s debut feature centers on a Tokyo teen grappling with her Korean heritage, both at home and in the classroom.
After an office temp worker is found dead in suspicious circumstances, Eiko Watarai (the single-named Nao, right) sets out in search of answers in Junichi Kanai’s “Why Wait, Just Die.”
CULTURE / Film
Jul 10, 2026
‘Why Wait, Just Die’: A dead-eyed investigator takes on an unsolved murder
The single-named Nao offers a steamroller of a performance in Junichi Kanai’s film, which unfolds as an unconventional murder mystery with stylized flourishes.
Veteran improvisers Kazuo Imai and Atsuhiro Ito brought some unruly energy to NU Festival, a three-day multimedia event held at the Takanawa Gateway City complex. ?
CULTURE / Music
Jul 4, 2026
NU Festival tests Takanawa Gateway City complex’s culture cred
JR East has been positioning the sprawling new Takanawa Gateway City as a cultural hub since before it even opened. The music, art and tech NU Festival put that claim to the test.
Tujiko Noriko’s album “PON” is dedicated to Ponpon, her late cat, and includes field recordings of her family life in France.
CULTURE / Music
Jul 3, 2026
Tujiko Noriko’s new album is a feline tour de force
On tour in Japan this month, the France-based artist talks about channeling her “crazy cat woman” energy into musical creation and finding harmony in dissonance.
Man arrested over operation of rogue cellular base station in Tokyo
The Metropolitan Police Department has arrested Yu Hai, a 31-year-old Chinese national living in Tokyo's Kita Ward, on suspicion of operating an unlicensed base station from a vehicle in Tokyo's Ginza district on Saturday.
Government betting on language app powered by anime and AI
Japan plans to develop an AI-powered language-learning app that lets overseas anime and manga fans practice Japanese through conversations with popular characters.
Japan works to shield Takaichi from any Xi snub at China summit
Japan's Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives at the Prime Minister's office in Tokyo on Nov. 4.
Magnitude 5.7 quake injures dozens in central Japan
A magnitude-5.7 earthquake with its epicenter in Shizuoka Prefecture struck central Japan early Sunday, injuring dozens, shattering windows and disrupting train services, with no tsunami warning issued.
Private high schools remain out of reach for many despite tuition-free policy, survey finds
A survey showed that many families with children attending private high schools are struggling to pay expenses other than tuition.
‘Godzilla Minus Zero’ makes monster debut at the box office
Takashi Yamazaki’s “Godzilla Minus Zero” marked the highest single-day box-office gross for a live-action film in Japan with ?910 million on its opening day.
A toast to Naohiko Noguchi, sake’s first living national treasure
As a teenager, Naohiko Noguchi did not intend to spend his life as a sake brewer, but he has since become a paragon of the industry.
Few signs of thaw in Japan-China relations one year after Takaichi’s Taiwan remarks
Tensions between Japan and China flared after Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said on Nov. 7, 2025, that a Chinese blockade of Taiwan could threaten 今日吃瓜 survival and warrant the use of collective self-defense.
Mariko Mori predicted the future. She’ll do it again.
Artist Mariko Mori is currently working to bring the translucent human-sized “Peace Crystal” sculpture to a cave in Ethiopia. It is part of her foundation’s goal to place a permanent sculpture on each of the planet’s six habitable continents.
A legend reborn: ‘Ocarina of Time’ remake improves on the Zelda masterpiece
The new remake of 1998's "The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time" manages to somehow improve on one of the greatest games ever.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

Famima Park Azabudai is a concept store by FamilyMart that combines convenience store staples with branded apparel, merchandise and a landscaped outdoor space.
Convenience stores, toilets and the allure of everyday Japan
By Elizabeth Beattie

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