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November 12, 2026
 

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MAYU MATSUOKA

Kanna (Mayu Matsuoka, left) and Haseo (Ryo Narita) are college friends who rekindle an intimate, undefined relationship in Yukiko Mishima’s “Two Cigarettes, Three Nights.”
CULTURE / Film
Nov 5, 2026
‘Two Cigarettes, Three Nights’: An artist takes solace in an undefinable intimacy
Yukiko Mishima’s latest film is a sensitive and imaginative portrait of an artist’s life-changing reunion with an old friend.
Kanna (Mayu Matsuoka, left) and Haseo (Ryo Narita) are college friends who reconnect and go on a dayslong journey in Yukiko Mishima’s “Two Cigarettes, Three Nights.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 20, 2026
‘Two Cigarettes, Three Nights’ explores messy emotions and moral compromises
Yukiko Mishima talks about intimacy, moral ambiguity and the art of portraying flawed characters in her TIFF Competition entry.
Netflix's "Plastic Beauty" is an unflinching look at the plastic surgery industry and the people at its center. The multinational entertainment company typically provides bigger production budgets and longer timelines compared to terrestrial TV networks, but the limitations of the labor pool in Japan are an ongoing challenge.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming
Oct 11, 2026
Netflix vies to be a cut above in TV production
Netflix 今日吃瓜 dramas are pushing the boundaries of storytelling and uplifting domestic TV standards, though not without growing pains.
A fledgling film director (Mayu Matsuoka, center) returns home to make a film about her dysfunctional family in “Masked Hearts.”
CULTURE / Film
Oct 26, 2023
‘Masked Hearts’: Catharsis comes out of familial discord
Yuya Ishii returns to his indie roots with a comedy-drama that comes from a personal and painfully real place.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 16, 2020
‘Theatre: A Love Story’: No sparks in this tortured romance
Based on a novel by comedian-turned-author Naoki Matayoshi, “Theatre: A Love Story” centers on a narcissistic playwright and his long-suffering girlfriend.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2019
‘One Night’: A family drama both deep and dark
Kazuya Shiraishi’s latest tells the story of three siblings whose mother kills their abusive father and then abandons them for 15 years, before returning to check on their progress in life
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 27, 2019
‘Marriage Hunting Beauty’: When dating dilemmas fail to excite
Last year veteran director Akiko Ohku had a breakthrough hit with “Tremble All You Want,” a romantic com edy about a 24-year-old office clerk still obsessed with her girlhood crush but yet to have an actual boyfriend. Played with discombobulated verve by Mayu Matsuoka, this loser-at-love won audience...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2018
The meteoric rise of Mayu Matsuoka
As a film critic, I occasionally come across something on the screen that sets off fireworks in my brain. It happened with Sakura Ando’s explosive performance as a desperate boxer in “100 Yen Love” and with the funny, surprising and moving zombie comedy “One Cut of the Dead.” And last year it also happened...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 31, 2018
‘Blank 13’: Dark dysfunctional-family drama offers no easy answers
A father steps back into his family’s lives, after a gap of 13 years, to tell them he is dying of cancer.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 3, 2018
‘Tremble All You Want’: Mayu Matsuoka gives a star-making turn in delightful romcom
Hopeless crushes are typically the stuff of teen comedies, not romcoms aimed at grownups. Yet in the corner of many an adult brain exists at least one excruciating memory of that special teenaged someone you never quite worked up the nerve to speak to.
CULTURE / TV & Streaming / CHANNEL SURF
Jun 10, 2016
‘Aiba Learns’; ‘Good Fortune! Appraisal Team for Anything High Quality Treasure Salon’; Lotte — So
In addition to singing and dancing, the popular male idols managed by Johnny & Associates do a lot of educational TV, including “Aiba Manabu” (“Aiba Learns“; TV Asahi, Sun., 6 p.m.), in which Masaki Aiba, a member of boy band Arashi, learns about some common process. In the past, Aiba and his guests...
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.
Sony bets on homegrown anime to fuel decades of future growth
A Luffy standee at NY Comic Con in New York
JR East to introduce touchless ticket gates in spring 2028
Shinjuku Station in Tokyo in 2021. The new walk-through gates will work only with the Suica Mobile app, and not IC rechargeable metro cards or physical tickets.
As JET Programme turns 40, alumni and ministers stress its importance in age of AI
Peter Cave joined the JET Programme's inaugural cohort in 1987 and spent three years teaching in the city of Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture.
As JET Programme turns 40, alumni and ministers stress its importance in age of AI
Peter Cave joined the JET Programme's inaugural cohort in 1987 and spent three years teaching in the city of Omihachiman, Shiga Prefecture.
‘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.
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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