Tag Archives: japan

Documentary Review: US/Japanese Relations, Over a Century of Baseball “Diamond Diplomacy”

Posted on October 3, 2025 by Roger Moore

Here’s a truth the average American hasn’t done the math on. “Japan has been playing baseball almost as long as the United States.” And whatever the fading state of the National Pastime on this side of the Pacific, in Japan, … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Samurai Fury” Triggers an Insurrection in Old Nippon

Posted on September 16, 2025 by Roger Moore

A badass ronin swaggers and slices his way through Medieval Kyoto in “Samurai Fury,” an action epic about a tax revolt in a time of plague and famine. Ryosuke Kakine’s historical novel — “Muromachi Outsiders” — was inspired by real … Continue reading →

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Movie Review: “Baby Assassins 3,” “Nice Days” for killing?

Posted on August 14, 2025 by Roger Moore

Truth be told, the world didn’t need a third “Baby Assassins” movie. All writer-director Yuko Sakamoto did was make a longer, more bloated, more character-cluttered version of the first two films. And five years have passed. Our Japanese kewpie doll … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? A mad bomber plots a “Bullet Train Explosion”

Posted on April 29, 2025 by Roger Moore

A 1975 Japanese thriller titled “Bullet Train,” about a high-speed passenger train with a bomb on board, one that will explode if the train slows beyond a triggered speed, inspired the bomb-on-a-bus thriller “Speed,” its sequel and lots of imitators. … Continue reading →

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Netflixable? Boy Band Pretty or “Faceless (Shoutai)” he’s too cute to be a mass murderer!

Posted on February 10, 2025 by Roger Moore

“Faceless” is “I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang” or just “The Fugitive” for Japan’s current “Seijin no Hi” generation. The conceit is so clever that the clock is probably already ticking on a Hollywood version of this. A … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: An anti-war parable that became a landmark of Japanese cinema — “Ugetsu” (1953)

Posted on December 12, 2024 by Roger Moore

“The value of people and objects truly depends on their setting,” the potter Genjurô tells a noblewoman and patron at one point in the classic film “Ugetsu,” a Medieval fantasy based on the “Rain-Moon Tales” of 18th century writer Ueda … Continue reading →

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Classic Film Review: Kurosawa’s “Rashomon” changed the Cinema and the way the World Views It

Posted on September 30, 2024 by Roger Moore

Few classic films have had the impact that “Rashomon” had on the world cinema when it premiered at the 1951 Venice Film Festival, and when it opened in the United States the day after Christmas that same year. Much of … Continue reading →

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