Your Name (Kimi no Na wa / 君の名は) is honestly one of the best Japanese movies I’ve seen – ever. It is engaging, funny, clever, interesting and brilliantly animated – just about everything you could want from a film. It’s no wonder writer and director Makoto Shinkai (新海 誠) has been dubbed the new Miyazaki … Continue reading
Based on a popular manga comic, Japanese director Naoko Yamada’s (K-On) affecting drama about the tempestuous relationship between a boy who hears and a girl who doesn’t; this is a beautiful Japanese animation which has themes around living as a deaf person at its core. When Shoko, a young deaf student, transfers to a new elementary … Continue reading
“If you must blink, do it now…” What an opening line! I was captivated from the moment the film started, and Kubo & The Two Strings is without a doubt the best animated film I’ve seen this year, and in a long time. Kubo & The Two Strings is not a Japanese film, it’s an … Continue reading
I don’t have much time this week to post, so here’s just a quick heads up for those of you in the UK or with access to UK TV. This week a new three-part series about Japan started, featuring Absolutely Fabulous star Joanna Lumley. I haven’t watched it yet, but the images I’ve seen from … Continue reading
Billed as an “ode to the simple joys in life”, Sweet Bean (あん) directed by Naomi Kawase (河瀨直美) really is just that, and it’s lovely. Sweet Bean is set in a small-town dorayaki (どら焼き) (red-bean pancake) shop run by a grumpy middle-aged man (Sentaro, played by the rather handsome Masatoshi Nagase / 永瀬 正敏) who … Continue reading
Yesterday I went to see the latest Studio Ghibli film, When Marnie Was There (思い出のマーニー) (2014), directed by Hiromasa Yonebayashi (米林 宏昌). Yonebayashi also directed the Studio Ghibli film Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ) (one of my favourites), and both films are based on British books. When Marnie Was There is based on the children’s book of the … Continue reading
On Friday 18th December I set off on a mission. My plan was to visit Mount Shosha (書写山), the site of the temple Engyoji (円教寺) which was partially used in the filming of the Last Samurai. (I know, I know, most of it was filmed in New Zealand, some people really don’t like this movie … Continue reading
It was Tuesday 15th December when I found myself getting spirited away once more and having a real adventure. After taking the ferry from Miyajima to Miyajima-guchi, the train to Hiroshima, and a bullet train to Fukuyama, I then took a bus in to what felt like the middle of nowhere, to Tomonoura (鞆の浦). Tomonoura … Continue reading
Somehow it’s May, and I’m still writing about December! It was Friday 11th December when I arrived in Matsuyama (松山) in Ehime Prefecture (愛媛県). I was excited to be there, and excited to finally be having a two night stay in my busy trip where I had been hopping from one destination to another. Matsuyama … Continue reading
Yesterday I went to see the last of the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme films at the Watershed: Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days (ペコロスの母に会いに行く). Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days was directed by Azuma Morisaki (森崎 東) and based on a manga by Yuichi Okano. (Image source) Drawing on social issues in Japan surrounding it’s ageing population and based … Continue reading
Haikugirl's Japan 