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June 30, 2026
 

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CULTURE

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An implausible but engaging crime drama unfolds in ‘Magical Secret Tour’
CULTURE / Film
An implausible but engaging crime drama unfolds in ‘Magical Secret Tour’
In Chihiro Amano’s “Magical Secret Tour,” a trio of Japanese women becomes embroiled in a scheme to smuggle gold from Singapore.
CULTURE / Film
‘Unchained’ presents a grim portrait of a budding psychopath
Keisuke Yoshida’s gritty drama concerns the misdeeds of a violent teenager and an ex-con’s efforts to rehabilitate him.
CULTURE / Film
‘All the Lovers in the Night’ film adaptation brings ‘unstable beauty’ to the screen
During the Cannes Film Festival, director Yukiko Sode and actors Yukino Kishii and Tadanobu Asano reflected on the process of bringing Mieko Kawakami’s novel to life.
Ryusuke Hamaguchi spent two months in Paris conducting research for “All of a Sudden,” which centers primarily on a conversation between two women that unfolds over the course of a single evening.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2026
Ryusuke Hamaguchi wants to make the impossible possible
By Sebastien Raineri
An ethos of idealism is pervasive in the director’s first French-language film, which came with the challenge and exhilaration of shooting in Paris.
Provincial lord Araki Murashige (Masahiro Motoki, right) finds himself under siege and with a series of mysteries to solve in Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “The Samurai and the Prisoner.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2026
‘The Samurai and the Prisoner’: A cerebral whodunnit in feudal Japan
By James Hadfield
Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s historical drama is a murder mystery in the Agatha Christie mold and driven by conversation rather than combat.
Budding artists Madoka (Mariko Ito, left) and Kazuma (Kai Inowaki) find themselves tangled up in a multiverse while at the movies in “You Are the Film.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 19, 2026
‘You Are the Film’ offers a multiverse on a microbudget
By Mark Schilling
Set in a real-life corner of Tokyo’s Shimokitazawa neighborhood, Makoto Ueda’s debut feature takes a refreshingly analog approach to a familiar concept.
High-school students Ai (Anna Yamada, left) and Yu (Yuzu Aoki, right) fight back against a hive mind in Yuta Shimotsu’s “New Group.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2026
‘New Group’ has big ideas but wobbly foundations
By James Hadfield
Human pyramids and other gymnastic formations become an ominous metaphor in Yuta Shimotsu’s sophomore feature, but the film’s reach exceeds its grasp.
Before Meiko Kaji’s hyperviolent action movies in the 1970s attracted a cult following, she made great efforts to learn the ropes of the entertainment industry.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 12, 2026
Meiko Kaji studied hard to smolder on screen
By Mark Schilling
The star of “Lady Snowblood” and other 1970s action films looks back on the serendipities that shaped her early career — and her dogged determination to hone her craft.
Virginie Efira (left) and Tao Okamoto play two women in crisis drawn together by happenstance in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s “All of a Sudden.”
CULTURE / Film
Jun 11, 2026
‘All of a Sudden’: A tender triumph from Ryusuke Hamaguchi
By Mark Schilling
The director’s award-winning film is a poignant study of the human condition built around the chemistry of its two leads, Virginie Efira and Tao Okamoto.
In Dave Boyle’s “Never After Dark,” a medium (Moeka Hoshi, left) hired to exorcise a spirit from a former hotel discovers that this is no regular haunting.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 6, 2026
‘Never After Dark’ finds fresh chills in familiar J-horror territory
By James Hadfield
Written and directed by Dave Boyle, the film begins as a paranormal investigation and transforms into another type of horror story altogether.

Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Chinese and Russian bombers and fighter jets stage joint patrol near Japan
A Chinese Air Force H-6 bomber is seen during a joint patrol with Russian military aircraft on Saturday.
U.S. missile moves in Japan send China clear message: A new era has arrived
Soldiers conduct the first Typhon midrange capability live-fire exercise outside of the continental United States, firing an SM-6 missile in July last year in Australia's Northern Territory during Exercise Talisman Sabre.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
LGBTQ+ families are building lives Japanese lawmakers still struggle to see
Haru Ono founded Nijiiro Kazoku in 2010 after forming a same-sex stepfamily. She said the impetus for founding the organization was that she couldn’t find much reliable information out there for families such as hers in Japan.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

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

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

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New Logistics Consortium baton to accelerate trucking efficiency

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