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Asian cinema: Japanese films

Asian cinema: Japanese films
From Akira Kurosawa to Yasujiro Ozu, from Takeshi Kitano to Hirokazu Koreeda, from samurai to yakuza to the Japanese New Wave, and from anime to J-horror to pink films, this is the place to go for reviews, interviews and features about movies both classic and new from Japan.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM
Joe Wong poses for a portrait after his Joe Wong: The Twin Tariff Show in Hong Kong. Photo: Alexander Mak

Joe Wong, Ronny Chieng and the rise of Asian voices in comedy

Asian comedians were once forced to resort to stereotypes to find a platform – but a wave of pioneering stars is changing that.

Reading Time:8 minutes
Lam Lau with his son Aidan at Lau Kee Boat Noodles in Hong Kong, which has been in business since 1981. Photo: Jocelyn Tam

How a vanishing Hong Kong boat culture has kept its cuisine afloat

Reading Time:7 minutes
A sliding wall shrinks or expands the living area and guest room at this flat in West Kowloon designed by Norman Ung, co-founder of design studios Form and Design Eight Five Two (Deft). Photo: Eugene Chan

Rooms in this flat flex and contract to suit different needs

Reading Time:3 minutes
The study of a lawyer’s dream flat in Repulse Bay, Hong Kong, with interior design by Win Key Workshop. Photo: Eugene Chan; Styling: Flavia Markovits

Dream flat in Hong Kong’s Repulse Bay a fortuitous find

Reading Time:4 minutes
Christmas lights on Chater Road, Central, Hong Kong, in 1981. Photo: SCMP Archives

How a washing machine inspired Hong Kong’s most magical Christmas lights

Reading Time:4 minutes
A picture of a young Teresa Teng in Bangkok from The Story of Teresa Teng by Billy. A former employee of the Chiang Mai hotel where she lived and died reveals what happened on the day she died in 1995. Photo: The Story of Teresa Teng by Billy

The day Teresa Teng died in Thailand – what the butler saw

Reading Time:12 minutes
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Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
Yuumi Kawai in a still from Two Seasons, Two Strangers
Asian cinema: Korean films

Review | Two Seasons, Two Strangers: a hypnotic ode to writing and travel

Starring Shim Eun-kyung and Yuumi Kawai, Japanese drama Two Seasons, Two Strangers is both fascinating and beautiful.

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Asian cinema

Hong Kong abruptly cancels 3 Japanese film screenings amid diplomatic row

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

Review | Road to Vendetta: Jeffrey Ngai plays an assassin in his first lead role

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Asian cinema

Want to find solace in film? 10 movies that may offer catharsis and hope

Following last week’s tragic fire at a Tai Po estate in Hong Kong, we look at films in which humanity endures through the darkest of hours.

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Arata Iura (left) and Ryo in a still from Distance (2001), which was conceived in the aftermath of the sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway system, carried out in March 1995 by the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult.
China-Japan relations

Japanese concerts cancelled in China as diplomatic row takes cultural toll

Fans of Kokia and JO1 left disappointed as diplomatic dust-up over Sanae Takaichi’s comments ripples out into the economy.

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Asian cinema

Review | Kokuho: kabuki epic with Ryo Yoshizawa is the best Japanese film of the year

Kokuho is a lavish, bewitching story of two Japanese kabuki theatre actors, raised in the same family and competing to become the best.

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Asian cinema

Can’t get enough of Another World? 10 animated films set in the afterlife

If you liked Another World, you will love these 10 afterlife animations, with subjects from rabbits and dogs to a pianist and a corpse bride.

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A screen grab from Soul, starring Jamie Foxx and Tina Fey, one of 10 animated films focusing on the afterlife. Photo: Disney/Pixar
Asian cinema

Review | Black Showman: Masaharu Fukuyama leads boring murder mystery adaptation

Fukuyama fails to conjure excitement as a magician-turned-sleuth alongside Kasumi Arimura in this screen version of Keigo Higashino’s novel.

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Asian cinema

12 of the best movies at the Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2025

Highlights of the 22nd HKAFF include local film Another World, Japanese period epic Kokuho and South Korea’s The World of Love.

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Asian cinema

Review | Dollhouse: haunted doll J-horror with Masami Nagasawa is great fun

Japanese director Shinobu Yaguchi mixes horror and riotous comedy in this film about a family tormented by a possessed doll.

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Masami Nagasawa in a still from Dollhouse (category IIB; Japanese), directed by Shinobu Yaguchi. Masami Nagasawa and Koji Seto co-star.
World of performing arts

Hit film Kokuho is reviving Japan’s centuries-old performing art of kabuki

The second highest-grossing domestic live-action film in Japan of all time, Kokuho has sparked renewed interest in the kabuki art form.

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A still from Kokuho. Photo: courtesy of Toho Co, Shuichi Yoshida/Asahi Shimbun Publications
Asian cinema

Review | Kowloon Generic Romance: Walled City-set Japanese fantasy makes zero sense

Riho Yoshioka, Koshi Mizukami and a Mandarin-speaking version of Hong Kong’s Kowloon Walled City star in this very odd production.

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Asian cinema

Review | Scarlet: Mamoru Hosoda’s Hamlet-inspired anime set to divide viewers

Fans of Japanese director Mamoru Hosoda’s earlier works are likely to appreciate this animated fable, but others may find it a bit of a trial.

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China society

Opinion | China is not inciting anti-Japan hatred. It is simply remembering

The wartime invasion and attempts to distort history are one thing; modern Japan and its people are another. One can be condemned while the other is embraced.

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People visit the Memorial Hall of the Victims in Nanjing Massacre by Japanese Invaders, in Nanjing, Jiangsu province, on July 2. Photo: Xinhua
China consumption

Surprising many, Nobody becomes China’s top 2D animated film at the box office

Based on an animated series, Shanghai Animation Film Studio’s newest movie has dethroned Japan’s most successful animated showings in China.

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Animated movie Nobody has taken China by storm. Image: Shanghai Animation Film
Indonesia

Indonesians fly anime pirate flag in Independence Day protest

The flag from Japanese anime One Piece has become an unlikely symbol of defiance in Indonesia, prompting warnings of ‘criminal consequences’.

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Asian cinema

10 must-see movies and programmes at Hong Kong’s Summer IFF 2025

From It Was Just an Accident to Eddington, here are 10 highlights to catch at the Summer International Film Festival, from August 13 to 25.

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Cinema

Japanese horror master Kiyoshi Kurosawa on making his first samurai film

The Wife of a Spy and Cloud director talks about deviating from the genre he’s known best for and the ‘contradiction’ in his work.

Kiyoshi Kurosawa at a screening of his film Cloud in Venice, Italy, in 2024. The Japanese horror master says a samurai film directed by him “might be really happening”. Photo: Kyodo News via AP
Asian cinema

Review | Dream Animals: The Movie – biscuit-inspired Japanese animation is great fun

This cute animated film could have simply been an advertisement for the snacks it’s based on, but instead delivers thoughtful family-friendly fun.

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Asian cinema

Review | Desert of Namibia: Yuumi Kawai superb in compelling Gen Z Japanese drama

Yuumi Kawai plays an explosive young woman in this film directed by Yoko Yamanaka that looks at independence and assertive femininity.

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Hayao Miyazaki

5 best Studio Ghibli films, including My Neighbour Totoro, as it turns 40

Hayao Miyazaki co-founded Studio Ghibli in 1985. From Spirited Away to My Neighbour Totoro, we recall five of his most popular films.

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A screen grab from My Neighbour Totoro. Photo: Studio Ghibli
Hayao Miyazaki

What will happen to Studio Ghibli after founder Hayao Miyazaki retires?

The Boy and the Heron could be the last animation from veteran artist Hayao Miyazaki, known for his engaging hand-drawn works.

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A still from Studio Ghibli’s The Boy and the Heron. Photo: Studio Ghibli
American cinema

15 of the best female assassin movies as John Wick spin-off Ballerina lands

From Black Widow and Kill Bill to Red Sparrow, Hero and La Femme Nikita, these films showcase some of cinema’s most deadly femmes fatales.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

In this movie, Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman fight a duel

Zatoichi and the One-Armed Swordsman sees a Hong Kong film character fight a Japanese one. Who won depended on which film version you saw.

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Video gaming

Exit 8’s director and star on turning the video game into a thrilling film

Genki Kawamura and Kazunari Ninomiya talk about the challenges they overcame – including completing the stressful cult hit game themselves.

Kazunari Ninomiya, a popular Japanese singer-songwriter, actor and member of J-pop group Arashi, in a still from Exit 8.
Asian cinema

Review | Love on Trial: Koji Fukada explores the dark side of J-pop

Kyoko Saito plays a J-pop star sued for having a boyfriend in a film that questions how young women are treated by a male-dominated industry.

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Kyoko Saito as J-pop star Mai in a still from Love on Trial (category TBC), directed by Koji Fukada. Yuki Kura co-stars.
Asian cinema

Review | Unreachable: Japanese supernatural drama is too illogical to be good

Despite the efforts of its three stars Suzu Hirose, Hana Sugisaki and Kaya Kiyohara, this ghost drama is nothing more than exasperating.

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Asian cinema

Review | Exit 8, live-action adaptation of cult Japanese horror video game

Protagonist ‘The Lost Man’ must spot the differences as he walks repeatedly down an underground passage. Expect jump scares and apparitions.

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