I recently did a mini Twitter poll to gauge what content people wanted to see more of and to my surprise the overwhelming response was… reviews. Admittedly I rolled anime, film and book reviews all into one so I’m taking a bit of a guess here by assuming you meant anime reviews (based on my … Continue reading
I’ve only watched a few episodes of Queer Eye so am pretty late to the party, but when Queer Eye: We’re In Japan! popped up on my Netflix recommendations I knew I had to watch it ASAP. Most of you will have at least heard of the cultural phenomenon that is Queer Eye – aka the … Continue reading
All the Anime have been spoiling us for UK anime film screenings over the past few months, and certainly given us all plenty to blog and tweet about. Maria Okada’s directorial debut ‘Maquia: When the Promised Flowers Bloom’ is the latest film in their repetoire and is coming to UK cinema screens from 27 June! … Continue reading
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee is a rare find. It’s an epic family saga, enlightening historical novel, tragic love story, exploration of identity and so much more. Not to mention, how beautiful is the cover? Pachinko traces the life, joys, struggles and misfortunes of an immigrant Korean family in Japan. It begins in a rural Korean … Continue reading
Good news for fans of the Japanese murder mystery or ‘court drama’ genre – Kore-eda Hirokazu’s latest film, The Third Murder, is hitting UK cinema screens on 23rd March. Attorney Shigemori Tomoaki (Fukuyama Masaharu) takes on the defence case of Misumi Takashi (Yakusho Koji), who has been accused of murdering, robbing and setting fire to … Continue reading
I grew up obsessed with fantasy novels but, in my twenties, I’ve struggled to be enamored with fantasy anime. The plots generally feel re-hashed, characters carbon copies of each other and there’s generally not much to surprise. Depending on your view, the number of ‘isekai’ (transported to a fantasy world)-type anime series around today could … Continue reading
Like a lot of people in their twenties, I grew up fairly obsessed with the Pokemon series. I played Pokemon Blue on the Gameboy, watched the original series on SMTV Live and collected the cards without ever learning how to play them. I moved on from the TV series long ago but I did keep … Continue reading
It’s that time of the year again when I report back from the films I caught at the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP), which is now in its 15th year! In case it wasn’t obvious, I’m a big fan of Japanese cinema and JFTFP is a very fixed date in my calendar. The screenings … Continue reading
I first came across the anime series Hyouka late last year when it popped up on the NHK’s poll of the Best 100 Anime of All Time (no. 25) as well as a western-style poll curated by Youtuber The Anime Man (no. 84). While I’m generally not a big fan of the slice-of-life genre, Hyouka’s art style … Continue reading
Back in 2015, I reviewed Michael Booth’s ‘Sushi and Beyond: What the Japanese Know about Cooking’ and interviewed the author himself. Booth has a lot of people’s dream jobs – he’s a best-selling author and journalist who writes predominantly about travel and food. ‘The Meaning of Rice: and Other Tales from the Belly of Japan’ … Continue reading
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