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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
An old Shanghai-style flat. Photo: courtesy hoo

This refurbished home is a love letter to old Shanghai

A Hong Kong designer transforms his late aunt’s flat with 1930s East-meets-West glamour.

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The streets outside the KR (Krishna Rajendra) Market. Photo: Getty Images

Insider’s guide to Bengaluru: from flower markets to late-night bars

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Neville Sarony at his office in Central, Hong Kong. Photo: Tracy Wong

Barrister by day, jazz singer by night – and that’s only half the story

Reading Time:6 minutes
Chef Yoshiteru Ikegawa uses Kishu binchotan, a revered type of charcoal from Wakayama prefecture. Photo: courtesy Torikaze

He wasn’t allowed to grill for years. That’s how he mastered yakitori

Reading Time:3 minutes
Visitors bundled up against the cold to see the frost on Tai Mo Shan, where the temperature fell to minus three degrees Celsius in December 1975. Photo: SCMP Archives

In pictures: Hong Kong’s coldest days from the 1970s to 2010s

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The turquoise waters off Eleuthera Island, in the Bahamas. Photo: Shutterstock

Bahamas: rock pools, pineapple farms and empty beaches off the beaten track

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Content from SCMP's Specialist Publications
Louis Koo in a still from Back to the Past. In celebration of the film’s success, here are 10 more of the best examples of big-screen time-travel escapism from across Asia.
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Loved Back to the Past? 10 Asian time travel gems you may also enjoy

After the success of Louis Koo’s Back to the Past, here are 10 other Asian time-travelling movies that are well worth checking out.

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The 12 best Asian films of 2025: Ne Zha 2, Kokuho and more

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How mega-hit Kokuho could make Japanese live-action films global contenders

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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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Yuumi Kawai in a still from Two Seasons, Two Strangers
Asian cinema

Hong Kong abruptly cancels 3 Japanese film screenings amid diplomatic row

The Leisure and Cultural Services Department has dropped Kamome Diner, Tampopo and An from its upcoming film programme.

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Asian cinema: Hong Kong film

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

A John Wick-inspired action thriller co-produced by Hong Kong and Japan, Road to Vendetta is a textbook case of style over substance.

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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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Masaharu Fukuyama in a still from Black Showman (category: IIA, Japanese), co-starring Kasumi Arimura and directed by Ryo Tanaka.
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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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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Koshi Mizukami (left) and Riho Yoshioka in a still from Kowloon Generic Romance (category: IIA, Japanese, Mandarin), directed by Chihiro Ikeda.
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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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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A still from Dream Animals: The Movie.
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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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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Ana de Armas as Eve in a still from Ballerina. Photo: Larry D. Horricks/Lionsgate
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.

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