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Spirited performances by Mei Nagano and Takeru Satoh bolster Hideki Takeuchi’s quirky and stylish film. Source link

The Japanese film industry has made movies featuring the Ainu, indigenous people who now live mostly in Hokkaido, but with Japanese actors in the Ainu roles. In his second feature “Ainu Mosir” (2020), Hokkaido-born Takeshi Fukunaga used a nonprofessional Ainu cast to explore the issue of identity within the setting of an Ainu village that caters to tourists, while depicting the struggles of the characters to preserve and pass on customs to the next generation. In his documentary “Ainu Puri,” Fukunaga takes a different approach by focusing on one Ainu family whose young patriarch, Shigeki Amanai, is trying to live a traditionally Ainu life in Shiranuka, Hokkaido. For both films, Fukunaga did the slow, difficult work of winning trust and cooperation so that his actors and subjects, as well as the wider Ainu community, would be comfortable with his camera and trust that he would represent them fairly and sympathetically. Source link

Nippon Steel will pay $5,000 to each and every U.S. Steel employee in America if its acquisition of the company goes through. It made the announcement Wednesday morning in Japan as press reports indicated that U.S. President Joe Biden is set to block the transaction. The proposed payment was blasted by the United Steelworkers, which opposes the deal. “Nippon Steel today employed a classic union-busting tactic in a final, desperate attempt to win over support for its doomed acquisition of U.S. Steel: simple bribery,” union leaders wrote in a statement released after the $5,000 offer was made. Source link

Tokyo ranked third for a ninth consecutive year in the Global Power City Index released by the Mori Memorial Foundation on Tuesday. London and New York retained the top two spots, at first and second place respectively, while Paris came in fourth and Singapore, fifth, also the same as last year. The report showed improvements in Tokyo’s overall score this year, significantly narrowing the gap with New York. Gains were made in four categories: research and development, cultural interaction, livability, and accessibility. However, Tokyo’s score declined in the economy category. Osaka climbed two spots to 35th, driven by improvements in accessibility and livability ahead of the 2025 World Expo, along with significant gains in international travel indicators, according to the report. Fukuoka remained steady at 42nd. The 2024 rankings evaluated 48 cities across six criteria — economy, research and development, cultural interaction, livability, environment, and accessibility. Recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly influenced international mobility, corporate activity, and work styles, the report said. With the resumption of global travel, all cities in the report saw increased international air passengers, with notable rebounds in Asian cities such as Tokyo and Shanghai, which also experienced significant growth in domestic flights, the report noted. Source link

SEOUL – For pub owner Jun Jung-sook, Seoul’s once-vibrant Nokdu Street is not what it used to be when people queued for a table to end their day with Korean mung bean pancakes and shots of the fiery local rice wine makgeolli. The more common sight now is of half-empty pubs and bars along the neon-lit alley and streets, a telling sign of a sharp shift in South Korea’s once-notorious drinking culture. That change has been driven by corporate Korea slowing down on hoesik, or after-work drinking bouts, the emergence of an emboldened class of younger female workers who are refusing to be part of these drunken sessions and a general reluctance of consumers to open their wallets due to higher interest rates and lingering inflation. Source link

The Ground Self-Defense Force said Tuesday it will suspend flights of its fleet of V-22 Osprey transport aircraft for the time being, after the U.S. military temporarily halted flights of its own V-22 fleet. The GSDF said the United States notified it of the suspension and that it will give top priority to ensuring safety until further details are shared. The GSDF will pause flights of its V-22 Ospreys, temporarily deployed at Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, except for duties such as deployment in a large-scale disaster. U.S. media reported Monday that the U.S. military has suspended flights of its V-22 Osprey fleet to determine if additional safety measures are necessary after a near crash at a U.S. air base in New Mexico in November. The November accident is believed to have been potentially caused by weakened metal components. Osprey operations were globally suspended for months after a fatal crash involving a U.S. Air Force Osprey off the island of Yakushima, Kagoshima Prefecture, in November last year. The GSDF resumed flights of its V-22 Osprey fleet on Nov. 15 following a suspension after an accident on the island of Yonaguni in Okinawa Prefecture in October. Source link

Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday morning that it had detected 53 Chinese military aircraft and 19 navy and coast guard vessels operating around the island over the past 24 hours, as the democratic island remained on alert amid speculation that Beijing has launched another round of war games. The aircraft tally was the highest reported for a single day since China’s military last held massive drills around Taiwan in October. Taipei said Tuesday that Beijing has deployed the largest number of naval ships to regional waters around the island since the mid-1990s, with media reports citing senior Taiwanese security officials as saying close to 90 Chinese Navy and coast guard ships had been detected in a broader stretch of waters along the so-called first island chain, which links Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Source link

1991 was a year in which there was hardly time to catch your breath, as seminal moments in history and popular culture seemed to arrive on a near weekly basis. Many were positive — decades of living in the shadow of nuclear annihilation seemed to be over as the collapse of the Soviet Union brought the Cold War to an end, while in South Africa apartheid crumbled as legislation and negotiation sped up the dismantling of racial segregation. Tragedy was prominent, too, however, with history-altering wars breaking out in the Balkans and the Middle East, bringing atrocity and chaos to those regions. Source link

When the mayor of Shijonawate, a small city in Osaka Prefecture, decided against running for a third term in the Dec. 22 election, he had an idea. In an unprecedented move, the 36-year-old incumbent, Shuhei Azuma, decided to allow candidates from across the nation to apply to potentially become his successor through an application form on the job searching platform En Japan. “By working with a company like En Japan, who excel in supporting career changes, I thought that we could reach out to as many people as possible and convey to them that being a mayor is a career that one can actually pursue,” he said. Source link

Prince Hisahito, the only son of Crown Prince Akishino, plans to enroll at the University of Tsukuba come April next year, sources said Wednesday. The 18-year-old, who is second in line to the Chrysanthemum Throne and currently a third-year student at the university’s affiliated high school, secured admission through the institution’s recommendation-based entrance exam held in November, they said. Since childhood, Hisahito, the nephew of Emperor Naruhito, has shown a keen interest in insects and other living organisms. He conducted research on dragonflies inhabiting the Akasaka Estate in Tokyo’s Minato Ward, where he resides, as well as the Imperial Palace grounds, compiling his findings into a research paper. In August, he attended an international entomological conference, demonstrating his passion for studying natural history that focuses on insects and their habitats. This interest has fueled his dedication to academic pursuits in preparation for university. In November, Crown Prince Akishino expressed his hope that his son will have opportunities to study abroad in the future. A senior official of the Imperial Household Agency warned in September that misinformation was circulating regarding Hisahito’s future plans, after a weekly magazine and other media reports said that he may seek admission to the prestigious University of Tokyo through a recommendation system, sparking an online petition campaign in opposition. Information from Jiji added Source link