Porn again: Historic Tokyo ‘pink’ theater upgrades, seeks female audience

TOKYO (TR) – The Kabuki-za theater in Ginza is not the only notable Tokyo structure dating back to the 1950s that has shut its doors this year.

With large illuminated lettering affixed to its pasty white facade proclaiming “Adult Movies,” the all-night Ueno Okura Theater, located in Taito Ward close to Shinobazu Pond and at the edge of Ueno Park, has been entertaining fans of erotic cinema for nearly five decades.

The two-screen building, however, closed Saturday due to safety concerns and aesthetic problems resulting from its aged interiors. But the theater widely regarded as Japan’s top outlet for soft-core “pink” pornographic films will continue inside a new complex across the alley and begin targeting a different type of cinemagoer: women.

“Female customers can’t typically come to this kind of place because they feel embarrassed,” says the theater’s bespectacled general manager, Hidekazu Saito. “But we want them to come without hesitation.” Read more

Tortoise return to Japan

TOKYO (TR) – Tortoise’s blending of dub, electronica and jazz over its two decades in existence has established the instrumental five-piece as the band that brought progressive rock into the present.

Yet 2009’s “Beacons of Ancestorship” sees the Chicago-based band, which will appear in Japan for two shows this week in Tokyo and Osaka, going in a different direction.

“Beacons,” the band’s sixth full-length, is much harder to pin down compared to its predecessor, the almost ambient “It’s All Around You” (2004) — and that was entirely deliberate. “It is our attempt to move on to something new,” explains bassist and guitarist Douglas McCombs. “We intentionally made it more raw, leaving some imperfection in the mix.” Read more

Koji Wakamatsu challenges merits of war with ‘Caterpillar’

TOKYO (TR) – From his start in soft pornography in the 1960s to “United Red Army,” the 2007 film that recounts Japan’s leftist student movements from four decades ago, director Koji Wakamatsu has never shied away from provocation. For his new war drama “Caterpillar,” he attacks the hypocrisy inherent in nationalism and the suffering of innocent civilians.

“More than anything, we must not be duped by figures of authority,” said the director following a screening of the film last month at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

The 74-year-old Wakamatsu grew up in a small farming village about 5 kilometers from Sendai, the capital of Miyagi Prefecture. He has childhood memories of the World War II air raids upon the metropolis and seeing it burning red.

“In my village, I regularly saw villagers sending off their youth and later welcoming them back dead, flags waving,” he said. “I wanted to make a film so that those memories would not be forgotten and provide an alternative to the sort of aesthetically pleasing visions of war that we now have, such as images of kamikaze or the noble idea of fighting a war for a nation.”

Adapted from a 1929 Edogawa Rampo 1929 short story that was banned from republication in 1939, “Caterpillar (see trailer below),” for which Shinobu Terajima (“Tokyo Tower”) won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at this year’s Berlin International Film Festival, tells the story of lieutenant Kyuzo Kurokawa, played by Shima Ohnishi, who also starred in “United Red Army,” and his traumatic return to Japan as a limbless man during the second Sino-Japanese War in 1940. Kurokawa’s wife, Shigeko (Terajima), then endures extreme frustration and mixed emotions as she dutifully cares for him in honor of the Emperor. Read more

Livedoor founder Takafumi Horie to produce porn film

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, April 28, 2010)

TOKYO (TR) – Takafumi Horie, disgraced former president of Web portal Livedoor, announced last night on satellite broadcaster Paradise TV that he is producing an adult video.

The site founder said the feature will include notable AV starlet Nina and be released through porn publishing house Soft On Demand. The news came just prior to his participation in a game of “strip” mahjong with three adult video actresses that was broadcast live on Paradise TV, an adult channel known for its wacky and provocative programming.

In March of 2007, Horie was found guilty of falsely reporting a 300-million-yen loss as a 5-billion-yen gain on the Livedoor books. Two years ago, he lost his appeal on his two-and-a-half-year prison sentence. He subsequently submitted an appeal to the Supreme Court. He is now out on a 600-million-yen bail.

With a t-shirt that read “All Rumours Are True” covering his portly frame, Horie enthusiastically watched as the ladies systematically disrobed over the course of the game, which involves the matching of various rectangular tiles featuring various images. Read more

Sex-trade tabloid Tokyo Manzoku News to cease publication

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, April 22, 2010)

TOKYO (TR) – Sex-service tip sheet Tokyo Manzoku News will offer guidance through Tokyo’s adult entertainment areas for the final time next month, announced the owner of the title.

The 16-year-old publication, under the umbrella of publishing house Creators Company Connection, offers pricing and location assistance for clientele interested in fuzoku (sex-related) clubs and bars within Tokyo’s larger nightlife quarters, including Shinjuku, Ikebukuro and Shibuya.

The final issue of the 32-page sheet will hit the stands on May 13. The company cited developments in the media business as the reason for the termination. Read more

Tokyo Sky Tree: Room with a view

TOKYO (TR) – Tall, steel-framed television transmission towers are not generally thought of as being attractive neighbors.

Yet real estate firm Sky Court is hoping that Tokyo Sky Tree, now under construction in the capital’s eastern Sumida Ward, will convey a different image.

The company has taken out newspaper advertising space to promote the units within its Sky Court Oshiage Ichibankan complex as investment properties due to their proximity to the future 634-meter-tall structure, which will make it the world’s tallest free-standing tower when it is completed next year.

“With a location in the center of the city and nearby public transportation, there are positive prospects for further developments in the area targeting single people seeking a lifestyle centered on convenience,” said company representative Tsutomu Sugiura in a dispatch to The Tokyo Reporter. Read more

Michelin Tokyo guide turns to local inspectors, tops Paris for three-star awards

TOKYO (TR) – After France-based tire manufacturer Michelin targeted Tokyo with its famous culinary guide and three-star evaluation system for the inaugural 2008 edition, the response was swift on two fronts. The book shipped a whopping 300,000 copies in five weeks yet simultaneously raised a prickly question within the local media: How are foreigners able to competently evaluate traditional Japanese restaurants?

Michelin’s response for 2010? They probably aren’t — yet that is true of the 22 other countries it covers as well.

The day before the release of the third edition for Tokyo, Michelin Guide director Jean-Luc Naret told a press luncheon at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan that the company seeks to place local food inspectors on the ground in each of the 23 countries it covers. Read more

‘Tokyo Vice’ author was offered $500,000 to cut liver transplant scoop

TOKYO (TR) – The shocking revelation that Japanese yakuza gangsters received liver transplants in the U.S. over a four-year period might not have ever come to light had crime reporter Jake Adelstein accepted a six-figure compensation payment to kill the story, the writer said Wednesday at a press luncheon.

The upper echelon of the gangster organization involved was worried that the transplant scandal, which involved a top yakuza executive making a back-door deal with the FBI, would create chaos within the group once the story went public.

Adelstein, author of the recently released memoir “Tokyo Vice,” an account of his 12-year stint of working the crime beat for the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, first broke the story in the Washington Post in May, 2008. But prior to its publication he met with members of a gang affiliated with the organ recipients and explained his intentions. He was subsequently given an offer that he could refuse: a $300,000 pay-off — later upped to one-half million — if he would not file the article.

“I would say that I thought about it for the length of a clove cigarette,” said Adelstein at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan. “But I said no, because you don’t want to be owned by these guys.” Read more

Lost gaijin: Damon and Naomi return to Japan

TOKYO (TR) – As the title “Lost Gaijin Tour 2009″ might imply, the folk-pop duo Damon and Naomi are aiming for something a little different during their upcoming slate of live shows that will extend up and down Honshu over the next week.

Guitarist and vocalist Damon Krukowski explained during an email interview that he and his wife, bassist Naomi Yang, once comprising two-thirds of the legendary indie-rock band Galaxie 500, have been performing as a duo quite often, in part because it is simple and inexpensive to travel to places that bands do not normally go.

“The idea for this tour was to travel further north and south than we do usually,” said Krukowski. “And since we have a lot of musician friends in Japan, we have invited different ones to join us onstage in different areas, for a few songs each night. It should be a very relaxed, intimate kind of show.” Read more

Tokyo film fest to emphasize eco theme, screen controversial ‘The Cove’

TOKYO (TR) – The 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival will continue its push for environmental awareness and screen the controversial documentary “The Cove,” a film which shows the butchering of dolphins in a small Japanese fishing town.

Fest chairman Tatsumi “Tom” Yoda said at a press luncheon on Thursday that it is very important for the festival to not only screen high-quality films from around the globe but to also educate the world about environmental issues.

“We live in this world together, and those of us in the film industry count on the environment — that is the message we want to send,” said Yoda at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

Kicking off the event on October 17 is the documentary “Oceans” by Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud. TIFF’s week-long run will feature roughly 130 films at theaters in the Roppongi entertainment district of Tokyo. The closer will be Pixar’s “Up,” an animated adventure up in the sky directed by Pete Docter. Read more

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