By • February 16, 2010
With ad revenue falling, the major nets are partnering with Toho and other major distributors in an effort to fill that gap with features based on material with which local audiences are already widely familiar. The result is a consolidation of power in the biz — and Hollywood, with the exception of an occasional “Pirates of the Caribbean” or “Avatar,” is increasingly losing clout.
By • February 15, 2010
Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment area, once one of Japan’s most vibrant cinema districts, is experiencing a rapid shuttering of its theaters as their aging buildings lose audiences to modern theaters nearby.
By • September 29, 2009
Actress Erika Sawajiri, a local tabloid fav for a series of headline-making scandals, has been replaced as the female lead of the SF fantasy “Space Battleship Yamato,” according to Japan press reports.
By • June 11, 2009
Toho film veterans Godzilla and Mothra are well known to followers of Japanese pop culture. Less famous — but equally fearsome — are the yokai, a group of Japanese mythic monsters and humanoids. Certainly they were less widely known until last year’s publication of “Yokai Attack! The Japanese Monster Survival Guide,” a tongue-in-cheek field guide to some of these imaginary beasts, which roamed Japan’s forests, canyons and villages centuries ago
By • February 27, 2009
TOKYO – The cabaret Kabukicho Club Heights will close its doors this Friday, leveling another blow upon Japan’s most vibrant red-light district of Kabukicho.
The …
By • February 5, 2009
TOKYO – It has been a head-scratching past 12 months for Japanese film investors.
September saw the opening of “Shinobi” (Heart Under Blade), an experiment …
By • December 15, 2008
Recent police crackdown on sleaze that has shut a large swath of sex clubs
By • December 6, 2008
Bidding farewell on New Year’s Eve, offering special screenings
By • December 1, 2008
TOKYO – Over the last century, earthquakes and bombing raids have left Tokyo with, what many would describe as, a cityscape of few long-lasting …
By • August 5, 2008
TOKYO – Readying more robots for battle.
Japanese film giants Toei and Toho probably cast nervous looks over their backs in September, when film-distribution and …
Distraught father-in-law wins incestuous consolation prize
Proliferation of fake ID cards assist minors seeking work in sex trade
Re-porn: AV industry relying on rising popularity of ‘mature’ actresses
Out-call sex services in Tokyo compete for piece of papa-sans’ pensions
Osaka ‘girl’s bar’ employed 12-year-old girl
