logo
'Kokuho' rakes in over ¥10 billion at the box office

'Kokuho' rakes in over ¥10 billion at the box office

Japan Times20 hours ago
The Japanese movie "Kokuho" has made over ¥10.5 billion in box office revenue in Japan in its first 73 days of release, up to Sunday, according to film distributor Toho.
It is the first time in 22 years that the revenue of a live-action Japanese movie has topped ¥10 billion, since "Bayside Shakedown 2," which was released in 2003 and earned ¥17.35 billion.
"Kokuho" is already the third-highest-grossing Japanese live-action movie ever after "Bayside Shakedown 2" and the 1983 movie "Antarctica," which grossed ¥11 billion.
Directed by Lee Sang-il, "Kokuho" is the film adaptation of Shuichi Yoshida's same-name novel.
About the turbulent life of a kabuki actor, the movie stars Ryo Yoshizawa as the protagonist who dedicates himself to traditional Japanese performing arts. Ryusei Yokohama plays the role of his rival.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

‘Fires on the Plain': Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time
‘Fires on the Plain': Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time

Japan Times

time2 hours ago

  • Japan Times

‘Fires on the Plain': Haunting imagery in restored 1959 war film stands the test of time

When I interviewed Kon Ichikawa in 2000 for a retrospective of his work presented by Cinematheque Ontario (now known as TIFF Cinematheque), he told me that his World War II masterpiece 'Fires on the Plain' (1959) would never be made today. 'If I were to take it to a production company, they would turn it down flat,' he said. Seeing the film's new 4K restoration, which is currently on release, made me understand why that statement still holds. Based on Shohei Ooka's 1951 novel of the same name, the film, shot in stark black-and-white, strips away the heroism of the usual war movie and the moralism of the typical antiwar movie. (Indie veteran Shinya Tsukamoto made his own, similarly bleak version of 'Fires on the Plain,' released in 2014, but had to self-finance the film after unsuccessfully pitching the project to film companies.) 'Fires on the Plain' tracks the wanderings of a tubercular Japanese soldier, played by a rail-thin Eiji Funakoshi (who fainted on the set after starving himself for two months to prep for the role) as he struggles to survive during the Japanese army's retreat from the island of Leyte in the Philippines early in 1945. Weakened by disease and stumbling down hillsides with arms flapping, Pfc. Tamura looks both pathetic and faintly ridiculous. And when his squad leader berates him for returning to his unit after a short stay in a military hospital ('You're coughing blood ... you think your TB is cured?'), he gazes at him with doe-eyed resignation. But instead of being the film's designated victim, Tamura turns out to be wily and lucky enough to escape American bombs and bullets, while scouring the countryside for sustenance and comrades who can ease his fear of being alone in a hostile land, with sudden death a constant threat. There is a grandeur in the tall columns of smoke he sees in the distance — 'fires on the plain' that have been set by farmers — but he knows he can trust no one, including the Filipinos who regard him and other Japanese soldiers with everything from screaming terror to seething hatred. Scarier, finally, are the fellow soldiers Tamura encounters on the long trudge to Palompon, a seaside town from where they expect to evacuate. The first are three stragglers from another company, who look at him with wolfish eyes when he reveals he has salt, a scarce and desperately desired commodity, but after sharing it with them, he senses that they are trustworthy, at least for the moment. Not so with Nagamatsu (Mickey Curtis) and Yasuda (Osamu Takizawa), soldiers from his unit he meets farther along on the march. The former is even more emaciated than Tamura, while the latter is a glint-eyed older man with a bad leg who has the compliant Nagamatsu trade Yasuda's carefully guarded tobacco for food and hunt for what both men call 'monkey meat.' Tamura begins to suspect that they see him as their next 'monkey.' Working from a script written by his wife, Natto Wada, Ichikawa filmed this story with touches of his trademark dark humor and visual beauty, but 'Fires on the Plain' depicts Tamura's journey with a reality-grounded detail and primal psychological depth that makes it a one-of-a-kind feature in his lengthy filmography. More than six decades after its release, the film still incites compulsive viewing, like dreaming of one of the oldest scenarios of our species — kill or be eaten — with a modern war supplying the subtext and a master director the ever-haunting imagery. But it is Funakoshi's eyes, with their softness that can instantly harden into rightful suspicion, that have stayed with me the longest.

Masaharu Fukuyama admits to attending Fuji TV dinner
Masaharu Fukuyama admits to attending Fuji TV dinner

Japan Times

time18 hours ago

  • Japan Times

Masaharu Fukuyama admits to attending Fuji TV dinner

Popular Japanese singer and actor Masaharu Fukuyama has admitted that he participated in a dinner organized by a Fuji TV executive in which female announcers were invited for entertainment purposes, a practice over which the broadcaster has come under fire. According to a statement released Monday by his agency, Fukuyama was invited by former Fuji TV Executive Vice President Toru Ota to a dinner, which he attended 'under the understanding that it was a work-related event.' However, the agency said he was not involved in any harassment issues that were reported by a third-party probe in March, which uncovered incidents of inappropriate behavior at Fuji TV's past business meetings. The dinner that Fukuyama attended was one that was described by the third-party probe as 'inappropriate' and 'a similar incident' to the one that former boy band member Masahiro Nakai attended, which led to a scandal involving 'sexual violence' between Nakai and a former newscaster at Fuji TV. The probe found that there was a culture of organizational harassment against female employees at the broadcaster. The third-party panel reported that there was an incident in which Ota had organized a dinner party with 'a powerful male cast member' and made female announcers and other female employees attend, during which they were made to engage in conversations of a sexual nature. Fukuyama's agency admitted that the male cast member in question was him. It also said that the singer-actor cooperated closely with the third-party investigation but did not come out publicly in order to prevent the identification of other people who attended the dinner and avert any slander against them. Weekly magazine Josei Seven detailed Fukuyama's involvement in the dinner in an interview with him published on Monday. It reported that he refused to cooperate with the probe due to his busy schedule. His agency clarified that while he was eager to cooperate with the probe, he could not do so in person due to him being out of Tokyo as a result of his filming schedule. Instead, he communicated with the panel in writing. In the interview with Josei Seven, Fukuyama said he 'deeply regretted' the fact that some participants at the dinner felt uncomfortable with the topics that were discussed, and that he should have been more sensitive about the possibility of his words coming across as offensive even if it was not intended. He said he responded to the interview request from the weekly magazine because the issue is of public interest and he wanted to prevent any misreporting or misunderstanding over his involvement in the Fuji TV dinner. Following the publishing of the article and statement by his agency, Fukuyama said on X that he feels 'deeply sorry for causing anxiety and concerns' to his fans. 'Above all, I ask that you refrain from any attempts to identify or slander those who had the courage to cooperate with the investigation,' he said.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store