Netflix Gives Second Season to Japan Thriller ‘Alice in Borderland’

Rebecca Rubin Film and Media ReporterBenoît Jutras, the composer behind many Cirque du Soleil productions, is developing a slate of original musicals for the stage and screen.The first project will be a rock opera that traces Japan’s Imperial Family through the final days of World War II.

There are few international filmmakers working today that have the acclaim and reverence of Naomi Kawase. And with her latest feature, “True Mothers,” selected as the official Japanese entry into the Oscars race, it appears she’s, yet again, in the middle of the awards discussion.

A “soft” state of emergency has been declared in Tokyo and three surrounding districts as authorities tackle rising Covid-19 cases.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentAs anticipated, the Japanese government on Thursday declared a state of emergency for Tokyo and the three neighboring prefectures of Saitama, Chiba and Kanagawa for a period of one month starting on Jan. 8.

Sony Interactive Entertainment has reportedly ceased production of most PS4 models in Japan, including the PS4 Pro.This is according to a new Game Watch report, which claims that the only PS4 model that will remain in production is the Jet Black 500GB PS4 Slim.

Mark Schilling Japan CorrespondentAnticipating that the Japanese government may again call for movie theaters to temporarily close in Greater Tokyo due to an upsurge of coronavirus cases, Toho Cinemas and other leading exhibitors are halting sales of advance tickets for cinemas in the areas.

Hayao Miyazaki's nearly two-decade reign atop Japan's all-time box office rankings has come to an end. Runaway anime blockbuster Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train became Japan's biggest box-office hit of all time over the weekend, pushing Miyazaki's beloved classic Spirited Away (2001) into second place.

Refresh for latest…: There was a bit more varied action at the international box office this weekend, including the continued rollout of Warner Bros/DC’s Wonder Woman 1984, a sizable start for China’s Shock Wave 2, the debut of Disney/Pixar’s Soul, The Croods: A New Age nearing $100M global, and a brand new milestone for Japan’s Demon Slayer The Movie: Mugen Train which, according to estimates, has overtaken Spirited Away to become the highest-grossing film ever in the market.

direct to your inbox Researchers have starting giving patients an antibody treatment that could offer immediate protection to people have been exposed to coronavirus to prevent them becoming seriously ill and dying.

Kid Cudi has scored a new U.S.

Rebecca Davis editorUniversal Music Japan has appointed Rui Suzuki as its Tokyo-based chief financial officer starting on Jan.

Super Nintendo World will be opening at Universal Studios Japan very soon and a new look at the theme park was just unveiled!

Elsa Keslassy International CorrespondentKaouther Ben Hania’s “The Man Who Sold His Skin” has been sold by Paris-based Bac Films International to further territories. The movie will represent Tunisia in the Oscar race for best international feature film.“The Man Who Sold His Skin” world premiered at Venice, where it won the best actor award for Yahya Mahayni.

It was a frozen Christmas Day in 1949, in the elastic aftermath of World War II, when a dozen U.S. soldiers with the 27th Infantry Regiment "Wolfhounds" accompanied a Red Cross representative to the Holy Family orphanage, tucked into the snowy streets in Osaka, Japan.

It’s not going to end well for Japan’s “Twitter killer.”

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefJapanese police on Wednesday formally charged 42-year-old local man Shinji Aoba with murder relating to the arson attack in July last year at Kyoto Animation.The blaze, set using gasoline, killed 33 people on the scene and three more in hospital.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefPolice in Osaka, Japan have begun a legal case against a man who is alleged to have cyberbullied Kimura Hana, the reality TV star who died earlier this year, apparently by suicide.Kimura, a professional wrestler, was one of six cast-members of “Terrace House,” which played locally on Fuji Television and globally on Netflix. The show was subsequently canceled.Police on Thursday referred the case to prosecutors in Osaka.

Japanese prosecutors on Wednesday charged a man with murder for last year’s deadly arson attack on Kyoto Animation, the family-run studio behind a string of internationally beloved anime films and television series. The suspect, Shinji Aoba, 42, was detained in the immediate aftermath of the fire, but local authorities had to wait months for him to recover from serious burns before formally placing him under arrest.