Aaron Gerow

We are at war because a petulant child feels threatened and wants to show he has power.

It took a while to reach me in Japan, but I finally got my copy of Kani Releasing's Blu-ray release of the Nikkatsu Roman Poruno films of Yoshimitsu Morita (of Family Game fame): Top Stripper and Pink Cut. I had a great time revisiting Morita and writing an essay for the booklet.

「太陽を盗んだ男」「青春の殺人者」の長谷川和彦監督死去　８０歳　 - スポーツ報知 映画「太陽を盗んだ男」で知られる映画監督・長谷川和彦（はせがわ・かずひこ）さんが１月３１日午後、誤嚥（ごえん）性肺炎による多臓器不全のため都内の病院で死去したことが１日、明らかになった。８０歳だった

The legendary Japanese filmmaker Hasegawa Kazuhiko died on Jan. 31 at age 80. He only directed 2 films—The Youth Killer and The Man Who Stole the Sun—but both are celebrated masterpieces that influenced a generation. He was also a member of Director's Company.
hochi.news/articles/202...

映画芸術が毎年恒例のベスト＆ワースト発表、2025年は「国宝」がワースト1位に（映画ナタリー） - Yahoo!ニュース 季刊誌・映画芸術が毎年恒例の「日本映画ベスト＆ワースト」を発表。2025年は荒井晴彦が監督し、綾野剛が主演を務めた「星と月は天の穴」がベストテンの1位に選ばれた。ワーストの1位には「国宝」が選出され

Long running film mag Eiga geijutsu posts its annual best and worst list. Best 1 is Arai Haruhiko's Hoshi to tsuki wa ten no ana; Worst 1 is Lee Sang-il's Kokuho (which has an Oscar nomination). Other interesting films on list, but Arai is the mag's editor!
news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/bfe...

Thanks for the comment! I am finishing a paper on Yamazaki's Godzilla that cites you. Hopefully I'll submit it in a few days.

Photo of the Japanese director Higashi Yoichi, wearing a hat and sunglasses and gesturing to the left, probably as he directs a scene.

The Japanese film director Higashi Yoichi died on January 21, 2026, at the age of 91. Emerging from documentary film, he made award winning fiction films such as Third Base (1978), The River with no Bridge (1992) and Village of Dreams (1996).

Man Killed by Federal Agents in Minneapolis Was Holding a Phone, Not a Gun

トランプ政権はまたも無実な人の殺人を行い、またそれについての真っ赤な嘘をつく。トランプ政権を支持する日本人がわからない。 www.nytimes.com/live/2026/us...

Two houses and two films: transecting Koreeda Hirokazu and Bong Joon-ho through allegory Koreeda Hirokazu’s Shoplifters (2018) and Bong Joon-ho’s Parasite (2019) won the Cannes Film Festival in consecutive years and bear a number of elements in common, particularly a family in poverty ...

My article comparing Koreeda Hirokazu and Bong Joon-ho has been published in the Journal of Japanese and Korean Cinema.

www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

BREAKING: Todd Blanche’s aides directed federal investigators in Minnesota to shut down the investigation into the ICE officer’s fatal shooting of Renee Good—and instead probe the victim for possible criminal liability, according to reporting from @ms.now's Carol Leonnig and Ken Dilanian.

I wish this weren't true, but we now have take his threats about Greenland more seriously, and start to talk about the world-changing mistake if he chose to go to war with Europe - which would essentially guarantee the rest of this century is China's.

I can't believe the idiots who voted for Trump thinking he was against war. But then again, they probably also thought he would reduce inflation.

Opinion | Trump Is the Jan. 6 President

NYT editorial: Trump Is the Jan. 6 President

What is written here is important, but what is missing is the failure of the NYT and the mainstream media to emphasize every day the above truth in their coverage.

Explore this gift article from The New York Times. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/31/o...

I often bicycle by here.

YIDFF 2025に参加するゲストのインタビュー集を作りたい！ | 認定NPO法人山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭 ２年に一度開催している山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭では、今年10月に開催するYIDFF 2025に世界中から映像作家を招聘します。そこで作家たちへのインタビューを収録し、当映画祭の公式ウェブサイトへ日英で掲載することで、それぞれの作家の制作状況、信念、創造性、ドキュメンタリー映画への想いを記録し、また世界に発信したいと考えます。今、山形で、映画祭開催中だから聞き取れる作家たちの生の声、さらにはそ...

山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭の公式インタビューのためのクラウドファンディングが後数日で終わります。30人以上の監督のインタビューの日英翻訳の他に、出版コストなどに充てます。私も参加しています。
congrant.com/project/yidf...

Why would anyone risk themselves to go on 60 Minutes after this? How can viewers ever trust CBS News to report fairly on topics this White House is sensitive about?

原田真人さん死去　76歳　映画監督　「クライマーズ・ハイ」「燃えよ剣」「ヘルドッグス」 - スポニチ Sponichi Annex 芸能 「クライマーズ・ハイ」など社会派の作品で知られる映画監督の原田真人（はらだ・まさと）さんが8日死去した。76歳。静岡県出身。葬儀は近親者で行う。後日、お別れ…

The Japanese film director Harada Masato (原田真人) died on December 8 at the age of 76. He made hit films like Climber's High as well as art films like Kamikaze Taxi. He appears as an actor in The Last Samurai.
www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainmen...

AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself Students use AI to write papers, professors use AI to grade them, degrees become meaningless, and tech companies make fortunes. Welcome to the death of higher education.

I try to avoid using AI as much as I can. But AI is still very much a brand that sells in Japan.

"AI is Destroying the University and Learning Itself"

www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-d...

'Kokuho' breaks Japan's box office record for domestic live-action film | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News The Japanese movie

The film Kokuho, the nearly three-hour film about two kabuki actors directed by Lee Sang-il, just broke the record for box office earnings for a Japanese live action film, hitting 17.4 billion yen or 111 million dollars.
www3.nhk.or.jp/nhkworld/en/...

Google's AI is now snooping on your emails - here's how to opt out A new change quietly rolling out allows Google to access your private messages and attachments to train its AI models - likely without your knowledge. Opting out takes just moments.

Here’s how to opt out.
“Google seems to be opting you in to these features without your permission. Second, the company doesn't seem to have notified its users about this. As a Gmail user, I don't recall seeing any notifications about this change.”

Yesterday, Trump defended the Saudi Crown Prince in the Oval Office.

He said he had “nothing” to do with the murder of Jamal Khashoggi.

But I reviewed a call while serving on Trump’s NSC that I believe would be of interest to the Khashoggi family and the American people.

Release the transcript.

Aaron Gerow on the right smiling with the actor Nakadai Tatsuya on the left.

Extremely sad to hear of the death of Nakadai Tatsuya, one of the great actors in cinema. I was honored to bring him to Yale in 2016 (photo), interview him on camera, and visit his acting school Mumeijuku. He was supremely devoted to the act of acting and will be sorely missed.

アニメ・シンポジウム『桃太郎 海の神兵』から『ペリリュー -楽園のゲルニカ-』まで 国産アニメーションは戦争をいかに描いたか YouTube video by 東京国際映画祭

オリジナルの日本語バージョンはこちらです。

アニメ・シンポジウム『桃太郎 海の神兵』から『ペリリュー -楽園のゲルニカ-』まで 国産アニメーションは戦争をいかに描いたか

www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...

YouTube video by 東京国際映画祭 Anime Symposium: From "Momotaro, Sacred Sailors" to "Peleliu: Guernica of Paradise" English Ver.

Video of the splendid symposium about how anime has depicted war that took place this week at TIFF 2025. This has English VO.
youtu.be/cBs-u1vuXik?...

ACQUAVIVA: U.Va. paid nothing, yet lost everything It seems disingenuous for the University to boast about its agreement having “no external monitoring,” since the University’s president is required to report compliance — and certify under penalty of ...

U of Virginia prof excoriates the university's agreement with the DOJ, which is very different from those signed by Columbia and Brown.

"U.Va. paid nothing, yet lost everything:
Two centuries of independence, undone with a stroke of the pen"
www.cavalierdaily.com/article/2025...

Rally of several hundred people outside Shinjuku Station in Japan.

Perhaps one of the first No Kings rallies took place in Tokyo on the 18th, though it was called a No Tyranny rally. Several hundred gathered outside of Shinjuku Station. This is just the start. Hope you all attend your rallies in the States on October 18.

I interviewed Oki Hiroyuki for the YIDFF's magazine Documentary Box back in 1998. It is in both English and Japanese.
www.yidff.jp/docbox/11/bo...

Shocked to hear of the death of Oki Hiroyuki, one of the pioneer queer filmmakers in Japan. He was only 61. Working in a variety of media and genres, from experimental and documentary film to performance art, Oki-san was a daring artist who made the body both the subject and the method of his art.

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

US anti-fascism expert blocked from flying to Spain at airport

Rutgers University professor who published book on antifa was informed at boarding gate that his trip was cancelled

www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025...

世界各国の監督の声を届けたい　山形映画祭がCFでインタビュー集：朝日新聞 山形市で9日に開幕する山形国際ドキュメンタリー映画祭で、世界各国から訪れる映画監督のインタビュー集を作る資金をクラウドファンディング（CF）で募っている。インタビュー集編集長の小野聖子さんは「様々な…

My partner appears in the Asahi newspaper, describing the collection of interviews she is putting together of filmmakers attending this year's Yamagata Film Festival.. Please support the crowd funding if you can.

www.asahi.com/articles/AST...

Chicago priest Father Michael Pfleger: "The state of emergency is in AMERICA, not Chicago. It's birthed from this president and his admin's reign of terror."

( ht: @mikenellis.bsky.social )