By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

Spring has sprung in the Big Apple, and that means one thing: a new season of sounds, colors, and spectacular performing arts to match the blossoming sakura trees throughout the city.

This month’s highlights include: 

Friday, April 4, 8:00 p.m.

Kenshi Yonezu 2025 World Tour / JUNK

Radio City Music Hall, 1260 Sixth Avenue

From $175

Kenshi Yonezu, the brains behind the theme songs of popular anime such as Chainsaw Man and the Academy Award-winning Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron, makes his Radio City Music Hall debut! After gaining success with Vocaloid music under the stage name Hachi, Kenshi Yonezu began producing under his real name in 2012. In addition to music, he has attracted attention for his album cover illustrations and video productions. The video for his hit single “Lemon,” the long-running theme song for the TV series Unnatural, is the most-viewed music video in Japan, and topped Billboard Japan’s year-end charts for two consecutive years, leaving a mark on music history both in Japan and abroad. His newest single “Plazma” is the official theme song to the latest installment in the iconic Gundam franchise, Mobile Suit Gundam GQuuuuuuX -Beginning-. Available everywhere now, the track features electrifying vocals from Yonezu alongside high-tempo synths and electronic rhythms to match the vibrant universe of the mecha and their epic space battles.

April 2-20

In the Pinku: The Return of Roman Porno

Metrograph, 7 Ludlow Street

$17

lIn 1971, facing flagging attendance thanks to competition from television and the specter of bankruptcy, the venerable studio Nikkatsu, the oldest in Japan, remembered the ancient wisdom that “Sex sells”—thus was the Roman Porno line born. Playing alongside the cheaper, independently produced so-called “pink films,” Roman Porno were often more than just salacious—though they were, of course, plenty salacious—for as long as their makers served up the obligatory naked flesh and softcore idylls, they were left free to throw in all the formal flourishes, experimental performances, radical politics, and morbid psychology they so desired. From the ’70s heyday of the Roman Porno to more recent works by Sion Sono and Akihiko Shiota, this six-film series, accompanying a run of Love Hotel, Shinji Somai’s lone venture into Roman Porno, is a trip to the exhilarating intersection of art and smut.

Monday, April 7, 8:00 p.m. and 10:30 p.m.

Hiromi’s Sonicwonder: One Night Special Performance

Blue Note Jazz Club, 131 West Third Street 

Limited availability

Since Hiromi’s debut album Another Mind (2003), the world-renowned pianist’s sound has evolved with every release, erasing the lines between jazz and classical, composition and improvisation. This special intimate performance celebrates the release of Out There, Hiromi’s 13th studio full-length album. Born in Hamamatsu, Japan, Hiromi began studying piano when she was six years old. When she was 17, Chick Corea invited her to play with him at a Tokyo concert. She attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, where she was mentored by jazz legend Ahmad Jamal. A prolific artist, she has also recorded the soundtrack to Blue Giant, an animated feature film based on the popular manga. Hiromi is a perennial favorite on DownBeat’s Annual Critics and Readers Poll, and has performed at the world’s finest jazz festivals, including Montreux, Umbria, North Sea, Newport, and Monterey. Her work has been celebrated by media including the New York Times, NPR and NPR Music, and the Washington Post, and she was a featured performer at the Tokyo Olympics opening ceremony in 2021.

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.

Stay warm this winter with some hot local events, from live showcases that will transport you to another time and place, a clutch of new anime screenings, and a live performance you won’t want to miss.

One of the great artists of the violin world, Midori returns to the 92NY stage with pianist Özgür Aydin for a recital of music at the heart of her artistry. She opens with the New York premiere of a new work by Che Buford inspired by spirituals, followed by Brahms’ beautiful Violin Sonata in G Major and Poulenc’s Violin Sonata, with its touches of Parisian character. Celebrating the 150th anniversary of his birth, the concert closes with a pair of pieces by Ravel, including one of Midori’s signature works, the fiery Tzigane, which she performed in her recital debut over 30 years ago and continues to make her own. 

Program: CHE BUFORD Resonances of Spirit BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in G Major, Op. 78 ———– POULENC Sonata for Violin and Piano RAVEL Kaddish (arr. L. Garban) Tzigane

Monday, March 10, 7:30 p.m.

the far side of the moon

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$21, $14 Japan Society members

In the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster, an aging mother and her adult hikikomori (shut-in) son struggle under the weight of isolation, time and memory. With a cataclysmic flash, the woman is in jeopardy, unable to find help in her haunted and absent son and invisible to passerby behind her property fence. Yet, in a torn and poisoned world, sometimes we do the most good by extending a hand over the fence towards what we can’t reach. Continuing our focus on female playwrights, Izumi Kasagi, whose play the far side of the moon was a prestigious Kishida Kunio Drama Award finalist, paints lives in shimmering watercolors in this moving modern meditation on old age and loneliness. Skye Kowaleski, NYC-based holistic artist and former co-director of the OBIE-award winning venue JACK, leads their local cast through this poetic work. Followed by an Artist Q&A.

March 12, 16

Mobile Suit Gundam: Char’s Counterattack

Various theaters

Various prices

An Anime Expo Cinema Nights exclusive! Universal Century 0093. The previously missing Char Aznable has revived Neo Zeon and declared war against the Earth Federation government. The Londo Bell unit commanded by Bright Noa is forced to fight alone and unaided against the Neo Zeon forces, which have begun dropping asteroids onto the Earth. Among the Londo Bell members is Amuro Ray, Char’s longtime rival. But their valiant efforts are in vain as 5th Luna falls onto the planet. Sensing a further threat behind Char’s movements, Amuro heads for the Moon to collect the Nu Gundam, a mobile suit equipped with a psycho-frame. Waiting for him is its lead developer, Chan Agi. Meanwhile, Bright’s son Hathaway Noa meets a girl named Quess Paraya on his way into space, and is instantly attracted to her.

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

Stay warm this winter with some hot local events, from live showcases that will transport you to another time and place, a clutch of new anime screenings, and a live J-idol performance you won’t want to miss.

This month’s highlights include:

Feb. 5, 6, 9

Cowboy Bebop: The Movie

Various theaters

Various prices

Anime Expo Cinema Nights presents Cowboy Bebop: The Movie. Caught up in a world of dreams, lost in the cruelty of reality. What should have been an easy bounty turns into biological war after a terrorist gets hold of a deadly virus. Drawn in by the pretty price on the mastermind’s head, Spike and the Bebop crew are ready to collect a much-needed reward. Unfortunately, the gang’s about to find themselves in more trouble than money when the terrorist threatens to unleash the virus on Halloween– effectively killing everyone on Mars. With little time and leads that seem more dreamy than helpful, they’ll have to use their own bag of tricks to stop a dangerous plot.

Feb 5-7, March 29 

We Call It Ballet: Sleeping Beauty in a Dazzling Light Show

Gerald W. Lynch Theater, 524 West 59th Street

$45-$65

Experience Sleeping Beauty like never before in this dance and light show. Enjoy a unique fusion of classical ballet and modern technology, where local dancers literally light up the stage with glittering routines and glow-in-the-dark costumes. The timeless tale of the cursed princess awakened by her true love’s kiss comes to life on stage, as pirouettes and gravity-defying leaps cast a kaleidoscope of colours across the space. It’s a beautiful production you won’t want to miss!

Thursday, Feb. 6, 7:30 p.m.

Hans Zimmer Live

Barclays Center, 620 Atlantic Avenue (Brooklyn)

From $274

Last call! Due to overwhelming demand for the sold-out Hans Zimmer Live 2024 North American fall tour, the award-winning film composer has added an additional show in Brooklyn. This performance is the last opportunity for NYC-area fans to see Hans Zimmer Live before he begins working on a brand-new live production. Hans Zimmer Live showcases the multiple Academy Award® and Grammy winning composer’s groundbreaking audio and visual show featuring a selection of the composer’s scores, brought to life by Zimmer and his 18-piece live band and full orchestra. The newly arranged concert suites include music from Gladiator, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Dark Knight, Interstellar, The Lion King, The Last Samurai and Dune, for which Zimmer received his second Academy Award®.

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

Start the new year right by heading down to your local concert venue, cinema, or arts center for some fantastic new year’s fare. Whether you enjoy movies, travel, or orchestral performances, treat yourself and catch a break from the cold.

This month’s highlights include:

Jan. 8, 9, 12

Paprika – 15th Anniversary

Various theaters

Various prices

Anime Expo Cinema Nights presents the final film ever made by visionary director Satoshi Kon (Perfect Blue, Tokyo Godfathers) with his mind-bending thriller Paprika, which has been restored in 4K for these exclusive theatrical screenings! When a machine that allows therapists to enter their patients’ dreams is stolen, all hell breaks loose. Only a young female therapist, Paprika, can stop it. Dreams become reality and vice versa in this psychological fantasy you won’t want to miss! Featuring the voice talents of Megumi Hayashibara, Kōichi Yamadera, and Tôru Furuya.

Saturday, Jan. 11, 2:00 and 8:00 p.m.

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH Orchestra World Tour

Carnegie Hall, 881 Seventh Avenue 

From $53.50

FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH features new symphonic arrangements of the music of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, with scores by Nobuo Uematsu with contributions from Mitsuto Suzuki, Masashi Hamauzu, and other composers and arrangers, performed by the Shinra Symphony Orchestra and chorus of over 100 musicians led by conductor Arnie Roth. These concerts will have composer Masashi Hamauzu in attendance and include a special performance of Nobuo Uematsu’s “No Promises to Keep” by the song’s original vocalist Loren Allred. A limited number of VIP Meet & Greet tickets will be available for purchase as an add-on to a concert ticket. The VIP Meet & Greet add-on grants access to the post-concert meet & greet event with artists including an autograph and photo opportunity.

Jan. 15-18, 7:30 p.m.

Shuji Terayama’s Duke Bluebeard’s Castle

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$36, $48

Bluebeard is given a Harajuku makeover in Duke Bluebeard’s Castle, a wild burlesque-like subversion of the French gothic horror legend. Shuji Terayama, father of Japan’s angura (underground) theater movement in the 1960s and ’70s, was repeatedly drawn to the story of Bluebeard’s wives and the locked castle door, culminating in this mind-bending game of cat-and-mouse that questions the very nature of theater itself. Saturated with dark magic tricks, fiddlers and accordion players, aerial dance and more, Project NYX, led by Kanna Mizushima, brings a cross-dressing cast of nearly 30 members to Japan Society for a production directed by illustrious Korean-Japanese experimental theater director Kim Sujin. Find out who escapes the castle in this macabre, magic-infused Lolita fashion spectacle. On Friday, January 17, a pre-performance lecture on Shuji Terayama led by University of California, Los Angeles Professor Emerita of Theatre Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei will begin at 6:30 p.m. All ticketholders for Duke Bluebeard’s Castle are welcome to attend this one-night-only pre-performance event with a valid ticket as space allows. Performed in Japanese with English supertitles.

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

With Thanksgiving (and the hopes of sensible eating) now just a memory, we turn to colder weather, falling snow, and the new year to come. Fortunately for Japanese culture fans, December is just as busy as the holiday season itself. Whether you’re hosting guests from out of town or looking to squeeze in an event or two in between parties, we’ve got you covered. 

This month’s highlights include:

Dec. 7-11

My Neighbor Totoro

Various theaters

Various prices

From the legendary Studio Ghibli, creators of Spirited Away and Ponyo, and Academy Award®-winning director Hayao Miyazaki, comes a classic tale of magic and adventure for the whole family. When Satsuki and her sister Mei move with their father to a new home in the countryside, they find country life is not as simple as it seems. They soon discover that the house and nearby woods are full of strange and delightful creatures, including a gigantic but gentle forest spirit called Totoro, who can only be seen by children. Totoro and his friends introduce the girls to a series of adventures, including a ride aboard the extraordinary Cat Bus, in this all-ages animated masterpiece featuring the voices of Tim Daly, Lea Salonga, and real-life sisters Dakota and Elle Fanning, in early roles.

Dec. 11, 15

BABYMETAL Legend–43 the Movie

Various theaters

Various prices

Anime Expo Cinema Nights Presents a special concert film of the band BABYMETAL with their worldwide tour Legend-43. In April 2023, SU-METAL (Vocal, Dance), MOAMETAL (Scream, Dance), and MOMOMETAL (Scream, Dance) entered a new stage as the newly born BABYMETAL. Since then, they have embarked on their largest world tour, “BABYMETAL WORLD TOUR 2023 – 2024,” which took them to 25 countries, including Japan. The headline tour, excluding festivals and guest acts, drew a cumulative audience of more than 280,000 people for a total of 98 performances. The final chapter of the world tour, the first Okinawa performance “TOUR FINAL IN JAPAN LEGEND – 43”, has been fully filmed. The film is BABYMETAL’s first live film that allows viewers to experience all of the diverse music, unique worldview, production that only a tour final can offer, and the overwhelming performance of BABYMETAL, which has evolved even further during their world tour.

Thursday, Dec. 12, 7:30 p.m.

A Diary of Chuji’s Travels

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$22-$31

One of the great masterworks of Japanese silent cinema, Daisuke Ito’s A Diary of Chuji’s Travels exists in incomplete form—a triptych missing its first segment with remnants of its second and third parts—yet stands out as a seminal jidaigeki (period drama), voted the greatest Japanese film of all time in a 1959 Kinema Junpo poll. Starring Ito’s frequent collaborator Denjiro Okochi, another great star of the silent era known for his portrayal of Tange Sazen, A Diary of Chuji’s Travels recounts the exploits of Chuji Kunisada (Okochi), the outlaw bakuto (gambler)—a real-life proto-yakuza figure who took on a romanticized Robin Hood reputation. A fragmented version of its once four-hour long runtime, A Diary of Chuji’s Travels is a kinetic dispersal of rapid-cut swordplay sequences, fluid camerawork (Ito was nicknamed Ido daisuki, a pun on his name meaning “big fan of camera movement”), expressionist techniques and political commentary—an embodiment of the modernized period drama that both Ito, “the father of jidaigeki,” and Okochi helped pioneer. Followed by a private gathering for artists and members. A pre-performance lecture on benshi begins before the screening at 6:30 p.m.

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here. 

As the summer winds fade into fall colors, the weeks ahead are shaping up with these exciting events, ready to be enjoyed after Labor Day.

This month’s highlights include:

Sept. 11-12, 15-17

Ninja Scroll 30th Anniversary

Various theaters

Various prices

Anime Expo Cinema Nights Presents the classic anime Ninja Scroll’s 30th anniversary with an all-new exclusive interview with director Yoshiaki Kawajiri! A mysterious vagabond sets out on a journey to confront his past. Little does he know he is up against a demonic force of killers, with a ghost from his past as the leader. When Jubei saves a young ninja woman from the unthinkable, he assumes that’s the end of it. To his surprise, it’s only just the beginning. Together, the two investigate the mysterious deaths of an entire village which uncovers a conspiracy of demonic proportions! Getting closer to the truth, the demonic forces will stop at nothing to silence Jubei and his companion for good!

Sept. 11-15, 17-19

Basil Twist’s Dogugaeshi

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$44, $58

Dogugaeshi, the award-winning phenomenon by genius puppeteer Basil Twist, is back! Born as a Japan Society commission, this ever-innovative piece now celebrates its 20th anniversary. Enter a mystical world, where a mysterious white fox shepherds you through past and present Japan. Inspired by a disappearing traditional stage mechanism from Japan’s Awa region called dogugaeshi, Twist has created fusuma screens with stunning painted imagery that dance, slide, flip, conceal and reveal to pull audiences deeper into a brain-bending optical illusion. Dogugaeshi is a cross-cultural collaboration with master shamisen player and experimental musician Yumiko Tanaka, whose multi-layered music collage embraces everything from traditional tunes to popular songs.

Sept. 12-13, 7:00 p.m.

Cowboy Bebop LIVE Presented by Bebop Bounty Big Band

Gramercy Theatre, 127 East 23rd Street

From $71.55

Cowboy Bebop LIVE is a complete multimedia experience highlighting the story of critically acclaimed anime, Cowboy Bebop, on the big screen accompanied by live music from the soundtrack performed by the Bebop Bounty Big Band. This 14-piece jazz ensemble features world-class musicians with members from the world famous Glenn Miller Orchestra, the Jazz Orchestra at Dr. Phillips Center, and the Walt Disney Company. This show is a completely one-of-a-kind production specifically designed to deliver an experience anime fans have never had before. Travel the solar system with anime’s most iconic soundtrack at Cowboy Bebop LIVE!

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.

As spring continues and the weather continues to warm, New Yorkers can enjoy activities all over the city both indoors and out. 

This month’s highlights include:

Courtesy of Sideshow/Janus Films

April 26-30 and May 3-16

Hamaguchi I & II and Evil Does Not Exist

Walter Reade Theater, 165 West 65th Street

Elinor Bunim Munroe Film Center, 144 West 65th Street

$12-$17 

Evil Does Not Exist: Deep in the forest of the small rural village Harasawa, single parent Takumi lives with his young daughter, Hana, and takes care of odd jobs for locals, chopping wood and hauling pristine well water. The overpowering serenity of this untouched land of mountains and lakes, where deer peacefully roam free, is about to be disrupted by the imminent arrival of the Tokyo company Playmode, which is ready to start construction on a glamping site for city tourists—a plan, which Takumi and his neighbors discover, that will have dire consequences for the ecological health and cleanliness of their community. The potent and foreboding new film from Oscar-winning director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi (Drive My Car and Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy, both NYFF59) is a haunting, entirely unexpected cinematic experience that reconstitutes the boundaries of the ecopolitical thriller. Intensified by a rapturous, ominous score by Eiko Ishibashi, this mesmeric journey diverges from country-vs-city themes to straddle the line between the earthy and the metaphysical. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles. Q&A with Ryûsuke Hamaguchi and Eiko Ishibashi on May 3 at 6 p.m. screening. Don’t miss Hamaguchi I & II, a selected retrospective of Ryûsuke Hamaguchi’s films to be presented at FLC from April 26–30.

© 1983 Argos Films

Wednesday, May 1, 7:00 p.m.

The Film Desk Presents: Sans Soleil

Japan Society, 333 East 47th Street

$8-$16

Imported 35mm print! Driven by a desire to “capture life in the process of becoming history,” the enigmatic and influential French filmmaker Chris Marker travelled the globe and made a sprawling body of hybrid work that ruminates on the nature of memory and time. Of the several films he made in Japan (where, among the crowded drinking holes of Shinjuku’s “Golden Gai” district, there is a bar named after one of his early masterpieces), this singular essay film remains the late director’s greatest achievement. An unnamed woman narrates the poetic letters and philosophical reflections of an invisible world traveler accompanied by footage of Guinea-Bissau, Cape Verde, Iceland, Paris, San Francisco and, most significantly, Tokyo—a city whose people, streets, malls and temples inspire the traveler’s richest observations.

Courtesy of Eventbrite

Saturday, May 4, 7:30 p.m.

Marimba Extraordinaire Makoto Nakura at 60 – A Retrospective

The Church-in-the-Gardens, 50 Ascan Avenue (Queens)

$10 students, $20 general admission/adult

Makoto Nakura started building his distinctive career as a marimbist as soon as he arrived in NYC from Japan 30 years ago. This concert shows his journey through the works which he has commissioned along the way. Featuring Barbara Podgurski on piano, these works from today’s leading composers showcase the expressive possibilities of the marimba…expressive possibilities that keep expanding under Makoto’s ever-growing collection of mallets! You are sure to have a great time not only hearing extraordinary music, but also meeting this extraordinary artist and human being who always gives his audience an incredible show. Don’t forget to wish him a happy 60th birthday if you attend!

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By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.

With Thanksgiving (and the hopes of sensible eating) now just a memory, we turn to colder weather, falling snow, and the new year to come. Fortunately for Japanese culture fans, December is just as busy as the holiday season itself. Whether you’re hosting guests from out of town or looking to squeeze in an event or two in between parties, we’ve got you covered. 

This month’s highlights include:

Opens Wednesday, Nov. 29 

Godzilla Minus One

Various locations 

Various prices

The undisputed King of the Monsters returns in the first Japanese Godzilla film since 2016! Written and directed by award-winning director Takashi Yamazaki and produced by Toho Studios, the film features an all-star cast lead by Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando and Kuranosuke Sasaki. Set in a devastated post-war Japan, it follows the country recovering from the scars of the past as the new threat of Godzilla appears. What happens when Godzilla comes to Japan completely disarmed and defenseless? Presented in Japanese with English subtitles.

Opens Thursday, Dec. 7 

The Boy and the Heron

Various locations

Various prices

The first feature in a decade from Hayao Miyazaki is a ravishing, endlessly inventive fantasy that is destined to be ranked with the legendary animator’s finest, boldest works. While the Second World War rages, the teenage Mahito, haunted by his mother’s tragic death, is relocated from Tokyo to the serene rural home of his new stepmother Natsuko, a woman who bears a striking resemblance to the boy’s mother. As he tries to adjust, this strange new world grows even stranger following the appearance of a persistent gray heron, who perplexes and bedevils Mahito, dubbing him the “long-awaited one.” Indeed, an extraordinary and grand fate is in store for our young hero, who must journey to a subterranean alternate reality in the hopes of saving Natsuko—and perhaps himself. Uniting the countryside surreality of My Neighbor Totoro with the Alice in Wonderland–like dream logic of Spirited Away and the personal historical backdrop of The Wind Rises, yet fabricating something ingeniously original, The Boy and the Heron is a deeply felt work of eccentric beauty brimming with inspired images that lodge in the mind, from the adorable to the grotesque. Moving from earthbound serenity to a universe of boundless imagination, Miyazaki’s long-anticipated film seeks, once and for all, a world without malice. Presented in Japanese with English subtitles and English-language versions. Check local listings.

Dec. 11-13 

Tokyo Godfathers

Various Locations

$18-$20

Anime Expo Cinema Nights invites you to celebrate Tokyo Godfathers, the acclaimed holiday classic from master director Satoshi Kon (Paprika, Perfect Blue), as it returns to theaters to celebrate its 20th anniversary with a 4K restoration under the supervision of the original art director and producers. On Christmas Eve, three homeless companions stumble upon a baby girl in a garbage heap. They name her Kiyoko, and vow to care for her as they track down her family. Haunted by memories of their own broken pasts and pursued by a cast of shadowy characters from Tokyo’s nightlife, Hana, Gin and Miyuki overcome their differences and learn to trust one another as a new, makeshift family. With the New Year fast approaching, the mystery behind baby Kiyoko deepens, and these unlikely heroes discover the surprising—and sometimes miraculous—connections that have brought them all together. Co-written by Keiko Nobumoto (Cowboy Bebop) and featuring a whimsical score by Keiichi Suzuki, Tokyo Godfathers is a masterpiece by turns heartfelt, hilarious and highly original, a tale of hope and redemption in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds. 

Friday, Dec. 15, 7:30 p.m.

The 8-Bit Big Band

Sony Hall, 235 West 46th Street 

$60-$125

The 8-Bit Big Band is a Grammy Award-winning contemporary symphonic jazz orchestra created to celebrate and reimagine video game music’s most beloved hits rearranged in exciting and creative new ways to push the envelope of how we experience the music from these legendary soundtracks as a standalone body of musical work! Formed in 2017 with the release of their debut album Press Start, they draw their music from some of the most beloved video game titles of all time, dedicating themselves to bringing large ensemble arranging into the presence of the internet and gaming era while giving the music from these games the same professional treatment in arranging, performance, and production that has gone hand in hand with the large symphonic studio jazz orchestras of the past.  

For more JQ articles, click here.

By JQ magazine editor Justin Tedaldi (CIR Kobe-shi, 2001-02). Justin has written about Japanese arts and entertainment for JETAA since 2005. For more of his articles, click here.

The Japan-centric events of the month ahead promise to be as rich and full as autumn itself—brisk and colorful, with a dash of unpredictability. 

This month’s highlights include:

Thursday, Nov. 1

Godzilla 2000 

Various locations

$16-$20

Get ready to crumble! The king of all monsters is back and bigger than ever! The action heats up when a UFO reveals itself as a massive alien monster with awesome destructive powers. The alien monster heads straight for the behemoth Godzilla, who’s just crushed the entire city for the battle of the millennium. But Godzilla’s furious heat beam may not be enough to destroy the death-dealing alien, and the future of humankind is in jeopardy. Now, it’s a bang-up, three-way, no-holds-barred brawl as Godzilla, the alien monster and the courageous citizens of Japan fight an unprecedented battle for survival in this earth-shattering sci-fi action adventure that will blow you away.

Nov. 3-4 

New York Japan CineFest

Asia Society, 725 Park Avenue

$8 Members, $15 Non-Members (per day)

Join Asia Society to celebrate Japanese independent filmmaking at New York Japan CineFest 2023. Now in its twelfth year, this film festival is back in person for the first time since 2019 with a screening of eighteen provocative short films over two days. The films comprise a diverse and exciting array of genres and styles from around the world— including fiction, documentary, and anime—that portray historical and contemporary Japanese culture and society.

On Friday, November 3, at 6:30 p.m., the two-day festival opens with a ninety-minute screening of short films, followed by a reception.

On Saturday, November 4, more short films follow at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m., with a beautiful calligraphy performance by acclaimed artist Chifumi Niimi at 3 p.m. Asia Society is proud to co-host the world premiere of Chifumi’s first short documentary film, Shu Ha Ri on New York Japan CineFest Day Two.

Nov, 8-9, various times

Digimon Adventure 02

Various locations

$16-20

It’s 2012, and ten years have passed since the adventure in the Digital World. Daisuke Motomiya is now twenty, and he and the rest of the DigiDestined seem to be changing bit by bit in terms of appearance and lifestyle. Then one day, a giant Digitama suddenly appears in the sky over Tokyo Tower. Daisuke and the others encounter a mysterious young man named Lui Ohwada, who informs them that he’s the first ever DigiDestined in the world…

The feature will include an introduction from the director, Tomohisa Taguchi. PLUS, as an incredibly special bonus, the first 50 guests to arrive at each night’s screening will receive a complimentary Digimon Card Game Tamer Party Pack -THE BEGINNING-  ver. 2.0, which includes 3 out of 14 possible cards from the new Digimon Card Game deck commemorating the film. Lucky recipients will be among the first fans in the U.S. to own these new “Digimon Adventure 02 The Beginning” themed cards before they are released to the general public in December. The Nov. 8 screening is dubbed in English, with the Nov. 9 screening subtitled in Japanese.

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