167: Hayao Miyazaki’s confusing new masterpiece
Cinema buffs in Japan have been treated to a final gift from Hayao Miyazaki — a new film! Japan Times critics Thu-Huong Ha and Matt Schley discuss what they thought of “The Boy and the Heron.” Hosted...
2 Aug 202328min
166: A tale of two Fujis: Bullet climbs, crowds and Lizzo
Japan’s borders have opened to overseas tourists. That may be bad news for Mount Fuji, which is completely booked this summer, but it’s good news for Fuji Rock as the music festival pulls in some majo...
26 Jul 202334min
165: Why 2023 will be a deciding year for Japan’s iconic summer festivals
As the population gets older do we risk losing the summer festivals that make Japan unique? Alex K.T. Martin joins Deep Dive to discuss this and other demographic-related woes the country faces. Host...
19 Jul 202332min
164: Japan is about to release 1.3 million tons of Fukushima wastewater. Should we be concerned?
There’s enough contaminated water at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant to fill 500 Olympic-sized swimming pools, but they’re running out of space. This week, environment journalist Mara Budgen j...
12 Jul 202331min
163: Would you spend the night in a coffin … for art?
Want to know what it’s like to spend the night in a coffin? Culture critic Thu-Huong Ha joins us to discuss her night in avant garde artist Marina Abramovic’s Dream House in central Japan and the conv...
5 Jul 202335min
[Rebroadcast] Clutter, trash and hoarding disorder in Japan
Deep Dive is off this week, but we will be back at the start of July with fresh episodes. While we're away, we're bringing you a rebroadcast of our episode with Alex K.T. Martin where he looks at what...
28 Jun 202319min
162: Things just got a bit tougher for asylum-seekers in Japan
Japan has a notoriously bad reputation when it comes to accepting refugees, and some politicians and NGOs believe things just got worse. Politics reporter Gabriele Ninivaggi joins the show to discuss ...
21 Jun 202322min
161: How the climate crisis is supercharging Japan’s rainy season
When you think of natural disasters do you think of earthquakes, volcanoes and typhoons? How about guerrilla rainstorms, landslides and heatwaves? As we approach the fifth anniversary of a major disas...
14 Jun 202322min
