Ping Pong (feature film)
Taiyo Matsumoto’s graphic novels have enjoyed a good track record in print-to-screen adaptations. Black and White became the innovative and vibrant animation Tekkonkinkreet; Ping Pong in contrast shares the live-action treatment with Blue Spring. Across all of his back catalogue, regardless of medium, Matsumoto’s work has an uncanny knack for highlighting inner conflict and the importance of friendship in the face of adversity. In the case of Ping Pong it follows the exploits of teenage eccentric Peco Hoshino and the ironically nicknamed ‘Smile’ Tsukimoto - two childhood buddies who, despite their polar opposite personalities and philosophies, are united by a mutual interest in playing table tennis.
At worst, sporting films are often limited to fans of the pursuit in question and at best limited to sports fans in general. Given that I know little about the technicalities of this particular game and that my general feeling towards all competitive activity is often apathy, it’s an understatement to say I was pleasantly surprised at my enjoyment of this movie. The game of table tennis is actually a background to the story that unfolds, and the finer points of the game are considerably less important than the consequences of events and the feelings that the characters harbour for the game and each other. Granted, the dramatic slow-motion camera work in the tournament scenes and the obvious - and often obsessive - enthusiasm the protagonists have for the game will draw in viewers who are fans of table tennis, but Ping Pong’s approach ensures that it has a wider appeal.
The rock duo Monoral, consisting of Anis Shimada and Ali Morizumi, have two EPs and two full-length albums under their belts but I first heard their music, as quite a few others no doubt did, through their single Kiri, the song used in the opening theme to 
Along with the gas attack on the Tokyo Subway at the hands of a religious cult, the Kobe earthquake was a significant event in Japan in the 1990s. As with the Tokyo gas attack, Haruki Murakami tackles the after-effects of the earthquake on the media and public opinion, and highlights how such an incident can affect the public collectively on a national level and on the level of individuals; in contrast with his journalistic and factual approach to the former, he instead uses the earthquake as a starting point for a collection of short fictional works. In that sense, After the Quake is a concept album of short stories: none of them depict that infamous natural disaster that struck Kobe in 1995, but instead take a number of people and situations within Japan who are connected to the event in more indirect and abstract ways. Directly or not, all are connected to a common theme: that of a natural disaster coinciding with turning points in their lives.