Excellence award winners for the 41st Nippon Academy Awards (2017)

Unlike other movie awards which tend to refer to those in the running as nominees, the Nippon Academy Awards gives them excellence awards instead and chooses the best among them which will be announced during the prize giving ceremony. Effectively, this means that every nominee actually gets to be presented with an excellence award although there is only one in each category to be crowned the best. In this list announced for the 41st Nippon Academy Awards, "Sekigahara" and "Sandome no Satsujin" are the biggest "winners" with 10 awards with Yakusho Koji picking up two best supporting actor awards in these two movies.

Winners of the 30th Nikkansports Movie Awards & Ishihara Yujiro Award

Best Movie: Aa, Kouya

Best Director: Ishihara Yuuya (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Aa, Kouya / Kiseki Ano hi no sobito / Teiichi no Kuni / Hibana)

Best Leading Actress: Aoi Yu (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi / Azumi Haruko wa yukue fumei)

Best Supporting Actor: Yakusho Koji (Sandome no Satsujin / Sekigahara)

Best Supporting Actress: Ono Machiko (Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki)

Best Newcomer: Hamabe Minami (Kimi no suizou wo tabetai)

Best Foreign Movie: Dunkirk

Ishihara Yujiro Award: Outrage Saishusho (Kitano Takeshi)

Ishihara Yujiro Newcomer Award: Takeuchi Ryoma (Teiichi no Kuni)

Source: Sankei News

Top 10 bestselling paperback books in Japan for the year 2017 (Oricon)

This ranking lists the top 10 bestselling paperback books in Japan for the year 2017 as tabulated from 5 December 2016 to 27 November 2017. Sales figures for this period are reflected in brackets while those names in bold indicate that the book had been made into a drama or movie:

1) Kimi no suizou wo tabetai - Sumino Yoru (1,066,632)

2) Reverse - Minato Kanae (574,514)

3) Mame no ue de neru - Minato Kanae (471,526)

4) Hibana - Matayoshi Naoki (449,487)

5) Yukikemuri Chase - Higashino Keigo (351,494)

6) Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki - Higashino Keigo (344,506)

7) Akira to Akira - Ikeido Jun (324,133)

8) Biblia Koshoudou no Jiken Techou 7 ~ Shioriko-san to Hatenai Butai  - Mikami En (316,861)

9) Shousetsu Kimi no na wa - Shinkai Makoto (316,193)

10) Sword Art Online 19 Moon Cradle - Kawahara Reki & abec (315,396)

Source: Oricon

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 14th & 15th Oct 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Gekijouban Fate/stay night Heaven's Feel I. presage flower (128)

2) War for the Planet of the Apes (374)

3) Outrage Saishusho (286)

First-day-screening event of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" was held at Marunouchi Picadilly on 23 September which was attended by the director Hiroki Ryuichi and cast members Yamada Ryosuke, Nishida Toshiyuki, Murakami Nijirou, Kanichiro, Narumi Riko and Kadowaki Mugi.

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 7th & 8th Oct 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Outrage Saishusho (285)

2) Narratage (287)

3) Ajin (316)

4) A Dog's Purpose (240)

5) Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki (345)

6) Hidden Figures (63)

7) Dunkirk (346)

8) Sandome no satsujin (313)

9) Asahinagu (148)

10) Despicable Me 3 (359)

Source: Eiga.com

Top 10 movies box office ranking for the weekend of 23rd & 24th Sep 2017

Numbers in brackets indicate the number of cinemas showing the movie:

1) Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki (341)

2) Asahinagu (148)

3) Dunkirk (346)

4) Sandome no satsujin (313)

5) Alien: Covenant (369)

6) Sekigahara (338)

7) Despicable Me 3 (359)

8) Yurigokoro (294)

9) Okuda Tamio ni naritai Boy to Deau otoko subete kuruwaseru Girl (256)

10) Scramble (152)

Source: Eiga.com

Completion screening event of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki"

The completion screening event of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" was held on 18 August which was attended by the director Hiroki Ryuichi and cast members Yamada Ryosuke, Nishida Toshiyuki, Murakami Nijirou, Kanichiro, Hayashi Kento, Kadowaki Mugi and Ono Machiko. The movie will be screened in cinemas from 23 September.

The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Higashino Keigo that had sold more than 6.5 million copies, is set in modern Japan in the year 2012. Yamada plays the lead character Atsuya who grew up at an orphanage. After doing some evil deeds with his childhood friends Shota and Kohei, he hides at an abandoned house which used to be a general store named Namiya that was known for being a place where people could come to seek advice for their troubles. While at the house, Atsuya finds a letter written by someone 32 years ago in 1980 asking for advice on a problem in the post box and starts to interact with this person through mail on the behalf of the store's owner Namiya Yuji (Nishida). Gradually, the secret behind the store is unravelled through the mail correspondence.

Nishida who worked with Yamada for the first time in this movie, described Yamada as James Dean from the movie "East of Eden", Murakami as Zbigniew Cybulski from the movie "Ashes and Diamonds" and Kanichiro as the Japanese Marlon Brando and Kanichiro's own grandfather Mikuni Rentaro. Although he failed to find a suitable person to compare to Kadowaki and laughed about this, he went on to praise Ono for being very likeable and Hayashi for his good acting skills. Nishida then ended his talk by joking that he said many good things today and even went on to say that there are many people from Fukushima Prefecture so the director who also hails from there, got complimented as well.

On the other hand, Yamada expressed his joy at being able to get interviewed with Nishida for the promotional campaign but reminded the latter that the pamphlet actually cited Hayashi to be comparable to James Dean. Upon hearing this, Nishida said that James Dean had different feels in various movies so he insisted that he was not wrong in comparing Yamada to the Dean in "East of Eden" while Hayashi was more like the Dean in "Rebel without a cause".

Yamada recalled when he read the novel after receiving the movie's offer, he was wondering how they could fit the story into a 2-hour movie but when he read the script, he was impressed by how everything was nicely packaged into the film. As such, he believed that the movie will touch everyone.

The movie will be participating in the Busan International Film Festival's The Window of Asian movies from 12 October and is scheduled to be screened in South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia.

Sources: Oricon / Eiga.com

Yamashita Tatsuro to sing the theme song for new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki"

Yamashita Tatsuro will be singing the theme song for new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" starring Yamada Ryosuke and Nishida Toshiyuki which will be shown in cinemas from 23 September. The theme song titled "REBORN" will be released on 13 September and is Yamashita's first movie theme song in three years. In the original novel by Higashino Keigo, there is a song with the title "Saisei" (reborn) thus Yamashita was approached to create a song with this theme which will be played during the ending credits roll. Yamashita who had done more than 30 theme songs for dramas and movies to date, commented that this was one of the toughest assignment he received to date and he spent a longer time than usual i.e. 1.5 months just to complete the song before the movie began filming in January this year. The song will be a key element of the story featured when a young man from the past played by Hayashi Kento "hands over" this song to a singer in the present played by Kadowaki Mugi.

Source: Yomiuri Hochi

Supporting cast line-up of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" announced

The supporting cast line-up of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" starring Yamada Ryosuke and Nishida Toshiyuki was announced. The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Higashino Keigo that had sold more than 5 million copies, is set in modern Japan in the year 2012. Yamada plays the lead character Atsuya who grew up at an orphanage. After doing some evil deeds with his childhood friends Shota and Kohei, he hides at an abandoned house which used to be a general store named Namiya that was known for being a place where people could come to seek advice for their troubles. While at the house, Atsuya finds a letter written by someone 32 years ago in 1980 asking for advice on a problem in the post box and starts to interact with this person through mail on the behalf of the store's owner Namiya Yuji (Nishida). Gradually, the secret behind the store is unravelled through the mail correspondence. Kanichiro will be playing the role of Kohei in this movie.

Kobayashi Kaoru plays the role of Matsuoka Takeo who is a fishmonger and has a son who aspires to become a musician instead of taking over the family business. Suzuki Ryio plays the younger version of popular singer Seri while Yamashita Rio plays Eiko who is troubled about her mother's death and her background. Tezuka plays the only baddie in the movie Kariya who is the current director of the orphanage which Atsuya came from while musician PANTA plays the former director Minatsuki Yoshikazu. Yoshiyuki Kazuko plays Tamura Hideyo, the aunt of Harumi (Ono Machiko).

The movie will be shown in cinemas from 23 September.

Source: Eiga.com

Sato Koichi's son Kanichiro to make his debut in new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki"

Sato Koichi's son Kanichiro will be making his debut as an actor in the new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" starring Yamada Ryosuke and Nishida Toshiyuki. The movie is scheduled to be shown in cinemas from 23 September.

The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Higashino Keigo that had sold more than 5 million copies, is set in modern Japan in the year 2012. Yamada plays the lead character Atsuya who grew up at an orphanage. After doing some evil deeds with his childhood friends Shota and Kohei, he hides at an abandoned house which used to be a general store named Namiya that was known for being a place where people could come to seek advice for their troubles. While at the house, Atsuya finds a letter written by someone 32 years ago in 1980 asking for advice on a problem in the post box and starts to interact with this person through mail on the behalf of the store's owner Namiya Yuji (Nishida). Gradually, the secret behind the store is unravelled through the mail correspondence. Kanichiro will be playing the role of Kohei in this movie.

Kanichiro who is 20 years old, revealed frankly that he doesn't like it when people mention his father but he knows that this link will no doubt bring more attention to him which he hopes to convert into something positive in his career as an actor. As such, he will try his best to work hard and become a good actor in future. Although Kanichiro has almost no experience in acting, the director decided to let him figure out how to play Kohei rather than issue specific instructions to him. As for the filming process, Kanichiro revealed that as he was working with actors around the same age as him, it was fun to be around them and the staff who tried their utmost to produce this movie.

Kanichiro actually told his father when he was around 17 or 18 that he aspired to become an actor but the latter simply said that he understood what Kanichiro wanted and didn't elaborate on what he meant with his simple answer.


Source: Eiga.com

Supporting cast lineup of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" announced

The supporting cast lineup of new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" based on Higashino Keigo's same-titled novel and starring Yamada Ryosuke & Nishida Toshiyuki has been announced. Yamada plays the lead character Atsuya who grew up at an orphanage. After doing some evil deeds with his childhood friends Shota and Kohei, he hides at an abandoned house which used to be a general store named Namiya that was known for being a place where people could come to seek advice for their troubles. While at the house, Atsuya finds a letter written by someone 32 years ago in 1980 asking for advice on a problem in the post box and starts to interact with this person through mail on the behalf of the store's owner Namiya Yuji (Nishida). Gradually, the secret behind the store is unravelled through the mail correspondence.

Ono Machiko will be playing Tamura Harumi whose life is greatly changed due to her sending a letter to ask for advice while Murakami Nijiro will be playing Shota. As for Hayashi Kento, he will be playing Matsuoka Katsuro, a musician who had gone to Namiya Zakkaten for advice on his problem. Narumi Riko plays Minazuki Akiko who used to be Yuji's girlfriend and Kadowaki Mugi plays Seri, a popular singer. Hagiwara Masato will play Yuji's son Takayuki.

Filming began at in late February and the movie will be shown in cinemas from 23 September.

Source: Eiga.com

Yamada Ryosuke & Nishida Toshiyuki to star in new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki"

Yamada Ryosuke and Nishida Toshiyuki will be starring in the new movie "Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki" which will be directed by Hiroki Ryuichi and shown in cinemas from autumn next year. The movie which is based on the same-titled novel by Higashino Keigo that had sold more than 5 million copies, is set in modern Japan in the year 2012.

Yamada plays the lead character Atsuya who grew up at an orphanage. After doing some evil deeds with his childhood friends Shota and Kohei, he hides at an abandoned house which used to be a general store named Namiya that was known for being a place where people could come to seek advice for their troubles. While at the house, Atsuya finds a letter written by someone 32 years ago in 1980 asking for advice on a problem in the post box and starts to interact with this person through mail on the behalf of the store's owner Namiya Yuji (Nishida). Gradually, the secret behind the store is unravelled through the mail correspondence.

Yamada who is working with Nishida for the first time in a Higashino adaptation work, commented that to be able to work with Nishida is a great honour and he hopes that he will be able to learn a lot from Nishida through the collaboration. The movie is a challenge for Yamada as there is the constant shuffling between past and present so he hopes to be able to show the emotions of his character. As for Nishida who plays Namiya Yuji, the owner of Namiya, praised Yamada for being a talented actor and said that he is a perfect fit for the role of Atsuya.

Filming will begin in January next year.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Sponichi