Mark Schilling (born 1949) is an American

film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...

, journalist, translator, and author based in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

. He has written for ''

The Japan Times ''The Japan Times'' is Japan's largest and oldest English-language daily newspaper. It is published by , a subsidiary of News2u Holdings, Inc. It is headquartered in the in Kioicho, Chiyoda, Tokyo. History ''The Japan Times'' was launched by ...

'', '' Variety'', and ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

''.

Biography

Schilling began working for ''

'' in 1989. He has been an occasional commentator for

NHK , also known by its Romanization of Japanese, romanized initialism NHK, is a Japanese public broadcasting, public broadcaster. It is a statutory corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television licence, television license fee. NHK ope ...

's English broadcasts of

sumo is a form of competitive full-contact wrestling where a ''rikishi'' (wrestler) attempts to force his opponent out of a circular ring (''dohyō'') or into touching the ground with any body part other than the soles of his feet (usually by th ...

tournaments since they began in 1992. He wrote ''Sumo: A Fan's Guide'' in 1994, and previously co-wrote ''Jesse: Sumo Superstar'' in 1985 about Takamiyama Daigorō. He has also reported on the sport for '' Variety''. Schilling's 1997 book, ''The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture'', was described by D. James Romero of ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' as "a history as well as a guidebook to one of the freshest influences in the American popular stream." He was a script advisor for the 2003 Hollywood film ''

The Last Samurai ''The Last Samurai'' is a 2003 American epic period action drama film directed and produced by Edward Zwick, who also co-wrote the screenplay with John Logan and Marshall Herskovitz from a story devised by Logan. The film stars Tom Cruise, ...

''. Schilling has also written books such as ''Contemporary Japanese Film'', ''The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films'', and ''No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema''. He curated the "No Borders, No Limits: 1960s Nikkatsu Action Cinema" series for Japan Society in 2007.

Bibliography

Author

* ''Sumo: A Fan's Guide'' (1994) * ''The Encyclopedia of Japanese Pop Culture'' (1997) * ''Contemporary Japanese Film'' (2003) * ''The Yakuza Movie Book: A Guide to Japanese Gangster Films'' (2003) * ''No Borders, No Limits: Nikkatsu Action Cinema'' (2007) * ''Art, Cult and Commerce: Japanese Cinema Since 2000'' (2020)

Translator

* ''Princess Mononoke: The Art and Making of Japan's Most Popular Film of All Time'' (1999) * Kenzo Kitakata's ''Winter Sleep'' (2004)

References

External links

Mark Schilling's Tokyo Ramen
– Official website
Mark Schilling
at ''

''
Mark Schilling
at '' Variety'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Schilling, Mark 1949 births American expatriates in Japan American film critics American male non-fiction writers American non-fiction writers Journalists from Ohio Living people People from Zanesville, Ohio Sumo announcers