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Tourism: What films would you recommend?

ArmandV

Eight Times To Japan
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18 Oct 2004
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Suppose someone who has a slight interest in visiting Japan some day asks you, "What movie or documentary on Japanese sites and life would you recommend?" One, right away, would be Lost In Translation. What others would you recommend? These would have to be about modern era Japan (not stuff like Last Samurai, etc.)
 
Not sure they dont release normal everyday films of Japan here in England. We only get shocking ones or samurai ones.
 
Dekamaster said:
I thought maybe doramas would offer much more visuals than movies...

Not too many people have access to a Japanese television channel here, and if they did, they would not be too inclined to watch. I am thinking more mainstream.
 
you should watch a german film called enlightment guaranteed. its a good movie about two brothers who go to japan. lost in translation was a good movie, but it was more about people who didnt like japan, so i dont see how it is a booster to tourism other then the fact that its famous....
 
duff_o_josh said:
you should watch a german film called enlightment guaranteed. its a good movie about two brothers who go to japan. lost in translation was a good movie, but it was more about people who didnt like japan, so i dont see how it is a booster to tourism other then the fact that its famous....

I think it was more along the lines of two people not liking their current life situations. She was unhappy about her workaholic husband and what she wanted to do in life and he was not happy with his wife back home. She sounded like a real cold fish on the phone.

If you remember, they did not like Japan at first, but once they started enjoying themselves, they ended up liking it. But I digress.

Also, I was thinking more along the lines of a film that displays Japan today. Street life, night life, the sounds, people and sights around the country. I thought Lost In Translation did a good job of that. Any other film which equals or is even better?
 
All documentaries about Japan that anyone who didn't know Japanese could understand are horrible... specifically stay away from anything made by the BBC.
 
I didn't like Lost in Translation, I thought it was rude and insulting to Japan and the Japanese.

look up on www.imdb.com and type in Takeshi Kitano and look at the films he's been in. Get yourself to a decent video store that has a good selection of arthouse films. Also look up that famous director from Yokohama, who died recently...Akira Kurasawa. yeah, especially Dreams. What's his name from An Officer and a Gentleman was in a Japanese film too, check it all out on www.imdb.com. It's a good resource for researching films, would strongly recomend it.
 
I didn't like Lost in Translation, I thought it was rude and insulting to Japan and the Japanese.

How so? There are certainly people who have those kinds of experiences in Japan. Certainly it wasn't comprehensive, but I'd be interested to hear why you thought it was insulting.

@ ArmandV

I've heard good things about the original "Shall We Dance?" though I'm not sure if it fits what you're looking for. Unfortunately, as I'm sure you're aware, you're probably more likely to find popular Japanese movies to be horror or anime.
 
I didn't like Lost in Translation, I thought it was rude and insulting to Japan and the Japanese.
look up on www.imdb.com and type in Takeshi Kitano and look at the films he's been in. Get yourself to a decent video store that has a good selection of arthouse films. Also look up that famous director from Yokohama, who died recently...Akira Kurasawa. yeah, especially Dreams. What's his name from An Officer and a Gentleman was in a Japanese film too, check it all out on www.imdb.com. It's a good resource for researching films, would strongly recomend it.


Although I really liked Lost in Translation as a story (and the nice scenery it showed of Japan) I did find some of it rude and insulting as tampopo says. The whole 'brack toe' part in the sushi restaurant for example. I suppose it was an example of an arrogant actor thinking he could get away with saying what he wants. It's a shame because the Bob character was otherwise pretty likeable.

Back to the thread, if you go on YouTube and type something like 'Shinjuku' then you'll get lots of videos of the streets. These give you a different feel for what it's like than you get with films.
 
This is not a film but video taken by tourists from Taiwan that was posted a couple of years ago (?) here at JRef. I'd recommend it to anybody who plans to visit Japan.

It makes my daughter in LA homesick when she sees it:
Travel in Japan
 
MeAndroo,

well, I saw it in the cinema and haven't watched it since except for flicking through the channels and coming across it. Two episodes, one was the part where Bill Murray is taking a shower and the outlet is too low. He's just standing there sulking. I felt like saying, "willya just raise the nozzle ***" I mean this is not a major deal. I venture to say it happens in a lot of houses every day of the week every day of the year wherever a couple share a shower. I do it myself every morning, raise it up. My wife lowers it every morning. No big deal. I'd hazard a guess that the major (American ?)hotel chains build their showers big enough and tall enough for Americans to fit under.

The other time was when BM was shooting the whiskey ad and the Japanese fella spoke at length and the translater translated a short sentence. It's an old old old old old joke.Old. I mean OLD joke. I blame Sofia Coppola for that one.She's young, maybe she thought it would be new/funny. And the lat pack comments, hmmm, could have been left out....imho
 
MeAndroo,
The other time was when BM was shooting the whiskey ad and the Japanese fella spoke at length and the translater translated a short sentence. It's an old old old old old joke.Old. I mean OLD joke. I blame Sofia Coppola for that one.She's young, maybe she thought it would be new/funny. And the lat pack comments, hmmm, could have been left out....imho

The long/short sentence thing may be an old joke to some, but a few non-Japanophiles I know didn't get it until I explained it to them. Who among us who's been to Japan never experienced it? I have and that's why I enjoyed it.
 
MeAndroo,
well, I saw it in the cinema and haven't watched it since except for flicking through the channels and coming across it. Two episodes, one was the part where Bill Murray is taking a shower and the outlet is too low. He's just standing there sulking. I felt like saying, "willya just raise the nozzle ***" I mean this is not a major deal. I venture to say it happens in a lot of houses every day of the week every day of the year wherever a couple share a shower. I do it myself every morning, raise it up. My wife lowers it every morning. No big deal. I'd hazard a guess that the major (American ?)hotel chains build their showers big enough and tall enough for Americans to fit under.

The other time was when BM was shooting the whiskey ad and the Japanese fella spoke at length and the translater translated a short sentence. It's an old old old old old joke.Old. I mean OLD joke. I blame Sofia Coppola for that one.She's young, maybe she thought it would be new/funny. And the lat pack comments, hmmm, could have been left out....imho

Personally, I feel like the first shot is less BM complaining Japan than it is a visual comment on how the country isn't made for him and he's an outsider. So much of the movie is about the lack of feeling of belonging and how he commiserates with a person who feels the same. Clearly he is not someone who's attempting to learn and adapt in an attempt to blend in, rather he only attempts to survive the small parts of every day life that remind him that he's outside of his comfort zone. It ties into how he and Scarlett find a way to be comfortable in some respect despite all the environmental differences they may find.

Or maybe it was supposed to be funny.

I also enjoyed the long speech => short translation. There are certainly subteties requested of actors that are communicated in difficult ways and it's tough to convey those across a language barrier. I enjoyed the scene not only because it's happened to me numerous times, but because of how the passion of the director is juxtaposed with BM's rather stoic rendition of the commercial.

All that being said, I'm not an easily offended person, and I tend to project that trait onto others.
 
epigene, that is a delightful photoblog you posted to. thanks for that, i really enjoyed it.
this thread coincides with the effort we have recently started (as the fun part of our holiday prep) to watch as many films with Japanese settings as possible.
we will get around to watching 'lost in translation' again (I liked it) but so far we have seen
-'kill bill' (a lot less Japan in it than I remembered)
-'the fast and the furious tokyo drift' (don't laugh, it was for research purposes only). some lovely shots of Tokyo but the film itself was pretty appalling.
i think 'memoirs of a geisha' will be the next film, then 'babel'.
any other recommendations?
 
I'll add here, since this thread has been bumped, that I wouldn't recommend Lost in Translation, though I am very proud of that film's depiction of Japan... it is a depiction however made by the affluent, about the affluent... and isn't a good indication of life in Japan for a tourist... Unless you can afford to stay in the Tokyo Grand Hilton in the center of Shibuya....

Maybe the opposite would be Shimotsuma Monogatari... lol...
 
I'll add here, since this thread has been bumped, that I wouldn't recommend Lost in Translation, though I am very proud of that film's depiction of Japan... it is a depiction however made by the affluent, about the affluent... and isn't a good indication of life in Japan for a tourist... Unless you can afford to stay in the Tokyo Grand Hilton in the center of Shibuya....

Maybe the opposite would be Shimotsuma Monogatari... lol...

Actually, it was the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.

Maybe someday someone will do a tourist comedy movie featuring ryokans, business hotels and capsule hotels.
 
Actually, it was the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.
Hey, I've stayed there!

I agree with Yukio that LIT is not a good movie to give the average tourist an appreciation of what Japan is really like for us average people. (My opinions on the movie as a whole notwithstanding)
 
I was "offended" by Lost in Translation too. But I think that is more of a personal problem of mine than a flaw in the movie. As MeAndroo basically says, it comes down to interpretation. The shower symbolizes the fact that he does not feel at ease in the situation he is in. It has little to do with Japanese people being short on average.

Since I was a kid I have had problems with these kinds of imagery of Japan. I was always afraid that people would misunderstand Japan and I would hate the people responsible for producing that imagery. I thought that Japan was often mispresented. I now think that I am often at fault; because of my bias towards Japan I do not see the things, like deeper meanings, that others do, and can sometimes only focus on the outside.

On a lighter note: Tampopo, have you seen the movie Tampopo? I just watched it recently, and I must say it's an impressive movie! If you like a good movie on food, love and life, Tampopo is the one!! 👍

And well a movie I would recommend is Yaji and Kita the Midnight Pilgrims. 😊 Nah I'm kidding. It's a funny movie though. Anyone seen it?
 
Mr Baseball, not the greatest film, is about an arrogant ballplayer that unwillingly is transferred to a Japanese baseball team.

A small segment of "The compleat Al" parodies the Beatles trip to Japan starring Weird Al.

I just watched "Wasabi", where Jean Reno finds out that he has a Japanese daughter. Also not the greatest film, "Lost in Translation" shows off the locales better.
 
On a lighter note: Tampopo, have you seen the movie Tampopo? I just watched it recently, and I must say it's an impressive movie! If you like a good movie on food, love and life, Tampopo is the one!! 👍

Tampopo may have been the first Japanese movie I ever saw. Certainly an odd way to start, but that was around the time I started studying Japanese and may have even contributed to me spending time over there. I wonder if that's why I love ramen so much...I certainly don't caress the pork or anything, but that scene pops into my head most of the time when I'm eating ramen :p
 
Just watch Dare mo shiranai.... depressing though that it is, it gives a very good impression of lving in Japan.... oh I forgot, this is about tourism.
 
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