Tokyo Blog

There are so many films out in Japan right now. Many that will never get a UK or a US release, so I felt privileged to be able to go and see one of these films at the cinema, in Tokyo! However, this is a Japanese film being shown in Japan, so there were no subtitles. I was certain that I was not going to be able to understand anything that was going on in the film, but actually, I totally grasped the plot, and I even understood some of the dialogue! I’ve found that if you listen for key words in a sentence, and then think of them in context, you can guess what it is they are most likely to be saying. There are times when really simple speech is used, and that’s no problem to understand. The thing that made this film so good though, is that it was set in Tokyo, and some of the typical kinds of people found in the city were in the film. You had the young no-hoper addicted to Pachinko, the salaryman, the yakuza gangsters, the homeless guys you see in the many parks of the city (noted for their ingenious cardboard bivouacs and distinctive blue tarpaulin tents), the traditional Japanese comedian, the Akihabara otaku J-pop fanboys, and of course their pop idol, a cutesy female singer having not very much success. When you blend all of this with the famous Tokyo locations, some great cinematography, and a good story, you get just what was needed to further increase your enthusiasm for Tokyo.