Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
20
In the Miso Soup
(Kodansha, 2003),
though its murder descriptions might be
too graphic for some; and Murakami
Haruki, whose writings include
Dance
Dance Dance
(Kodansha, 1994), about a
30-something protagonist living in a glit-
tering high-rise but searching for more
meaning in life, and
South of the Border,
West of the Sun
(Knopf, 1999), another
story of a bewildered man in contempo-
rary Tokyo.
FILMS
Probably the most internationally well-
known film shot in Tokyo in recent years
is Sophia Coppola's
Lost in Translation
(2003), in which two lost characters
played by Bill Murray and Scarlett Johans-
son find solace in each other's company as
they drift through an incomprehensible—
and at times hilarious—Tokyo.
Love and Pop
(1998), by director Anno
Hideaki, best known for anime films, is a
low-budget film based on a novel by
Murakami Ryu about “compensated dat-
ing,” in which teenage girls are paid to go
out with older businessmen. Another film
dealing with this phenomenon rarely cov-
ered in the Western press is Harada Masa-
to's
Bounce Ko Gals
(1998), which presents
a shocking but heart-felt story of sexual
exploitation and loss of innocence.
Adrift in Tokyo
(2007), directed by
Satoshi Miki, gives an up-close and per-
sonal view of Tokyo's back streets and
neighborhoods as two men—a debt col-
lector and a university student who owes
money—walk across the city on a journey
that seems aimless but provides a turning
point in the lives of both men.
Other movies partly or wholly filmed in
Tokyo include German writer-director
Doris Dorrie's
Cherry Blossoms
(2008),
about a middle-aged Bavarian, who,
mourning the death of his wife, takes a
trip to Tokyo and meets a young Butoh
dancer also grieving over the death of a
loved one; and
Tokyo Sonata
(2008),
directed Kurosawa Kiyoshi, about an ordi-
nary family in contemporary Tokyo in
which the father loses his job but is too
ashamed to tell his family and thus pre-
tends he's going to work every day. Span-
ish director Isabel Coixet's
Map of the
Sounds of Tokyo
(2009) centers on two
star-crossed lovers in Tokyo, with rich
imagery of the city's neon streets, love
hotels, noodle shops, fish market, and
other true-to-life scenes.
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5
EATING & DRINKING IN TOKYO
Tokyo is a foodie's paradise. In fact, I'd
have to say that Tokyoites are obsessed
with food, fanatics ever on the prowl for
the best of the best, whether it's for the
city's best sushi or its best burger. If you
see a long queue outside a restaurant,
chances are it's been written up in some
magazine, inducing food-crazed hordes to
endure long waits for the privilege of din-
ing at the newest hot spot.
But I have to admit, whenever I leave
Japan, it's the food I miss the most. Sure,
there are sushi bars and other Japanese spe-
cialty restaurants in major cities elsewhere,
but they don't offer nearly the variety avail-
able in Japan (and they often aren't nearly as
good). Just as America has more to offer than
hamburgers and steaks, Japan has more than
sushi and
teppanyaki.
For both the gourmet
and the uninitiated, Tokyo is a treasure-trove
of culinary surprises.
JAPANESE CUISINE
There are more than a dozen different and
distinct types of Japanese cuisine, plus
countless regional specialties. A good deal
of what you eat may be completely new to
you, as well as completely unidentifiable.
