We'll always have Tokyo

Rating: Null/10 (28 September 2003)

I thoroughly enjoyed this film. Some viewers say it ridicules the Japanese, but it's the most honest portrayal I can recall about the experience of visiting Japan; to me it was a little like going home. It truly captures the country's combination of beauty in many different forms (neon, temples, bars) and impenetrability (same). This provides the ideal setting for a story about two people who feel alienated from their spouses and the world around them; Japan provides a nice expression for the alienation because it is *so* different, but this also leads our two protagonists together. The film is not really about Japan, but about the joy of miraculously finding emotional connection with a total stranger, and the sad realization that the feeling cannot last. The film's success in capturing this fleeting emotion -- the knowledge that there really cannot be "More Than This" as Bob sings in a karaoke booth -- displays a much deeper appreciation for Japanese culture, than if the film unnaturally were to include politically-correct balancing by, e.g., providing a tall Japanese guide who is fluent in English and can pronounce "R" and "L."
I don't know whether the humor in this film will translate in Japan (actually, the Japanese interpreter's ineptitude, the "conversation" with the old man in the hospital, and the TV show are even funnier in Japanese), but I imagine that people everywhere can appreciate the odd romance at its core.