Post by Skiptastic on Jan 9, 2006 12:40:01 GMT -5
Really late reply time! (Actually, the big reason this is late is because I never come into this section. I troll at MST3K Chat essentially.)
Went to Japan for a semester in 2004. Lived with a host family in Mitaka, just outside (or part of the big huge city that is) Tokyo. Had a great time. Ate well, got lots of exercise riding the family bike to the bike parking lot, then walking to the train station, then walking to wherever I went after I got off the train. Drank a LOT and ate a lot, but didn't gain weight due to the exercise. Also, got to play DDR something like three times a week, so I was really in the best shape I've been since junior year of high school.
Lost in Translation...I just didn't get it. It wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything in there to surprise me. Oddly enough, my host mom knew someone who had travelled to America for about half a year, and we went to that hotel for lunch. It was very nice.
I'm also going to concur with Mr. Baseball being a good movie to watch to see kind of what it would be like to live in Japan as a foreigner. It's like the reverse film of Gung Ho, but what's most important is at the end, we realize that America and Japan are the leading GDP countries in the whole world and that we are better than everyone for it. ;D
As for films from Japan:
Ichi the Killer - Just a weird as hell movie by Miike. I didn't get most of it, but that's not all that surprising.
The Happiness of the Katakuris - Now THIS Miike movie was almost as weird, but HILARIOUS. There's even a section where the mom and dad break out into song, and they have the lyric subtitles just like they have some Japanese song shows on TV. God I loved those shows, mostly because I learned so much kanji and my host parents loved them. I highly recommend this movie. Great fun.
Miyazaki movies - Hard to go wrong with Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime), Totora, Nausicaa, or Spirited Away. Haven't seen Howl's yet.
Beat Takeshi movies are typically good. Same with Kurosawa, though those skew towards those that don't need constant action. Battle Royale is another movie that's just kind of disturbing, could have been made better, but all the Asia-philes eat it up. Not a bad watch, but could have been much more.
That's all I can think of for now. Hello, thank you!
Went to Japan for a semester in 2004. Lived with a host family in Mitaka, just outside (or part of the big huge city that is) Tokyo. Had a great time. Ate well, got lots of exercise riding the family bike to the bike parking lot, then walking to the train station, then walking to wherever I went after I got off the train. Drank a LOT and ate a lot, but didn't gain weight due to the exercise. Also, got to play DDR something like three times a week, so I was really in the best shape I've been since junior year of high school.
Lost in Translation...I just didn't get it. It wasn't bad, but there wasn't anything in there to surprise me. Oddly enough, my host mom knew someone who had travelled to America for about half a year, and we went to that hotel for lunch. It was very nice.
I'm also going to concur with Mr. Baseball being a good movie to watch to see kind of what it would be like to live in Japan as a foreigner. It's like the reverse film of Gung Ho, but what's most important is at the end, we realize that America and Japan are the leading GDP countries in the whole world and that we are better than everyone for it. ;D
As for films from Japan:
Ichi the Killer - Just a weird as hell movie by Miike. I didn't get most of it, but that's not all that surprising.
The Happiness of the Katakuris - Now THIS Miike movie was almost as weird, but HILARIOUS. There's even a section where the mom and dad break out into song, and they have the lyric subtitles just like they have some Japanese song shows on TV. God I loved those shows, mostly because I learned so much kanji and my host parents loved them. I highly recommend this movie. Great fun.
Miyazaki movies - Hard to go wrong with Princess Mononoke (Mononoke-hime), Totora, Nausicaa, or Spirited Away. Haven't seen Howl's yet.
Beat Takeshi movies are typically good. Same with Kurosawa, though those skew towards those that don't need constant action. Battle Royale is another movie that's just kind of disturbing, could have been made better, but all the Asia-philes eat it up. Not a bad watch, but could have been much more.
That's all I can think of for now. Hello, thank you!