What'd be the ideal LiT Tokyo experience you'd like to have?

Discuss the fabulous movie Lost In Translation!

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K__J
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What'd be the ideal LiT Tokyo experience you'd like to have?

#1 Post by K__J » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:13 pm

If money was no limitation and you were in the position of having the most ideal, desirable Lost in Translation experience in Tokyo, what are the most creatively witty thing/s you’d like to get up to, do and / or obtain in Tokyo in such an experience and environment (other than the boringly obvious and predictable things) ?

Guest

#2 Post by Guest » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:15 am

If you want to recreate a Lost in Translation experience in Tokyo you simply need to fly there and stay in any of the modern high-rise hotels. I get to Tokyo once a year on business and before the movie was released did the exact same stuff shown in the film.

You instinctively are drawn to sit on the window sill in your hotel room at 2 a.m. jet-lagged and staring at the little red aircraft warning lights that dot the sky-line.

If you've never been to Tokyo before then trust me, the feelings of alienation and isolation will kick in all by themselves. And you will find yourself staring at other westerners at the bar or in the hotel.

Bring a laptop and a DVD of the film and watch it at 4 a.m. in your hotel room while looking out the window. Bring a CD of the soundtrack and listen to it on Bose noise-cancelling headphones while you walk around the city. That should just about cover it.

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Suntory
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#3 Post by Suntory » Wed Sep 15, 2004 11:52 am

Guest wrote: If you've never been to Tokyo before then trust me, the feelings of alienation and isolation will kick in all by themselves. And you will find yourself staring at other westerners at the bar or in the hotel.
I wonder if this is some form of culture shock.

I remember when I went to India, which is about as alien to westerners as Japan, and after several days experiencing a culture shock where I had to spend a day in my hotel room doing nothing but eating and listening to music. I got over it in time as I got used to the people and the culture.

Anyway I like skyscraper views and would love to sit in a hotel room window
high up and look out at the city!!!

I also like visiting cultures that are very alien to me which is why I
would really like to go to Japan and Tokyo to see them.

Im afraid the experiences I would like to have there would be
boringly obvious and predictable. Because I have never experienced
them myself they would be new and exciting to me! I would like to
do all that they did and more!

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lost in translation
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#4 Post by lost in translation » Wed Sep 15, 2004 4:32 pm

K__J, I sent you an e-mail in response to your PM.

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hull_street
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#5 Post by hull_street » Wed Sep 15, 2004 6:39 pm

Bring a laptop and a DVD of the film and watch it at 4 a.m. in your hotel room while looking out the window. Bring a CD of the soundtrack and listen to it on Bose noise-cancelling headphones while you walk around the city.
I actually did this on my last business trip. How pathetic is that ?
LiT is a great travel companion.

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switchtosake
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Karaoke!

#6 Post by switchtosake » Wed Sep 15, 2004 9:07 pm

For sure, getting half snapped with a bunch of Japanese surfers, a beautiful young woman, drinking lots of Suntory, and crooning More Than This!

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Blissbomb
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#7 Post by Blissbomb » Fri Sep 17, 2004 8:20 am

I had a friend who was unhappy with his life and job. He decided to take 18 months off work and travel overseas to find himself. The first few months we got emails every week that he was in this city, or he was in this ski field, or going off somewhere else. Then the emails changed, he had met some girl here or partied all week with another bunch of girls somewhere else. The emails slowed further, he sent one to his girlfriend saying that he was bonking his way across canada and that he didnt care about his job and that he is never coming home. No one has heard from him in 5 months.

I guess he has moved on to a higher plain of existence?
Lost in World

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Suntory
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#8 Post by Suntory » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:53 am

Blissbomb wrote:The emails slowed further, he sent one to his girlfriend saying that he was bonking his way across canada and that he didnt care about his job and that he is never coming home. No one has heard from him in 5 months.

I guess he has moved on to a higher plain of existence?
HA! Or something like that.
This is very interesting. On the one hand its too easy to make cultural judgements about this kind of
attitude and behavior based on "traditional" American values.
On the other hand, keeping an open mind and trying to understand human nature and different personality types,
the guy is living an existence he feels is truer to his nature and I have to admire that.

How many of us would give anything to live a free and carefree existence traveling the world and meeting people from different cultures?
I think a lot considering the nature of the forum and the people here and some recent posts indicating many people here dont fit or feel they dont fit into the cookie cutter way of life.

One can be free sexually or not, it's up to them. Its possible that after
some time he will tire of all this and feel that he has gotten it out of his
system and opt for a different lifestyle. The thing is though I fear even when one gets tired of it and settles down somewhere,
eventually the longing and desire to run away and travel comes up again.
If it's part of one's nature it never completely goes away.
Then a person just needs to learn to live with it and make some compromises in order to balance the desires and external demands of their life.

Am I getting too philosophical on your asses?! :roll: :shock: :D

Well unless the guy is loaded he will eventually have to come to the reality of money and perhaps can find work wherever he is, save up some, and then move on. I have known people who have worked in different parts of the world in their
field. They get a job for a year or so somewhere and then move on to somewhere else. I would love to do that! If only my life partner 8) felt the same way. She did recently say Canada would be ok to live in after I suggested Amsterdam. . . :shock:

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switchtosake
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Japanese slot machine?

#9 Post by switchtosake » Fri Sep 17, 2004 9:53 pm

What are those rows of machines Bob and Charlotte walk by as they are evading the BB gun toting bar owner. Are they Japanese slot machines?

Japanese Surfer

#10 Post by Japanese Surfer » Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:22 pm

Pachinko!

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switchtosake
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pachinko?

#11 Post by switchtosake » Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:11 pm

What's pachinko? Anyone ever tried it? Is it unique to Japan? So is it Japanese gambling?

Guest

#12 Post by Guest » Sun Sep 19, 2004 8:16 pm

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2065.html

Code: Select all

Pachinko is a mixture between slot machine and pinball. The player is quite passive while playing pachinko. He or she is only controlling the speed with which many small steel balls are thrown into the pachinko machine. 

Most of the balls just fall down the machine and disappear, but a few find their way into special holes. This activates a kind of slot machine. As in the slot machine, you win if the same three pictures appear. This occurs quite rarely in pachinko, but if it happens, you win countless new balls. When just playing for 500 or 1000 Yen, you may likely just lose all your balls within a few minutes. 

Pachinko machines can be found in pachinko parlors which are spread over the whole country. Many parlors also offer a corner with slot machines. One can recognize parlors easily because they are bright and colorful. Inside a parlor it is loud and smoky. Women and men are playing pachinko and it is said that there are even a few pachinko professionals. 

If you win balls, you can exchange them into goods that are available in the parlor's gift shop. But you can also bypass the law that prohibits gambling in Japan by exchanging the balls first into some special goods and then exchange them for cash at a small window just outside the parlor. 


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switchtosake
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#13 Post by switchtosake » Mon Sep 20, 2004 3:16 pm

Yet another thing to try on my eventual trip to Japan. How much money do you think you would need to have an enjoyable week long trip including hotel and flight?

guest

#14 Post by guest » Wed Sep 22, 2004 7:59 am

I get to Tokyo once or twice each year on business. Flights from my home in Boston to Narita Airport are about $850 to $1200 coach round-trip if you're booking a few weeks in advance.

I usually stay at the Celestine Hotel. It's a modern high-rise hotel with great views of the Tokyo skyline. A superior room runs abut $225 per night and will get you the Park Hyatt Tokyo experience at about half the price.

Restaurants range from inexpensive to ungodly expensive. That glass of Suntory whisky at the hotel bar will also be expensive.

Walking around and enjoying the sights is completely free.

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#15 Post by jml98 » Thu Nov 11, 2004 11:31 pm

unforunately ive never been to Tokyo...ive always wanted to go, but after seeing LiT, i want to go SOOOO bad...too bad im broke :cry:
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Suntory
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#16 Post by Suntory » Fri Nov 12, 2004 12:26 am

jml98 wrote:unforunately ive never been to Tokyo...ive always wanted to go, but after seeing LiT, i want to go SOOOO bad...too bad im broke :cry:
Ok so if you could go, what would be your ideal LIT like experience you would like to have or places to go and see?!

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CHris!
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#17 Post by CHris! » Fri Nov 12, 2004 9:59 am

it would make me complete if I could just wonder round the neon filled Shinjuku district, listening to the MBV and Death in Vegas songs from the soundtrack, meeting scarlett wouldn't be to bad either ;P
theres nothing more than this

Guest10

#18 Post by Guest10 » Sat Dec 18, 2004 11:28 pm

I would like to meet someone like Scarlett and just
wander with her around Tokyo for a few weeks while singing at kareoke bars (it would have taken me more than one drink to gather the courage) and listening to Kevin Shields music .It would be so nice.

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