Locations in the film?

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Locations in the film?

#1 Post by Guest » Mon Sep 20, 2004 12:48 am

Hi. I found these places listed at the end of the credits on the DVD
under location support.
I know some of the locations are talked about in some articles but
I dont think they all are and I wanted to put what I found up so
people can help pinpoint when and where they were used. If they were
used and not just listed for some other reason. I'm going
to use this for the timeline I'm working on for the site. Thanks!

1) Tokyo Medical University Hospital - (yes where Charlotte went for her toe!)

2) Sputnik Pad / IDEE

3) Tabloid News Clothe To You

4) Johganji Temple

5) Ichikan Sushi - (black toe?)

6) Kawagushinko Country Club - (where Bob plays golf I would guess)

7) Parlor Botan

8 ) Air / Daikinyama

9) Hysteric Glamor

10) Heian Jingu Shrine

11) Nanzenji Temple

12) Tokyu Corporation

13) Central Japan Railway Company (which Charlotte used to go to Kyoto)

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#2 Post by KKDallas » Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:49 pm

Thanks for doing a timeline. I can't wait to see it. Here is some of my input. I don't know all of the places but based on my internet research and Tokyo travel books, here is what I know:

1. Hospital - nothing to add

2. Sputnick Pad/ IDEE: This might be office space and/or furniture. The website had some pictures of a building as well as furniture. The furniture looks like IKEA style. I wonder if this is a credit for office stuff for the production company/staff?

3. Tabloid News Clothe - nothing to add

4. Johganji Temple - I could find Jugan-ji temple and it is a small temple in Shibuya district.

5. Ichikan Sushi - nothing to add.

6. Kawagushinko CC - nothing to add.

7. Parlor Botan - I read somewhere it is a name of a pachinko parlor but I don't have anything to back me up on this.

8. Air/Daikinyama - this is the club where Bob and Charlotte go and meet Charlie. It is really in a basement. It is in the Daikinyama area, near Shibuya.

9. Hysteric Glamour - a line of hip clothing and shops of the same name. I know Sofia had a line of clothing called MilkFed so maybe this is some designer she knows. Maybe they provided clothes for Bambi and Myumi, etc. in the club?

10. Heian Jungue Shrine - this is a big shrine in Kyoto. It has a large courtyard that we see Charlotte walking acrosss. It also appears to have the small pond with the round stepping stones.

11. Nanzenji Temple - Kyoto temple. I didn't recognize the pictures of it.

12. Tokyu Corporation - This is a large corporation that has several buildings in Tokyo. Maybe they own the building that Park Hyatt is located in? Maybe they provided the small office building used for LIT production (featured in "Lost" on Location on the DVD).

13. Central Japan Railway - nothing to add.

I also read the credits and I am curious about many of the locations listed. Oakwood Residences is given a credit and Ross Katz talks about it in the DVD. I did some research and it is a long-term hotel for many ex-pats in Tokyo. It looks so nice and luxurious. They have 1,2 and 3 bedroom apartments, washer/dryers, and English speaking staffs. I bet Ross, Sofia, and other big cast/crew folks had their own Oakwood apartment.

Ok, probably too much informaton but I hope a little of what I found will help you!

kathy

Andrew

locations

#3 Post by Andrew » Fri Oct 01, 2004 10:30 am

I hope this helps.

After falling in love with LiT and obsessing about the film to my friends and just about anyone who would listen, I got the chance to go to Tokyo and Kyoto a short while after the film came out in the UK. We stayed with a friend of mine and at Intercontinental Tokyo bay, but managed a coupel of nights at the Park Hyatt, which is just beautiful, and after seeing the film I just had to go. Even if you cant stay there, you can go and drink in the bars and mooch around the hotel. Its very eerie after having seen it all in the movie, especially when you hear the sound of the same piano in the bar, it gives you butterflies.

Heian Jinga is in Kyoto, in the East. The garden with the stepping stones is easy to miss, its in the rear left hand corner of the courtyard, near the tree with the paper notes tied on. We went in Cherry Blossom week, and the gardens are beautiful. I had Air on my MD player and Alone in Kyoto came on as I was walking around there :-)

Hysteric Glamour: if you look at the apartment in the film where everyone is dancing to Pheonix, I think this place must have something to do with Hysteric, maybe the guy who owns Hysteric lives there?

Tokyu Corp... hmm, Tokyu Hands is a huge dept. store in Shibuya, maybe they owned the arcade too, there are loads of arcades around that area.

LiT is the most beautiful film I know, I was so moved by it that I wrote a letter (silly I know), to Sofia Coppola after the first time I watched it. I never do stuff like that, ever, but I was just compelled to do it. The film really touched me and for over a week after seeing it I felt really emotional. This makes me sound like such a sap... but I think the film was just like someone holding up a mirror in parts, it really got to me. Glad this site is back though!

Cheers all.

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Re: locations

#4 Post by jm » Fri Oct 01, 2004 9:29 pm

"[quote:d2ffb5e428="Andrew"]LiT is the most beautiful film I know, I was so moved by it that I wrote a letter (silly I know), to Sofia Coppola after the first time I watched it. I never do stuff like that, ever, but I was just compelled to do it.[/quote:d2ffb5e428]
So what did you write and did you hear anything back?"
Last edited by jm on Sat Feb 17, 2007 2:33 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Andrew

letter

#5 Post by Andrew » Thu Oct 07, 2004 12:16 pm

I never actually sent it, I dont think I ever intended to, maybe I should have...

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writing to Sophia

#6 Post by findingcharlotte » Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:12 pm

I do some autograph collecting and yes I was so moved by LIT I wrote to Sophia at 3 different addresses known for her...None of my letters were answered.....Not sure she ever sees them..hard to say with any accuracy.

I know that many of the LIT autographs you see on Ebay are not authentic...Sad how much fraud exists on Ebay...sooooooooo many people waste money on complete forgeries.




LiT is the most beautiful film I know, I was so moved by it that I wrote a letter (silly I know), to Sofia Coppola after the first time I watched it. I never do stuff like that, ever, but I was just compelled to do it. The film really touched me and for over a week after seeing it I felt really emotional. This makes me sound like such a sap... but I think the film was just like someone holding up a mirror in parts, it really got to me. Glad this site is back though!
Call me if you get lost...

" before we go, Im not as brave as I told you.."

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last post " writing to sophia "

#7 Post by findingcharlotte » Thu Oct 28, 2004 2:13 pm

sorry,, should have mentioned the bottom part of my last post was a quote from an earlier post by Andrew
Call me if you get lost...

" before we go, Im not as brave as I told you.."

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#8 Post by Suntory » Sun Dec 12, 2004 11:20 pm

This is from an article someone posted about in another topic:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6646065/
A majority of the filming took place in two of Tokyo’s most vibrant neighborhoods—Shinjuku and Shibuya. Bob’s first views of the city are the neon-lit buildings at the entrance to Kabuki-cho, Shinjuku’s entertainment district. (Charlotte’s giant elephants and dinosaurs are outside Shibuya Station’s Hachiko exit.) Staying at the Park Hyatt probably isn’t an option at $470-plus a night, but you can enjoy your own Suntory times at its New York Bar (3-7-1-2 Nishi-Shinjuku, 011-81/3-5322-1234, $18 cover after 8 p.m.). Jugan-ji temple, where Charlotte listens to monks chant, is within walking distance of the Park Hyatt (Honcho 2-26, Nakano-ku). Charlotte and Bob sing at Karaoke Kan in the K&F Building (30-8 Utagawacho, Shibuya-ku). Follow Charlotte to Kyoto on the Shinkansen, or bullet train (jreast.co.jp, $125 each way), and visit the Heian Jingu Shrine and Nanzen-ji Temple (take bus 5 from Kyoto Station to either). Their good-bye is in Plaza Dori, near the west entrance to Shinjuku Station. Kintetsu International offers flights to Tokyo starting at $500 from L.A., $600 from New York. Discounted hotels are available, too (212/259-9648, kintetsu.com). Wherever you end up staying, tune into TV Asahi at 11:15 p.m. on Wednesdays for Matthew’s Best Hit TV, the kooky talk show that Bob appears on so he can spend more time with Charlotte.

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#9 Post by Brando77 » Tue Jan 03, 2006 4:14 pm

I have also recently fallen in love with the film and after reading many of the posts on this forum i feel totally at home, its funny, i was completely brought to tears after reading what some people said about this movie, because its exactly how i feel. Anyway, i really want to go to Tokyo and visit the places of the movie, I feel it is the only way i can feel some closure on the movie. It changed my life completely and i am tired of talking about it.I want to act on it, i want to go out and feel something. I wont be able to to go Tokyo in 5 years, do you guys think the places in the movie are going to change alot?

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#10 Post by Lost in Boston » Sun Jun 04, 2006 10:44 am

Brando77 wrote:I wont be able to to go Tokyo in 5 years, do you guys think the places in the movie are going to change alot?
Unfortunately the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel has announced that the New York Bar will be closed for design renewal beginning on July 24 until September 1. Much of the movie was filmed in that bar. It sounds like the Park Bar will remain unchanged. That was the bar with the washi paper lanterns where some scenes were shot.

I've been to both bars several times and to be honest, I think simply traveling to Tokyo, being jet-lagged and immersed in the foreign culture, neon lights and the blinking red aircraft lights on the building tops will recreate the feel of the movie perfectly. Remember to bring the movie soundtrack on your mp3 player so you can listen to Tommib as you walk around. It's the feelings of isolation and being out of place that will create the feel of the movie more than being in the New York Bar. My strongest Lost in Translation experiences have actually taken place in another sky top bar while looking across downtown Tokyo at the Hyatt rather than when I was in the Hyatt itself.

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#11 Post by Brando77 » Sun Jun 04, 2006 12:19 pm

thanks a lot, Lost In Boston. I am dying to go to Tokyo and I can tell by your response that you understand exactly why I want to go. To feel those "Lost In Translation" feelings that I get from the movie. Not quite happiness, not quite sadness, but an emotion that is too hard to explain as it seems that there is not even one word in the english dictionary that comes close to describing it.

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#12 Post by preciouswhile » Sun May 06, 2007 11:09 am

Posting the location map from the Japanese version of the DVD here since it's a sticky post:

Location Map
Last edited by preciouswhile on Mon Oct 21, 2019 10:26 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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#13 Post by Cryogenic » Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:41 pm

Another old topic I wanted to just say a few words in ...
Brando77 wrote:thanks a lot, Lost In Boston. I am dying to go to Tokyo and I can tell by your response that you understand exactly why I want to go. To feel those "Lost In Translation" feelings that I get from the movie. Not quite happiness, not quite sadness, but an emotion that is too hard to explain as it seems that there is not even one word in the english dictionary that comes close to describing it.
This was perfectly said.

Other languages have such words -- or words that get closer to the sort of bittersweet, melancholic feeling Lost In Translation (indeed, all three of Sofia's pictures) capture.

Try this concept on for size. Better yet, it's Japanese:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wabi-sabi

The first two paragraphs carry such special resonance for us all and this, our most favourite of movies:
Wabi-sabi (侘寂?) represents a comprehensive Japanese world view or aesthetic centered on the acceptance of transience. The phrase comes from the two words wabi and sabi. The aesthetic is sometimes described as one of beauty that is "imperfect, impermanent, and incomplete" (according to Leonard Koren in his book Wabi-Sabi: for Artists, Designers, Poets and Philosophers). It is a concept derived from the Buddhist assertion of the Three marks of existence (三法印 sanbōin?), specifically impermanence (無常 mujō?). Note also that the Japanese word for rust, 錆 is also pronounced sabi (the borrowed Chinese character is different, but the word itself is of assumed common etymology), and there is an obvious semantic connection between these concepts.

According to Koren, wabi-sabi is the most conspicuous and characteristic feature of what we think of as traditional Japanese beauty and it "occupies roughly the same position in the Japanese pantheon of aesthetic values as do the Greek ideals of beauty and perfection in the West." Andrew Juniper claims, "if an object or expression can bring about, within us, a sense of serene melancholy and a spiritual longing, then that object could be said to be wabi-sabi." Richard R. Powell summarizes by saying "It (wabi-sabi) nurtures all that is authentic by acknowledging three simple realities: nothing lasts, nothing is finished, and nothing is perfect."
I'd say it fits Lost In Translation to a tee. Or Lost In Translation fits it to a tee.

In this way, it can be quietly, yet firmly, said that Sofia Coppola is a sublime artist. In turn, one can say her sublime artistry qualifies her as a genius.

She has successfully expressed an unarticulated, and inarticulable, concept, alien to the West, yet something many, many artists of all stripes and persuasions have perhaps, in some way, shape or form, toiled to express.

From her pivotal casting of Bill Murray, whose general visage and aged complexion grant him a wistful, wabi-sabi look, to her impressionistic photography through the sympathetic genius of Lance Acord, shot on film, unafraid of grain (in Sofia's words, "like a memory"), to the dreamy, reverb-heavy music, to the small, subtle, captivating gestures, to this story of two people who must part and never return "as it would never be as much fun", even down to the curious intersection of time and place in the young and resplendent yet rapidly changing citadel of Tokyo itself, she has created a work of art that stresses impermanence -- through its very unstressed, impermanent nature.

If that's not a work of sublimity, what is? Those that know really know. We are the lucky ones. As the mythical saying goes: may you live in interesting times. And we do live in interesting times. We have been fortunate to know and experience LIT first hand.
Image

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#14 Post by nathan » Mon May 17, 2010 10:14 pm

this topic has been of great help to me. i am leaving for tokyo tomorrow (my flight takes off in 15 hours to be exact) and i am hoping to hit as many places from the film as possible.

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#15 Post by Bob_san » Sun Jun 06, 2010 2:31 am

nathan that's very cool and I'm just now checking out your photos on your blog:

http://tokyodreaming.tumblr.com/tagged/ ... ranslation

People check it out its great stuff!!!!

You're living the dream! :D

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#16 Post by nathan » Sun Jun 20, 2010 2:49 pm

well, i have been back in america for about a week now. i miss japan so much.

here are a couple of lost in translation related photos i didn't post on my blog:

Image

drinking suntory hibiki 17 year whiskey at the park hyatt hotel, 52nd floor new york bar, shinjuku, tokyo. this is the seat that bob sat in when he first met charlotte

Image

the outside of the park hyatt. this is where bob gets out of his cab in the second scene.

the picture of senmon gate that i posted on my blog is the part of the nanzenji temple that they go to. it is quite deceiving because the nanzenji area is huge with many different temples.

i also couldnt find heian jing (also part of the nanzenji temple area in kyoto) where charlotte jumps on the rocks.

i should note that a lot of the locals working in or around these areas don't know anything about the film. my japanese is fairly decent and when i asked people about locations in the film, very few had ever heard of it.

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#17 Post by jeffyen » Sun Jul 04, 2010 4:44 am

Wow nathan, the pic at the bar is great! :)

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#18 Post by Mr Kazu » Sun Sep 29, 2013 12:16 pm

here's an old article about the locations

http://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/A- ... 817097.php
"Let's never come here again because it would never be as much fun."

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#19 Post by tpl89 » Fri Dec 27, 2013 12:42 pm

If anyone is interested, I've posted a few photos of the Park Hyatt Tokyo and a couple of the filming locations in Kyoto taken earlier this month:
viewtopic.php?t=1041

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