Tanpopo (タンポポ)

Our movie-watching has recently undergone a revitalization. A few weeks ago, at the suggestion of my Japanese teacher, Heather and I rented the movie Tanpopo (タンポポ - literally Dandelion), by director Juzo Itami (重三伊丹). This film weaves several disparate storylines together with a common theme: food. One vignette features an epicurean gangster, his girlfriend, and their weird adventures; another is about an etiquette teacher trying to show her students the correct way to eat pasta while abroard. The main storyline is about Tanpopo, a woman running a struggling ramen shop outside of Tokyo, and the transformation of the restaurant - and Tanpopo - into something successful.

I thouroughly enjoyed this movie, but it isn't the plot that makes it so compelling. I've watched a few Japanese movies before, but none, I felt, really captured the essence of daily life in Japan. Not daily life in the sense that these are the kinds of happenings that are going on in Japan on a daily basis; far from it. However, it is the mindset of the characters - the way they act and react - that really hits the nail on the head. The characters really reflect a kind of ideal of the Japanese way of thinking. This, of course, is just my opinion.

My favorite vignette happens near the beginning of the film. It relates the tale of an aged ramen master - that is to say, a person who is skilled and refined eating ramen - teaching his student the proper way to eat. The teacher has his student rotate his bowl, glance lovingly at the pork, move the pork to a different area in the bowl and stroke it with his chopsticks as a sign of affection - to enhance the experience, and also perhaps to foster a kind of communion with the universe. The whole bit is hilarious, and is intended to be so; at the same time it is a revealing window into the intensely ritualistic - and sensitive - culture that is Japan.