Monday, November 12, 2007
Adrift in Ever Morphing Tokyo
A week ahead of Tokyo FILMeX opening in Yûrakuchô, I was in the area this evening and was surprised to see the development on the east side of Yûrakuchô station now complete. Some of the old shops under the Yamanote tracks (what were they?) have been completely exhumed and you can walk through the big archways uninhibited. It's surely not going to stay that way for long. This opens into a large square and the "YURAKUCHO ITOCiA" office and shopping complex, which features a new branch of Marui and the ITOCiA Plaza, with a new 2-screen cinema in the expanding Cine Qua Non chain (the FILMeX night screenings are at the Cine Qua Non cinema above Bic Camera on the other side of the tracks).
Now I can sympathize with complaints of gentrification. In Tokyo it happens in areas that already have sky high property values but are ugly and out of date. But do consumers, especially those in Ginza, really need yet more pristine places to purchase brand goods? I like unplanned urban chaos to a degree, but the bottleneck on that side of the station used to drive me crazy when I was trying to get to screenings so I'm happy for the space more than the shops.
The picture above is of a Tokyo Velotaxi letting some passengers off at the new square. The people-moving service is an eco-minded non-profit organization that started up in Germany in the 90s and is now here.
Also green is walking -- lots of it. The title of this post references director Miki Satoshi's (三木聡監督) latest film Adrift in Tokyo (Ten-ten, 『転々』), which just opened in cinemas yesterday. Mark Schilling writes a highly positive, extended review of the film in The Japan Times here. I have to agree -- it's a well-made and often hilarious buddy movie, a sub-genre I like. Some of them are my favourite movies ever, including Thunderbolt and Lightfoot, The Pope Of Greenwich Village, Midnight Run and California Split. The interplay between Miura Tomokazu and Odagiri Joe is excellent and the male bonding manages to be overt and subtle at the same time. Production company Stylejam is on a roll lately. Did you know that Korea will prebuy Odagiri Joe movies sight unseen?
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