The Ramen Girl

This has been quite an interesting week for movies. First I saw Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus, which isn't worth mentioning. Then I watched The Fall, which deserves it's own blog post because it's just awesome. And tonight I watched "The Ramen Girl," which was unwise. Not because it was bad (to be honest, it wasn't that great, either), but because it was so...Japanese.



Brittany Murphy plays Abby, a slacker youngin' who follows her boyfriend to Japan, only to find out he's not so interested in her. She feels lost and lonely when her sole purpose for existence moves to Osaka, and eventually wanders into a Ramen shop in the rain, where she just starts crying. The Japanese couple that runs the shop doesn't know what to do with her other than give her a bowl of ramen, which seems to heal her. She decides from then on that she will learn how to cook Ramen, and that she will have the マスタ of the shop teach her. He's predictably an asshole, but eventually they develop a mutual respect for each other (although he has a hard time showing it EVER, being as he's Japanese). The ending is unusual by Western standards, but I think it's very, very Japanese. And I'm sure anyone that never went to Japan would ask "What do you mean?" but I can't explain it without giving it away. I've already said too much.

I saw "Lost in Translation" before I ever went to Japan, so I don't really remember how Japanese it is. I watched it and thought it was so random, and kind of amusing, but the majority of the cultural significance was lost on me. But now I've been. I've lived there for two years. I'm dating a guy who is close to as Japanese as one can get without being actually Japanese. And about half an hour into this movie I realized what I was watching. It's an ode to things that are Great in Japan, but not karaoke or beer or crazy America love. It's all about the people.

Which sounds ridiculously cliche, but it's true. I was never one of the 外人バー foreigners. I didn't have many foreign friends (although I admit it was nice to relax around them every so often). I wanted to spend as much time with Japanese as much as I could, cause I could hang out with Americans here. I wasn't as successful as I would have liked, but still I tried. And the Japanese people are unlike people anywhere else. Which you can say about people from anywhere, so it's not exactly an earth-shattering revelation.

Although now that I think about it, while the movie is about the Japanese, I'm not sure that's what makes it Japanese. It's the whole attitude of the thing. About putting your heart and soul into something. About the power of food. About how there are things you have to do. I wonder how someone outside of the Japanese sphere of influence would perceive the thing.

I think I'm losing my train of thought, which makes the continuance of the post rather pointless. So I will go, leaving the reader with a recommendation to watch "The Ramen Girl" if he or she would like some insight into Japan, or if he or she would like to just reminisce. It's interesting, without a doubt.