MovieChat Forums > Mimi wo sumaseba (1996) Discussion > Amazing portrayal of suburban Tokyo.

Amazing portrayal of suburban Tokyo.

posted 18 years ago by Scottdk
24 replies | jump to latest

To me, the most impressive thing in the film was the depiction of the outlying areas of Tokyo (from memory, the number-plates read "Tama".)
I live in Japan nowdays, and when I was recently back home in Australia on holidays, as always, my friends insist on taking me to Sushi and to see japanese movies. (They figure I don't get enough in Japan? All I really want when I am home is a good meat pie and a chance to see a good Australian movie - another genre that I love.) The local independant cinema, who's proprieter is a huge Miyazaki fan, was showing the dubbed version of this movie, and I was quite happy to have the opportunity to see another Miyazaki on the big screen. (Last time was when Sen to Chihiro was released in Japan, and I saw it without subtitles - notably, 6 MONTHS after the release and it was still showing in every cinema in Japan still with huge queues for tickets, and people sitting in the aisles and standing at the back of the cinema when all the seats were taken. This in itself foretold something big about to unfold on the screen before me. Was great to have experienced that.)
Back to Mimi wo Sumaseba... It was an amazing movie in all respects, but what totally carried me away was the stunningly beautiful and accurate portrayal of suburban Tokyo. I'd only been back in Australia 1 week, and I was already swept back to Tokyo's outlying parts. And together with the sound of the Cicadas (Semis), I could feel, smell and taste the opressive heat and humidity hanging in the air on a Tokyo Summer's day. I have NEVER been transported to another place by a movie, animated or otherwise, as well as this film did. Perfect.

[–] dballred 18 years ago

I agree: the imagery in this film was perfect. The bugs flittering around the fluoresent light, the clean yet cluttered look of the apartment, the cicada sounds, the approaching storm clouds, the look of the scenery from the train, the sunrise shot toward the Shinjuku district from the Tama hills, and so many other images were so well done that my other senses kicked in to finish the sensation.

As for Spirited Away, I tried to see it the day I arrived for a business trip in early August, 2001--over a full month after it opened. The first theater I tried was booked up until the next morning. The next day, I bought a ticket in the morning for an afternoon show and got into line two hours before it started. It was a very long line when the theater opened to us. The movie ran between June 2001 and January 2002 and was playing to packed houses throughout the country for at least the first three months.

[–] Scottdk 17 years ago

Perfectly described...

"images were so well done that my other senses kicked in to finish the sensation. "

I add to that the sounds... the cicadas so perfectly reminded me of those hot and humid summer days. I really should take a summer vacation in Hokkaido this year...

[–] zorrothefox 18 years ago

Thanks for your post! I always wondered, as I watched this movie, whether tokyo really was this beautiful. Now I know.

One book I read, suggested that the roads in Tokyo are very cramped.Traffic is very bad etc. But I guess the suburbs is another story.

I hope I have the chance to stay in tokyo for some time, someday.

[–] dballred 18 years ago

By American standards, Japanese roads are very narrow everywhere. I don't think the Europeans would find them particularly narrow or bad. Depending on the time of day, traffic can be a nightmare even in the suburbs. It is strikingly beautiful in many places--in the suburbs as well as Tokyo for the most part. There was a time when this wasn't so. Urban sprawl and industrialization turned that region into an oppressivlely ugly landscape of dingy concrete buildings, concrete telephone poles, open sewage channels, and choking smog. Nowadays, the concrete buildings and telephone poles remain, but they are hidden by landscaping with Cherry and Ginko trees, beautifully manicured bushes, and other decorative plants. The open sewage channels are now covered storm channels, and Japan now has much cleaner air due to regulations than it had a mere thirty years ago.

[–] chunkreloaded 18 years ago

I was happy to see Miyasaki revealing the anti-environment stance that the Japanese government has taken in the past 40 odd years. He has done so in most of his films, but this was especially evident in "whisper of the heart". Last time I visited greater Tokyo, I was simply astonished by the amount of concrete, and the horrific lack of trees. I was humored by the certain revision of "country roads" that was sung in the movie..."concrete roads"

[–] Scottdk 17 years ago

wow, a year and a half later I read over my postings and found all your comments.

Just for the record, the Tama area is quite a way out... Probably couldn't say "Suburban Tokyo". It's way beyond the city, and quite far removed from central Tokyo. Don't expect central tokyo to look like that! But one thing I like about Tokyo, is that fact that you can be in a crowded busy city centre (in one of the many centres) and still find quiet pockets and old streets if you just walk a few blocks.

But still, it is a beautiful portrayal of such areas in Japan. Smaller towns and cities. And even some Tokyo suburbs not too far from the central areas. Just that Tama, where this is set, is much further out of Tokyo....

This film is even mentioned in the wiki for Tama :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tama%2C_Tokyo

[–] ShatteredEagle 17 years ago

Though I have never visited Japan the scenery just looked like it all fit to me. Everything seemed alive and like it all belonged together. I would love to visit Japan someday but I have a pet peeve about visitors not speaking the language of the country. I feel its a respect thing but its just a weird quirk of mine. Probably because I've been working in retail since I was 16 lol.

[–] ShatteredEagle 17 years ago

[–] excel99 17 years ago

Just have to comment on your pet peeve. A respect thing? Learning a language takes years. You feel people shouldn't go on a 5 day overseas vacation just because they haven't put in 5 years of language study first? I think you should reconsider the way you're looking at it.

I would say that you are the one who is being disrespectful, if you harbor such ill will against people simply for not speaking your language.

That's just my opinion...

[–] GSmith9072 17 years ago

This is what I love about Miyizaki. The way he takes such everyday sights, and presents them so artistically and real. I could really get the feel for Tokoyo. The sights (marvelous) the sounds and moments of lifelike silence were done expertly. I would be floored if this were done more in American animation.

you can't fight in here, this is the war room!

[–] Theowne 17 years ago

If you're talking about "Mimi", I should correct something, Miyazaki did not direct this film, it was a different director (Yoshifumi Kondo). Miyazaki is a fantastic director, but let's not start crediting him for every single Ghibli masterwork :)

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satec, scarborough, toronto, ontario, canada, the world

[–] dballred 17 years ago

If you're talking about "Mimi", I should correct something, Miyazaki did not direct this film, it was a different director (Yoshifumi Kondo). Miyazaki is a fantastic director, but let's not start crediting him for every single Ghibli masterwork :)

Miyazaki had a lot to do with this film. He did the screenplay and the storyboards. That pretty much makes this film one of his.

[–] Theowne 17 years ago

Miyazaki had a lot to do with this film. He did the screenplay and the storyboards. That pretty much makes this film one of his.

Which is your opinion (all I said was that he wasn't the director, by the way). But as Kondo was the primary director of the film, and perhaps because of some emotional reason due to his no longer being alive, I personally am not to keen on forgetting the director and pinning it as a "Miyazaki film".

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satec, scarborough, toronto, ontario, canada, the world

[–] psdhart 13 years ago

I agree, I really like the opening scenes in particular, they were so realistic.
I have been to Tokyo and went to Mitaka where the Ghibli museum is.
Similar place with the high rise cluster around the train station, though it does not have the hills with the great views that Tama does

[–] psdhart 13 years ago

[–] Advech 15 years ago

While I've never been to Japan, I could definitely tell this movie had atmosphere. Easily the best animation out of all the Studio Ghibli films.

[–] paperbullet 15 years ago

The only portrayals of Tokyo to approach it are Ghibli's "Ocean Waves" and Madhouse's "The Girl Who Leapt Through Time", although neither captures the feeling half so well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpXwPdJIOJY
Best thing ever.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] gf_writes1 13 years ago

With most Ghibli films set in such fantastical places, it was strange seeing somewhere real. I kept waiting for monsters or ghosts or something to pop out.

Actually, every Monday I go to Seisekisakuragaoka (the place that was used as the movie's setting), and 15 years after the movie's release it's still instantly recognizable when Shizuku first chases after the cat.

[–] Arctor84 11 years ago

I totally agree with the OP's sentiments. I recently moved back to the UK from Tokyo (Toshima-ku!) and watching this movie took me straight back there - I've been pining for those hot Tokyo summer days all week since watching Mimi wo Sumaseba. The attention to detail is staggering; street signs, the train stations, the roads, the sound of a metal apartment door being closed, the cicadas - wonderful.

[–] psdhart 11 years ago

then I guess you watched it on film4 Arctor84

[–] Errington_92 11 years ago

The cities/residential environment's vividness was enthralling. The attention to detail resulted into being transported into Shizuka's world. Visually Whisper of the Heart is a mesmerising piece of art.

"I'd rather be hated for who I am, than loved for who I am not".

[–] oknar1977 7 years ago

i love the sun and shades through the tree branches.
yep, that was the reason to stay and watch it
i could not to