DVDs to View Before Reaching Kyoto -- Shogun as well as Memoirs of a Geisha
It is clear that the 1980 miniseries "Shogun" makes Osaka Castle and the Tokagawa Shogun's building in Nijo castle make more sense. (In the miniseries, the antagonist [Lord Ishido] commands Osaka castle while the protagonist [Lord Toranaga] commands Nijo.) The attired dummies in the chambers of the Shogun's building look like scenes in the audience rooms from the "Shogun" movie. Great production values! The movie was 100% shot and produced in Japan; the designers had the real sets and costumes as inspiration for bringing alive a true slice of history.
William Adams (represented by the Blackthorne or Anjin-san character) was a real person whose adventures are chronicled in the miniseries. Adams is buried in Japan and he was a valued retainer to the first shogun whose line of leaders represent the Tokagawa shogunate.
The DVD of Memoirs of a Geisha was helpful for the visit to the Gion ("entertainment") section of Kyoto and for the entertainment evening when the Geisha-in-training performs (and answers all of our questions).
Any suggestions on movies that feature Tokyo as backdrop?
William Adams (represented by the Blackthorne or Anjin-san character) was a real person whose adventures are chronicled in the miniseries. Adams is buried in Japan and he was a valued retainer to the first shogun whose line of leaders represent the Tokagawa shogunate.
The DVD of Memoirs of a Geisha was helpful for the visit to the Gion ("entertainment") section of Kyoto and for the entertainment evening when the Geisha-in-training performs (and answers all of our questions).
Any suggestions on movies that feature Tokyo as backdrop?
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Really!
Here a few modern American films shot partially/mostly in Tokyo:
"Lost in Translation" with Bill Murray.
"You Only Live Twice" Sean Connery (James Bond)
Quentin Tarantino's "Kill Bill" with Uma Thurman
Ridley Scott's "Black Rain" with Michael Douglas
"The Fast and The Furious, Tokyo Drift"
"Mr Baseball" with Tom Selleck
Just one I'd add,
"Walk Don't Run" with Cary Grant and Jim Hutton. Tokyo during the 1964 Olympics.
Sigh.
what can I say. (Apart from till being blind n the job/)
Bless your heart.
Actually, a quick Google search turned up quite a few movies, mostly Japanese, but I think they would be hard to find in the US. You can probably order Rick Steves, Nat Geo, Samantha Brown, etc., videos from Amazon.
The view from our Tokyo room in the Mandarin Oriental Hotel that showed traffic jams and departing trains was pretty breath-taking (and few pre-1940 movies set in Tokyo would reflect what we saw in 2015). Still, it would have been interesting to have an historical perspective on the city. The Edo-Tokyo Museum Tour was great, but there wasn't enough time!