Living on Tokyo Time

I for one typically like films that involve Japanese people so for sure I had to check out this 1987 film called "Living on Tokyo Time" and it was a slow little moving drama that gave insight into how life is all about chance and learning each day. The film still does a good job to explore Asian-American culture and the clash it has when a young Japanese girl travels to live and start a new life in San Francisco. This woman simply wants a new life a break from the normal ways of her family and she seems well on that path when she marries a Japanese-American junk food want to be rock star in the making. Really this is just a marriage of convenience so that the girl can stay in the U.S. so that her visa will not expire. So the theme of immigration is present so the film might can even be classified as before it's time. Overall the film is a culture class as it shows you learn everyday with life and love and in the end you have to make a choice to do the right thing as sometimes a visit and a stay is just a journey of chance as I think that was what this film proved.

This is a cute and sad little story of cultural difference. Kyoko is a beautiful Japanese woman who has run to California to escape from a failed relationship in Japan. Ken is a Japanese American manual laborer with aspirations of rock and roll stardom but little concrete to offer a potential partner. Kyoko "marries" Ken in order to be able to stay permanently in the U.S., with the understanding that although they will live together until she gets a "green card" the marriage will be in name only. It soon develops that the parties are not on the same wavelength - or perhaps in the same "time zone", hence the title of the movie. As an immigration attorney I have seen such "arrangements" take on a life of their own, so I was pleased to see how well the filmmaker developed the dramatic possibilities of this situation.

This is one of those films that explore the culture clash of Eastern born people in Westernized cultures.

Loving on Tokyo Time is a sad film about the inability of opposites to attract due to major cultural differences. Ken, rock n'roll fanatic, marries Kyoto, a Japanese girl, so that she can stay in the United States when her visa expires. The marriage is only expected to be temporary, that is, until Kyoto gains legal status again. But, Ken, who seems to be lost in every relationship, takes a liking to Kyoto and tries very hard to make things work out. This, despite his friend's urging that dumping Kyoto and getting rid of all commitments to girls is bad for rock n' roll except to inspire some song writing about broken hearts and all of that.

But Kyoto comes from a strict traditional Japanese upbringing, and doesn't expect to be married to Ken all that long. Not only that, she is homesick and wants to return to Japan. It's sad in that this is finally someone Ken thinks he can love and be with and all that, except the one time he thinks he's found someone to feel that way about, the girl isn't expecting to stay that long. It's not that she doesn't like Ken, it's just that she's used to a whole 'nother way of life. She says, "I can't tell him the way I feel in English, and Ken can't tell me the way he feels in Japanese." It's a rather sad love story with a killer 80s techno-nintendo soundtrack.

I picked up Loving on Tokyo Time because it reminded me of one of my favorite 80s films, Tokyo Pop. And, for those of you who enjoyed Loving on Tokyo Time, check out Tokyo Pop (a New York singer goes to Japan and joins a Japanese American cover band), except it's a movie with a happy ending.

I liked Kiyoko (Minako Ohashi) right off the bat as we see her talk about her disappointment with an arranged marriage in Japan, and so she came to America to have an "independent American experience." She gets a job as a kitchen helper and tries to learn English by herself in the evening. She talks about what she wants to do in America such as visit Yosemite and see the Golden Gate Bridge. However, she has difficulties expressing herself in English. A few minutes later, we meet Ken (Ken Nakagawa), a Japanese-American man, who has a dead end job and dreams about being a rock n' roll star. We meet him as his girl friend is walking out on him because he's boring. Ken sits there, stares blankly, and eating his Cheerios while she dumps him. Maybe he should have had his Wheaties that morning. We see Ken is very American with his liking for donuts and disliking manju or Japanese pastry in a cafe scene. The story builds slowly, but Kiyoko and Ken meet and they end up getting married in a marriage of convenience, so she can stay in America. The rest shows us Kiyoko's friends at work and Ken's friends in his band, maintenance worker job, and his dad and sister's family. There are some good supporting characters and there is some good humor as they give their opinions to both Kiyoko and Ken about each other. Lana (Kate Connell) arranges for the two to meet and likes Ken even though he doesn't talk much. On the other hand, Shari (Judi Nihei) belittles Ken as boring. The payoff is watching Ken change from being boring with his mundane life to someone who starts to care about Kiyoko and would like for their marriage to succeed. Kiyoko doesn't have the same thinking and expresses herself in Japanese, but Ken does not understand. There are some lighthearted comedic moments, and the film succeeds in expressing the relationship between Kiyoko and Ken and what obstacles they must overcome for a real relationship to blossom.

The main plot line of "Living on Tokyo Time" is Ken's marriage of convenience to a Japanese national seeking a green card. But between the lines it is a character study of a Japanese American in a life crisis. Intimate and understated, we see an authentic portrait of a man who doesn't know where he belongs.