Cinephiles can be classified into two types: Those who loved Lost In Translation and those who hated it. Sophia Coppola’s second film, winner of an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, has the power to divide movie fans. For the haters, this is just a two-hour movie where nothing happens. The ones who loved it, focus on the beauty of its cinematography and the intelligence of its dialogues. Tokyo’s scenarios lead us to the encounter of two lonely souls inside foreign lands.
Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson’s characters are consumed by the melancholy of their own doubts; neither of them have figured out who they want to be. Indeed, the film may not contain any major action; instead Coppola allows us to see and experience the character’s depression and inner conflicts. This may be another reason why so many people depict it as slow.
Sophia has a signature sequence, in which her lead characters stare across the window of a moving vehicle to appreciate the landscapes of their up coming destination. This scene is replicated at the beginning of Lost In Translation. As we see Murray’s character —Bob Harris— for the first time, we’re introduced to the streets of night-time Tokyo. Throughout the movie, Bob and Charlotte —played by Johansson— will take us to different locations; in an empty karaoke room they will reconcile their loneliness, and in the middle of a crowded avenue, they will find each other.
If you decide to pack your backs, jump onto a plane, and land in Tokyo, we can provide you with the exact route of all of the places you need to visit to recreate this wonderful movie. Although the principal location was Tokyo, the movie develops in two colorful districts: Shinjuku and Shibuya.
In Shinjuku, you’ll find all the iconic building of the first scene. This is a major commercial and administrative center in Japan. The lights of each building illuminate the streets, and here you’ll find the busiest railway station, where Murray and Johansson arrived to the Park Hyatt Tokyo Hotel. This hotel is one of the most luxurious in the area and the location where Bob and Charlotte spent many sleepless nights.
You can have a drink in the bar New York, located on the last floor of the building.
You need to make a stop and visit the temple of Shinjuku to find inner peace. Although it is highly probable you won’t find any of the monks Charlotte saw during her visit.
On the outskirts of this district, closer to Yasukuni Dori, you’ll be able to delight in the colorful neon sights, which cover the buildings from head to toe.
If you take the subway at the Yamanote Line, and travel down three stations south, you’ll arrive to the second district we mentioned: Shibuya. You can get lost in its crowded streets, like Bob and Charlotte did.
Charlotte’s friend’s favorite karaoke is a stone’s throw away from Shibuya station. At a walking distance from Karaoke-kan in the Daikanyama street, you can find the sushi restaurant Ichikan, where the couple had dinner and discussed “pinky toes.”
These unique locations were magnificently captured by Coppola, like the Tokyo Tower and the Rainbow Bridge, which takes thousands of visitors to Odaiba.
The only scenes that were filmed outside the urban area of Tokyo were the ones in which we can see Bob playing golf in front of Mount Fuji, and during Charlotte’s trip to Kyoto.
On the High Speed Bullet Train she passes by the thermal waters off the coast of Atami. In Kyoto, she visits the Heian Shrine and the Nanzenji Temple. The latter is the location where Charlotte sees a couple getting married.
You might hate it or love it, but you can’t deny the fact that the chosen locations for this film are splendid. Under the city lights, between the crowded avenues and the calming temples, Tokyo invites us to walk down its streets and uncover its secrets.
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