Jet lag conspires with culture shock to force the meeting of Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) and Bob Harris (Bill Murray). Neither can sleep after their Tokyo arrival. They meet in their luxury hotel’s bar, forging an enduring relationship as they experience Tokyo’s wonders, strangeness, and complexity. Based on director Sophia Coppola’s Academy Award winning screenplay, this film was shot entirely on location in Japan. It offers extraordinary views of various parts of Japanese culture that are not available to you without a visit.

Cross-Cultural Observations: Visiting Japan

This sequence is an edited composite taken from different parts of the film. It shows selected aspects of Tokyo and Kyoto, Japan. Charlotte has her first experience with the complex and busy Tokyo train system. She later takes the train to Kyoto, Japan’s original capital city for more than ten centuries.

1. While watching this sequence, pretend you have arrived in Tokyo and you are experiencing what you are seeing. Do you understand everything you see?
2. Is Charlotte bewildered by her experiences? Is she experiencing some culture shock?
3. What aspects of Japanese culture appear in this sequence?  What do you see as important values of Japanese culture? Review the earlier section, “Understanding Cultural Differences,” to gain some insights about these questions.