Lost in Translation

You know, I never really talked much about the times I went to drink at the bar in the hotel that Lost in Translation was filmed in. That film is sepcial to me because when I first thoght about going to Japan, it was with the JET programme (a government-run scheme where young foreigners can be classroom assistants in Japanese schools for English lessons). Although Tokyo had always facinated me, I never really thought seriously about living there until I watched this movie. When I tell most people this, they usually say that the movie made them especially not want to live in Tokyo but for me, it really caught me. I seemed to like the idea of it being the ultimate metropolis, a place of opportunity, surely, a place of excess and noise and light, yet many other things that we would never consider but Lost in Traslation starts to get you thinking about such things.

This photo was taken on my mobile I was issued with out there. It wasn't a great model so the picture resolution is poor but even so, it shows the warmth of the barm, which incidently in on the very top floor of the Park Hyatt hotel in a central area of Tokyo called Shinjuku. It was really special to be there. I first went with the guy in the picture, Justin, a good friend, who like me, felt like this was somewhere we had to return to one day, once we were successful and full of money. It cost £10 just to sit down, with nothing included. But the atmosphere was bang-on exactly like you would have expected form watching the movie: classy, warm, intense, and smooth. There was even a jazz singer just like in the movie. I still carry the receipt around with me in my wallet. Is that really sad?!