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TOKYO_BANDWAGON
January 21, 2014
January 22, 2014
"Tokyo Bandwagon" (2013)
A ten episode Japanese television show,
broadcast in the last half of 2013. I came to this show
because I was interested
This is very much an attempt at a in the actress who
utopian re-envisioning of Japanese life. played "Detective
Wanko": Mikako Tabe.
It is not about a rejection of
Western influences or of modern This is a different role for
practices (not at all the same thing her: much more naturalistic,
in present-day Japan), but rather more "normal", but she does a
striking a different balance between good job, as does everyone
the traditional and the modern world. else in the huge cast.
The plot revolves around a
family run vintage book store
and cafe, with a Japanese name
that sounds a little like the
"Bandwagon" of the title-- but
the joke is clearly that they are
not at all riding a bandwagon,
they're going their own way: On the other hand, a number
of people in the story are so
A multi-generation "extended impressed with this family
family" (unusual in present-day that they immediately begin
Japan), living in an older- looking for ways to become a
style of building, in an old part of it...
part of Tokyo... they run
their their bookstore and
cafe business on the same
premises.
There are generational differences on
display, but also an extreme degree of
acceptance of personal differences
(e.g. the traditional patriarch has
apparently long since come to terms with
his rock-n-roller son, with bleached hair
and hippie philosophy, and actually it's
the rock dude's his own son who has
problems with him).
Multiple different members of the family
were born out-of-wedlock and have
uncertain parentage (which many of the
plots revolve around), but all are
clearly embraced as members of this
household.
There is a hard-driving, successful business
man who has recently discovered this place,
and wants nothing more than to be accepted
by this family... the patriarch blows off
this man's attempts at waving his money
around, and instead begins treating him The patriarch angrily
harshly in a student-disciple relationship, refuses an offer to buy
with which the business man complies with, the entire store, and
and thrives in. restricts the man
to buying a single book,
with the condition that
he can not buy another
one until he reads it and
returns with a written
review.
The story is carried by superb acting
and direction which usually manages to TOUCH
pull off the blatant sentimentality.
It appears that it's marketed as a
"mystery" (sub-genre: "amateur (It might be taken as interesting
detective"): these elements are in itself that most of these
there, but are comparatively minor. "mysteries" are relatively small
stakes affairs that don't take
You have to appreciate tremendous effort to solve... but
creative marketing strategies typically point to personal
like this... problems that are the real issue.)
LITTLE_BLACK_DRESS
The multi-family personal dramas might
be compared to American Soap Operas,
except that in the American Soap (at
least the few I'm familiar with), the
goal is to leave people existing in a
constant state of anxiety. In Tokyo
Bandwagon conflicts are typically
resolved within a few episodes (and
after all, the entire series is only
10 episodes long, there's no room for
eternal log-rolling).
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