TF Film Review: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol (2011)

Posted on December 20, 2011 by tokyofox

The fourth installment in this film franchise is a rarity in that it was actually released in Japan before The UK. It comes out in the The UK on Boxing Day but usually these films are released in Japan months after the rest of the western world. Of course I also wanted to see it as I’m a fan of the movies.

One local reviewer here reckons that the action isn’t quite up to that of the recent Bond and Bourne films and though I’m a huge fan of those movies I disagree with that train of thought as ‘Ghost Protocol‘ was full of action that made my palms very sweaty. It’s no secret that it was filmed in part in Dubai and the worlds tallest building features in an enthralling scene followed by one of the films more comical moments thanks to Simon Pegg’s portrayal of the bumbling English computer nerd who has a far more important role in this movie than one was expecting.

Other locations include Budapest, Mumbai and Russia where someone blows up the Kremlin and frames the IMF thereby activating the ‘Ghost Protocol’ and leaving it up to Ethan Hunt (Tom Cruise) and his three buddies to save the day without any support.

 

One of my main gripes with the previous trilogy of ‘Mission: Impossible‘ movies was the over-use and over-reliance on the use of latex face masks and I’m glad to report that this cop-out way of telling a story is kept to a minimum. Running in at over two hours I was gripped by this flick throughout which is a rarity for a guy like me who has poor concentration.

Tokyo Fox Rating 9/10

You can see the Mission Impossible filming locations here
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Tokyo Filming Locations #10 – The Grudge (2004)

Posted on December 17, 2011 by tokyofox

This American re-make of ‘Ju-On’ begins at Yanagibashi bridge (1 minute) where the Kanda river runs into the much bigger Sumida-gawa river. Peter is on the 6th floor of his apartment at 1-2-2 Yanagibashi (below) with his wife/partner in bed when he looks at her fairly normally and then just purposely falls over his balcony plummeting to his death below.

 

When I did my Kanda River bicycle ride back in April little did I know that the starting point was also where ‘The Grudge’ was filmed. It can be seen again on 65 minutes when Karen (Sarah Michelle-Gellar) visits the suicide scene. I was standing on the wall next to the river taking a timed photo with my tripod (whilst holding it aloft to get the highest position possible) when a guy came out and Continue reading →

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Tokyo Filming Locations #9 – Wasabi (2001)

Posted on December 14, 2011 by tokyofox

Jean Reno of Mission Impossible fame is the French cop who goes to Tokyo in this 2001 French film directed by Luc Besson. Entering Japan at Narita Airport terminal 2 (18 minutes) Reno’s character Hubert arrives in the electric town known as Akihabara after 23 minutes (below) when he gets out of a taxi on the main street and walks down one of the little side streets to the office where he has a meeting with the lawyer who reads out his ex girlfriends will and informs him that he has a daughter.

 

Takashimaya department store (above) at 2-4-1 Nihonbashi is where Hubert takes his annoying daughter (Ryoko Hirosue) on a shopping spree with some yakuza baddies trailing them which leads to some amusing (?) scenes of Hubert discretely fending them off whilst she is oblivious to it all.

Next up is the Imperial Hotel at 1-1-1 Chiyoda (below) which appears on 47 minutes and is where Hubert books into ‘pretending’ that the young under-age Japanese girl is his daughter with the irony being that she actually is not that she knows it.

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Fujisawa Golf Club in Kanagawa prefecture (66 minutes) plays part to the driving range scene which sees Hubert do a trick shot that would make Tiger Woods proud which he calls “a hole in two” whereby he takes out two guys with an outrageous cartoon-like shot.

The film gets its title from a scene (72 minutes) where Hubert eats a load of the green-coloured horse-radish mustard stuff without as much as a flinch. Its not just Tokyo which features though as moments later he takes the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Kyoto where we see him on JR Kyoto station platform and soon after he and former intelligence colleague Momo are at Kiyomizudera temple (below) where they go and investigate Miko’s death.

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Among the wooden placades is a special one which he finds quite quickly and inside it is a letter from the late mother of their child which he reads as he walks through the temple grounds (below).

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He continues to the main viewing platform (below) which offers spectacular views of the place although it wasn’t so good for us photographers when I was there as the sun was shining too brightly to capture it well.

 

Back in Tokyo, Wako department store (below) at 4-5-11 Ginza in Chuo-ku (also seen in ‘Godzilla‘) pops up on screen after 76 minutes.

 

I’m reliably told that Harumi Passenger Ship Terminal (above) was used as a location though I’m not too sure which scenes were filmed there. This is situated across Kachidoki Bridge coming from Tsukiji and if I was to guess I’d say that some of the interior airport shots such as the immigration and bag search scenes were captured there.

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Tokyo Filming Locations #8 – Monster (2008)

Posted on December 12, 2011 by tokyofox

Slagging off this film in my review nine months ago still didn’t stop me from hunting down some of the shots which appeared in perhaps the worst movie I’ve ever seen! Most of them were shown in a flash inbetween the cleavage shots of the girls but as a man who works in Shibuya twice a week it was quite easy to recognise the briefest glimpses of Tokyo scenery. On their arrival in Japan we see the girls walking down Centre Gai on 6 minutes past Tenkappin Restaurant (below).

 

If you turn right just a bit further down you see the view seen above. The girls film a short piece to camera at the place seen below which is situated at Shibuya crossing just before Centre Gai street.

 

Every three minutes this world famous crossing descends into chaos as hundreds and hundreds of people cross in all directions and has been seen in a countless number of films. This one is no exception as the shot above is seen. The green train below and the famous Hachiko dog statue are within spitting distance of each other outside Shibuya station and both these angled shots can be seen in the blink of an eye.

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The girls go to the Ministry of Environment (below) at Kasumigaseki 1-2-2 in Chiyoda-ku for a meeting with some guy about global warming when there’s a big shake which they at first think is an earthquake but later discover is a monster which gives the film its cr*p title. Despite this very little, if anything at all is seen of the deadly monster.

 

They try to make their way to the supposed safety of the American Embassy (above) though I’m not sure if it actually appears on screen due to the “recovered tape” style filming of the film which was damaged in part by the mysterious monster and these annoying “effects” are used far too often to cover up the many loop-holes.

The wooden torii gate at the entrance to Meiji Shrine (below) outside Harajuku station is seen on 37 mins even though the caption prior to it says that its Shinjuku-gyoen Gardens. Even though its supposed to be January the two American girls are wearing just vests as they walk along the path in fear of the monster whilst Japanese people in the background are just going about their own business oblivious to the fact that theres a monster on the loose. Truly an awful film and I’m mildly embarrassed to have even featured these locations on here. Almost worth watching though to see how bad it is!

 

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Tokyo Filming Locations #7 – Into The Sun (2005)

Posted on December 9, 2011 by tokyofox

Steven Seagal delivers what he’s best at (?) in this 2005 film and by that I can only mean that he plays the one-man killing machine as he takes on Japanese yakuza. Japan Sword shop at 3-8-1 Toranomon (below) is the first location to feature on 11 minutes and it is seen again after 24 and 37 minutes.

 

I’m not 100% certain but I think what is captioned as ‘Chinatown, Tokyo’ on 15 minutes is the one in Yokohama as Continue reading →

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Tokyo Filming Locations #6 – Walk Don’t Run (1966)

Posted on December 7, 2011 by tokyofox

This film proved to be Cary Grant’s swan-song and it was mostly set in and around Toranomon during the 1964 Tokyo Olympic Games. On his arrival in the Japanese capital on business he turns up at Hotel Okura (below) in the first minute which is located at 2-10-4 Toranomon. He is unable to get a room there so goes to the British Embassy at 1 Ichibancho in Chiyoda ward which lies to the west of the Imperial Palace. It is here where he sees an advert for an apartment which he soon fast-talks his way into sharing with Samantha Eggar.

     

The first shot we see is of the impressive embassy building itself (above) followed by a close up of the sign (above) which I tried to replicate but its not so visible unlike my hand and camera which can be seen in the reflection!

 

A lot of the action takes place on the streets of Toranomon which all looks very different these days but thats not so surprising as it has been over 40 years since it was made! The embassy and hotel are the two main locations although Asakusa senso-ji temple (below) does appear in the opening montage after just 12 seconds. The address for this bustling tourist attraction is 2-3-1 Asakusa, Taito-ku.

The three main stars take a boat to Mikawa, an old province of Japan, 11 minutes into the film where they visit a garden three minutes later. The next Tokyo location to appear on screen is not till the 91st minute when Yoyogi National Gymnasium (below) is where the Olympic walking race begins and ends. Rather embarrassingly it took me quite a while before I realised that it’s this event which gives the film its title!

For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:

You Only Live Twice    Lost In Translation    Kill Bill    Babel    Godzilla     Into The Sun    Monster    Wasabi    The Grudge    Ju:On The Grudge    The Ramen Girl   The Toxic Avenger Pt II    The Wolverine    Memoirs Of A Geisha    The Last Samurai     House Of Bamboo 

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Tokyo Filming Locations #5 – Godzilla (1954)

Posted on December 4, 2011 by tokyofox

Many years ago I remember hearing about a survey of famous Japanese people conducted somewhere in the western world. I think Jackie Chan was on the list even though he’s not Japanese and in the number one spot was Godzilla which just goes to show how few Japanese people have made it really big overseas!

My first encounter of Godzilla was in its guise as the fire breathing 1980’s cartoon and I saw the 1998 Godzilla remake before the 1954 original. Godzilla is a legendary Japanese monster and as much as I like the icon I have to say that the films are not up to scratch.

Odo Island, where the radioactive creature first appears is completely fictitious but all the Tokyo places are real, well kind of! They were actually filmed at Toho Studios with miniature sets being used to replicate the capital whilst a man wore a rubber suit and stomped all over the three metre high set-pieces.

Godzilla comes out of the water at Tokyo Bay and promptly destroys Shinagawa station (below) on 43 minutes before torching Matsuzakaya Department store at 6-10-1 Ginza  after 59 minutes.

 

After 59 minutes he rips the clock from the Wako Department store (below) at 4-5-11 Ginza.

 

The National Diet Building (above) at 1-7-1 Nagata-cho doesn’t fare much better three minutes later! Both featured in my original Tokyo Godzilla locations post a couple of years ago and in between those two places he crosses Sukiya Bridge (60 minutes) before the New Marion Building at 2-5-1 Yurakucho in Chiyoda-ku is smashed up on 61 minutes.

 

The monster lizard finally destroys Kachidoki Bridge (63 minutes) which stretches across Sumidagawa River and he then returns to the ocean and his 15 minutes of terror are over.

         

There is a tiny statue of Godzilla (above) at 1-2-2 Yurakucho in Ginza which I must have visited many times as it often becomes part of my cycling tours of Tokyo. I say tiny statue but its not as if it was ever gonna be a full-size one!! However, much further afield in Seijogakuenmae there is a much bigger statue on display outside Toho Studios at 1-4-1 Seijo, Setagaya-ku.

 

For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:

You Only Live Twice    Lost In Translation    Kill Bill    Babel    Walk Don’t Run   Into The Sun    Monster    Wasabi    The Grudge    Ju:On The Grudge    The Ramen Girl    The Toxic Avenger Pt II    The Wolverine    Memoirs Of A Geisha    The Last Samurai

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Tokyo Filming Locations #4 – Babel (2006)

Posted on December 2, 2011 by tokyofox

This tale of three stories on three different continents intertwining with one another features Mexico, Morocco and Japan though it’s not till 19 minutes in that the latter features. It’s then that we see Chieko Wataya (Rinko Kikuchi) playing volleyball (below) on court in a school match. That was filmed at Ishioka City Centre Gymnasium which is all the way up in Fukishima prefecture and as much as I enjoy hunting down these shooting locations there is no way I am going that far just for a photo! For your information, the address is 3-34-1 Minamidai Ishiokashi, Ibaragi-ken 315-0035.

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Perhaps the main Japan location used in ‘Babel‘ was J-Pop Cafe (22 minutes) in Shibuya at 31-2 Udagawacho on the seventh floor. I still haven’t been properly inside the place as I don’t want to pay so much money on an entrance fee. I’m not so sure but it seems from poking my head into the place that it’s not such a schoolkid hangout as portrayed in the film but is instead a bit more sophisticated. It appeared that way but what the hell do I really know when I only saw a bit of the place which is actually divided into three areas.

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Tsuchiya Dental Surgery (below) is close to exit 1 of Kojimachi station and is where the confused schoolgirl has a dental appointment (43 minutes) and even tries to kiss the dentist as he leans over her doing his job. This can be found at 1-4-12 Hirakawacho in Chiyoda-Ku.

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Next, there’s an aerial shot of Kachidoki Bridge (below) which was ripped up and spat out by Godzilla in the 1954 original.

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Moments after that, Chieko is interviewed by two police officers in the lobby within the apartment block where she lives with her father, Yasujiro Wataya (Kōji Hashimoto a.k.a. Nobu from ‘Memoirs Of A Geisha‘) in Tsukuda. This sleepy little area is situated on reclaimed land, was formerly a small fisherman’s village over 300 years ago and today it lives very much in the shadows of its close neighbours Tsukiji and Tsukishima. The name of the building is The Crest Tower (below) and its address is 2-11-6 Tsukuda. It first appears on screen after 44 minutes and then again at the end of the film on 123 minutes.

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Many, many thanks to Tim and David in the comments section for their help with pinpointing the exact location of this place. It should be noted that this tower block (below) is private property so behave with respect and discretion. I asked the staff in the lobby about the film but they really had no idea about it. They did of course know who Rinko Kikuchi was though!

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The typical classic shot of Yasukuni dori in Shinjuku (below) is briefly seen on 62 minutes. It has featured in so many movies and TV programmes over the years such as ‘The Wolverine‘ (2013), ‘Godzilla‘ (2014), ‘Into The Sun‘ (2005) and many more. Why it’s shown I don’t really know as what follows is nowhere near this area!

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There is fairly lengthy scene filmed in a park where Chieko and her deaf mates meet some guys and splash around having fun in the water fountains. That park is sadly no more not that it ever was what I call a park; not a blade of grass and just a small concrete area located beneath an overpass in Nishi-Azabu. The girls cross the road and walk through the tunnel entrance seen below. In this park the girls meet the boys and the film-makers make the place seem way more interesting than it ever was.

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Following the park they take a train to Shibuya and on 66 minutes we see the inevitable appearance of the chaotic Shibuya Crossing (below) and Center Gai which stems off from it.

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They end up in ‘Womb’ nightclub (below) on 67 minutes which is situated in Shibuya in the middle of the love hotel area. The address is Maruyamacho 2-16 and its here that Chieko and friends dance to ‘September’ by Earth, Wind & Fire albeit the Shinichi Osawa remix.

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For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:

You Only Live Twice    Lost In Translation    Kill Bill    Godzilla    Walk Don’t Run   Into The Sun    Monster    Wasabi    The Grudge    Ju:On The Grudge    The Ramen Girl    The Toxic Avenger Pt II    The Wolverine    Memoirs Of A Geisha    The Last Samurai

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Tokyo Filming Locations #3 – Kill Bill (2004)

Posted on November 30, 2011 by tokyofox

Due to parts of ‘Kill Bill’ being in Japanese (which aren’t subtitled in Japan) I didn’t get into it on my first viewing back in 2004 but when I saw it again five years later my mind was completely changed and I really enjoyed it. It’s very questionable whether this should even be included on Tokyo Fox as, even though it’s ‘set‘ in Japan, two of the main locations were actually filmed in China.

The Bride (Uma Thurman) flies to Okinawa to visit retired sword maker Hattori Hanzo (one of Bill’s former tutors) to aquire the perfect sword needed for her revenge attacks. The sushi bar (below) and workshop (46 minutes) were made in the Beijing studios.

 

Tokyo appears for real on screen after 65 minutes when we see O-Ren Ishii (Lucy Liu) being driven over the illuminated Rainbow Bridge.

  

The Bride trails her on her motorcycle through Shinjuku along Yasukuni-dori (below) one minute later as she heads to a restaurant.

  

That restaurant is ‘Gonpachi’ at 1-13-11 Nishi-Azabu in Minato-ku which served as the inspiration for the ‘House of Blue Leaves’. This very nice, cavernous, rustic-themed place was not actually used though as a similar looking one was built on a soundstage in the studios in Beijing.

  

It was used for the extensive and bloody slice and dice one-against-all scene which precedes her showdown with O-Ren outside that place in the snow. This popular restaurant is fairly expensive but does have a good, cheap lunch menu deal and soon fills up. My photos below were shot before the place opened which is why it’s empty!

30Oct2009 017  Tokyo Filming Locations: Pt III - Kill Bill          IMG_4243  IMG_4244

For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:

You Only Live Twice    Lost In Translation    Babel    Godzilla    Walk Don’t Run   Into The Sun    Monster    Wasabi    The Grudge    Ju:On The Grudge    The Ramen Girl    The Toxic Avenger Pt II    The Wolverine    Memoirs Of A Geisha    The Last Samurai

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Tokyo Filming Locations #2 – Lost In Translation (2003)

Posted on November 29, 2011 by tokyofox

‘Lost In Translation‘ came out not long after I came to Japan for the first time back in 2003 and though I didn’t think too much of the actual story I quite enjoyed it simply for the fact that it was filmed in what was to become my new home. I was more surprised about how many people with no affinity to Japan thought the movie was great. I guess I am just not the arty-farty type! Director Sofia Coppola used the following locations:

* The Park Hyatt Hotel (3-7-1-2 Nishi Shinjuku) features throughout the films 97 minute entirety and is where the characters Bob (Bill Murray) and Charlotte (Scarlett Johanson) stay and the 52nd floor is the ‘New York Grill & Bar‘ where a fair few scenes were filmed including when they meet for the first time on 23 mins. This place is a great one for the lunch set menu (5000 yen) with the salad and dessert buffet spread being sufficient enough in itself! A delicious main course of grilled Australian beef or lamb is also part of the deal and the aforementioned buffet is laid out on the table where Bob and Charlotte first meet. More details here.

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* Jougan-ji is a tiny temple in Nishi-Shinjuku (11 minutes 58 seconds to see the same angle as below) which Charlotte visits in the rain for a few brief moments. When I went there it wasn’t anywhere near as tranquil and spiritual as in the film where the moment was further aided by the soundtrack. More details on this place and how to get there can be seen here.

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* Shibuya Crossing is the worlds busiest crossing and has appeared in a countless number of films and ‘Lost In Translation’ is no exception as it appears on screen after 18, 35 and 62 minutes.

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* Air is a nightclub for Tokyo hipsters in Daikanyama (2-11 Sarugaku-cho) and is where Bob, Charlotte and some Japanese friends party amid oversized balloons with a film of fireworks projected onto them after 42 minutes. When I found this place there was nothing more than a door with a board outside detailing the club’s forthcoming events.

 

* Bob sings ‘More than this’ by Roxy Music at Karaoke-kan (30-8 Utagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku) and for the anoraks out there, rooms 601 and 602 are the ones which feature after 46 minutes. The Pachinko parlour which they race through is Botan in Nakameguro.

   

* Rainbow Bridge can be seen after 50 minutes on what is supposedly the taxi ride home from the karaoke session but makes no sense geographically as in reality their hotel in Shinjuku is quite near to the karaoke box in Shibuya.

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* Ichikan (9-5 Daikanyama-cho, Shibuya-ku) is a small and hard-to-find sushi restaurant that’s seen on 56 minutes and the chef in the film actually does work there. This is no cheap kaiten-zushi (conveyor-belt sushi) restaurant but is actually of high cost. With the cheapest course being 6000 yen (£45) I decided to not bother going in which was a shame but there is a limit to my research on a film which I’m not that bothered about!!

 

* A.P.C. Underground clothing store (4-27-6-B1 Jingu-mae) in Harajuku is where the strip club scene (61 minutes) was filmed. By day, it’s one of those so-called fashionable stores where the designer trainers, t-shirts and so on are minimal (I’m talking only three t-shirts on one rail!) and given a lot of space and this is the only part of the film that was ‘faked’ as all the other locations played true in the movie.

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* Nanzen-ji temple and Heian-jingu shrine are the two places Charlotte visits on her little trip to Kyoto. 72 minutes of the film have passed when she walks over the stepping stones (below) in Heian-jingu garden (600 yen entry).

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Moments later she’s walking across the impressive shrines grounds at Heian-jingu  below.

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* Shabuzen is a shabu-shabu restaurant under the Creston Hotel (Kamiya-cho 10-8, Shibuya) and is where Bob and Charlotte are shocked by the idea that they actually had to cook the meat themselves which to be honest is still not something I like as when I go out to eat I don’t want to have to cook.

  

Japanese homes are so small that entertaining guests is not so possible so they like to go out and cook the thin slices of beef and vegetables themselves. My friend Michael went for the shabu-shabu deal while I had a late change of heart and plumped for the unagi-don (grilled eel in a sweet sauce on a bed of rice in a bowl) set instead which was OK but probably not worth the extra cost which I had to pay for the privelege for eating in surroundings far more sophisticated than I am used to. It appears on screen after 81 mins.

     

Read my ‘Lost In Translation‘ review here

For other Japan filming locations click on the links below:

You Only Live Twice    Kill Bill    Babel    Godzilla    Walk Don’t Run   Into The Sun    Monster    Wasabi    The Grudge    Ju:On The Grudge    The Ramen Girl    The Toxic Avenger Pt II    The Wolverine    Memoirs Of A Geisha    The Last Samurai    House Of Bamboo    Ponyo

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