Living on Tokyo Time

This is a cute and sad little story of cultural difference. Kyoko is a beautiful Japanese woman who has run to California to escape from a failed relationship in Japan. Ken is a Japanese American manual laborer with aspirations of rock and roll stardom but little concrete to offer a potential partner. Kyoko "marries" Ken in order to be able to stay permanently in the U.S., with the understanding that although they will live together until she gets a "green card" the marriage will be in name only. It soon develops that the parties are not on the same wavelength - or perhaps in the same "time zone", hence the title of the movie. As an immigration attorney I have seen such "arrangements" take on a life of their own, so I was pleased to see how well the filmmaker developed the dramatic possibilities of this situation.

I for one typically like films that involve Japanese people so for sure I had to check out this 1987 film called "Living on Tokyo Time" and it was a slow little moving drama that gave insight into how life is all about chance and learning each day. The film still does a good job to explore Asian-American culture and the clash it has when a young Japanese girl travels to live and start a new life in San Francisco. This woman simply wants a new life a break from the normal ways of her family and she seems well on that path when she marries a Japanese-American junk food want to be rock star in the making. Really this is just a marriage of convenience so that the girl can stay in the U.S. so that her visa will not expire. So the theme of immigration is present so the film might can even be classified as before it's time. Overall the film is a culture class as it shows you learn everyday with life and love and in the end you have to make a choice to do the right thing as sometimes a visit and a stay is just a journey of chance as I think that was what this film proved.

The main plot line of "Living on Tokyo Time" is Ken's marriage of convenience to a Japanese national seeking a green card. But between the lines it is a character study of a Japanese American in a life crisis. Intimate and understated, we see an authentic portrait of a man who doesn't know where he belongs.

This is a realistic,comedic look at a marriage of convenience between a Japanese-American man and a Japanese woman.Director Steven Okazaki does a great job of showing the culture clash between the Japanese-born Kyoto and the born in America Ken.All the performances are uniformly good.Minako Ohashi as the Japanese emigre Kyoto,turns in a knowing performance.You feel her alienation and loneliness throughout.There are some fine supporting roles here,notably Kate Connell,and Mitzie Abe,as Ken's sister.Director Okazaki wraps everything up with an unexpected,realistic ending.

The point of contact between two cultures can be a sometimes bewildering place, affording a unique glimpse into both worlds while not necessarily allowing a clear understanding of either. In Steven Okazaki's debut dramatic feature the culture clash is less a collision than it is a comic stalemate, presenting a benign communication breakdown between two young strangers thrown together in an awkward marriage of convenience. Ken is the thoroughly Westernized (some might say lobotomized) third-generation Asian American drop-out and aspiring punk rock guitarist who reluctantly agrees to go through the motions of marriage with Kyoko, a shy Japanese visitor looking to circumvent immigration laws after her travel visa expires. As is often the case with an independent, shoestring production the script is let down by inconsistent acting, but the lack of experience (on both sides of the camera) can sometimes work in Okazaki's favor. Beneath the unpolished, student film veneer is more genuine humor and compassion than in any of the largely impersonal blockbusters released by Hollywood the same summer, and at only a fraction of the cost.