How To See A Movie 101

Posted on May 8, 2007 by Ulara Nakagawa

There was plenty o’ kicking on the screen. But for those of us in the audience, there would be no such tomfoolery.

My first ever movie theatre experience in Japan was well…orderly. Apparently, booking your tickets on-line the previous day is the proper way to begin the experience. Even 24 hours ahead, we had a difficult time finding good seats for two for the following Sunday afternoon. (All seating is assigned. And F.Y.I., finding any decent Saturday night seating at this point in time is borderline insanity.) At the 10minutes-from-ShinjukuOne of Tokyo's 23 wards and home to the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building and the world's busiest train station. theatre we decided on, it was necessary to then claim and purchase the tickets on-site at exactly one hour before the show. The theatre is on the 9th floor of a department store; I wonder if this is a way to boost sales for the mall. Like strategically placing escalators so that you have to walk through every floor.

Everybody is to wait outside the theatre until five minutes before the movie show time, at which point the doors are opened and we are calmly herded in, our tickets checked and taken. Right before the movie, we were shown a pretty lengthy educational piece on movie theatre conduct. Friendly but firm, it instructs through cartoon objects: The little cell phone is in tears because cell phones left on in the theatre get really really sad. A rambunctious boot is also upset because it was so rude kicking the seat in front of it. Finally, another segment on video piracy is shown. This one is much more intense; a practically biblical painting depicts a demon like man with long spindly fingers who has illegally brought a video camera into the theatre. By the movie’s beginning, I am gently cradling my cell phone while triple-checking that it is turned off, and glancing around for demon movie pirates.

Despite all of this, the overall experience is great. The theatre is clean and beautiful. The seats are aligned and positioned for all to have a fair obstruction-free view. The sound is crisp and just loud enough. And most importantly, there are no annoyances. No excessive wrapper crinkling, crazy hats, talking during the show. No, we’ve been well taught.