My Review of the Movie "My darling is a foreigner" (ダーリンは外国人)

About a month ago...

As we (the Miyako collective of ALTs and friends) were saying goodbye to two of our own at the bus station, one of our Japanese female friends suddenly handed me a DVD. First off, at the age of Netflix and Hulu, I didn't know that disc media still exist. But more importantly, I was baffled not only by the appearance of a DVD (since I never asked her for it, nor did I know she had this particular movie), but also by her movie choice. The movie title was ダーリンは外国人 (daa-lin wa gai-koku-jin), or "My darling is a foreigner".

I think this movie is about a radioactive dinosaur-looking monster fighting giant bats,
or maybe giant robots fighting undersea monsters from another world? 

Right away, I was taken aback. Coincidentally, I had heard of this movie a few days earlier; it came up on Facebook as we were brainstorming topics for our weekly local radio show. But the title leaves nothing to the imagination - it's about some Japanese woman dating a foreigner. What's our friend (who's around the same age as my girlfriend and I, and is dating a white dude) trying to tell me?  Was she having some weird fantastical ideas about my current relationship?  Was she privy to some secret Japanese female wisdom?  Did my girlfriend put her up to this?  Suspecting this as some sort of crazy cross-cultural message, the hamster wheel in my brain was on overdrive, scurrying for a reason.  But, at that moment, I accepted the DVD and thanked her.

Back to the present...

On a Friday night with nothing better to do, I finally decided to watch the movie. Actually, I had attempted to watch the special features earlier this week, at the suggestion of my girlfriend. However, we gave up after she couldn't find the specific segments that she recommended* and I got bored.

* I found them on YouTube 2 days after.

Well, the movie stars Mao Inoue, of the Hana Yori Dango J-drama fame, who's one of my favorite Japanese actresses. So that sold me the movie. However, I had read the wiki article and reviews for the movie, which didn't put it in a stellar light. Now, expecting a movie full of lovey-dovey baloney, I would entertain my friend's request and see what kind of delusional nonsense the movie shows about romantic relationships with foreigners.

Comes with a short manga from Saori Oguni, plus a picture of a favorite actress of mine.

A little background about the movie...

"My darling is a foreigner" is based on a manga of the same name, which is based on the life of its creator Saori Oguri. The movie focused on Saori's (Mao Inoue) evolving romance with an American named Tony (Jonathan Sherr) and budding career as a manga artist, spliced with silly but heart-warming moments of cultural misunderstanding and nuances. The plot dealt with some perceived issues with Japanese-foreigner relationships, such as acceptance by each other's family and the infamous uchi-soto concept, and some general male-female understanding struggles.  Some common foreigner stereotypes, such as the obnoxious douchey American male, were used.  Language barrier wasn't an issue, since Tony was fluent in Japanese.  Still, the movie had a few foreigner gags.  For example, when Tony asked a Japanese person for directions, he insistently refused to talk to Tony, saying "Sorry, no English", even though Tony was speaking perfect Japanese.

My review... (Warning: spoiler alert)

So... I thought I was going to rip this movie a new asshole, but I was wrong.  After getting through the initial love-dovey scenes, the substance of the movie took over.  And it's relatable substance.  For example, when Saori brought Tony to meet her family for the first time (at her sister's wedding, even though he insisted on a more proper way), I recalled how I felt when my girlfriend brought me to meet her parents.  When Saori's father voiced his disapproval of their relationship, I thought (and am still thinking) about whether or not my girlfriend's family will actually accept me.  Sure, I've been to her house for Christmas, New Year's, her little cousin's birthday party, her sister's graduation party, met most of her family in Miyako, etc.  But, behind the scenes, what do they really think?  That... I worry.

Finally, the part where Saori decided to go to America with Tony to meet his family creepily mirrors my current experience, as my girlfriend and I are planning a trip back to meet my family in a few months.  I won't delve into the part where he proposed to her; it's still too early (at least that's what I think).  Through these plot mirrors, I can see myself in the position of Tony, except that I'm not Caucasian or fluent in Japanese.

So yea, I was wrong about the movie.  I suppose since it's based on real experiences, it would be easily relatable.  One of the complaints about the movie was that it stayed too faithful to the manga creator's experiences, thus limiting its creativity. But I think for the story to be believable and relevant, it can't afford to be too creative (then it would just be fiction); most cross-cultural couple's encounters aren't fantastical Cinderella stories. It definitely won me over, but not enough for me to watch it again.

Conclusion...

"My darling is a foreigner" turned out to be a good movie. It's a cute, feel-good story with real struggles, plus I got to see Mao Inoue. I'll be sure to thank my friend whenever I return the DVD to her.

Some Female Wisdom

Spring break is almost over... nooooo!  Time to reflect and complete these half-done blogs before I'm busy with work again.



One of the places which we visited during the New Year's holiday

Back in New Year's holiday, I was on vacation with my gf.  Looking back, I realized that I learned a few things on how to travel.  Now, I've been known to do lots of travelling: been to many places, seen/done/eaten many things, and landed in many situations, from amusing to downright difficult.  Above all, I've built a reputation as a frequent traveler.  So I was a bit surprised by the new and useful tips from her.

 

Well, I guess we always have room for improvement.  The teacher became the student.  Wax on... wax off...

 

For our 5-day trip, I brought my 5.11 Tactical Rush 72 backpack.  It's full of compartments and pockets, and weighs a bit by itself.  It was half filled for the trip.  When my gf arrived to pick me up, she was shocked by how big my bag was.  She even tried it on, but quickly dropped it.  I was just as surprised, by how little she brought.  She was basically using a school backpack plus her usual messenger bag.

  

* In these photos, my 5.11 backpack is empty, while my gf's purple backpack is full.


 

What are her secrets?

 

 

1. Compression bags

 

These bags can be bought at 100-yen stores.  They come in various sizes and in packs of whatever: the smaller the size, the more you get.  Unlike the ones that I remember from As-Seen-on-TV, you don't need a vacuum to suck out the air.

 

Then, I remember having a stash of compression bags, tucked away in my closet... 



One of my bags has a vacuum hole.  That sneaky bastard...

Normally, I just roll up my clothes.  However, I gave the bags a try on a recent trip to the Kanamara Festival in Kawasaki.

The verdict: It was a 2-day trip, so I only brought an extra set of clothes and a bath towel.  The space saving wasn't significant, but it helped.  An added benefit was organization: the compression bag separated my clothes from everything else in my backpack.  I'll remember this handy tip from now on.

 

2. Doing laundry every night

 

One of the things which my gf asked, when we were booking hotels, was whether or not they have washing machines (I didn't give it much thought at the time, but it made sense in hindsight).  Every night, when I was passed out on the bed, she was doing laundry.  For our hotel in Osaka without washing machines, she did laundry in the bathroom sink, with a small pack of detergent she carried.  She was even nice enough to wash mine, every night.

In the winter, hotels usually have heat on pretty high, which makes the rooms dry; our clothes easily dried overnight.  Because of this, most of my clothes were left unused, and became dead weight.

* Tip #2 may not work out too well if we were staying in hostels or travelling outside Japan.


This is me when it comes to laundry during a trip.

 

That's it!  They seem like no-brainers, but after years of travel (mostly alone), I was stuck in certain ways, I've forgotten things, blah blah blah.  Sometimes, a bit of female wisdom is what an old stubborn fool needs.