The In-Between and the Indirect

As a necessity for growth of the body and therefore life, food integrates itself into the daily lives of most people.  This fundamental need, in turn, places food not only in the bowels of its consumers but also somewhere between those sharing the experience. The merit of food does not solely attribute itself to nourishing the body but also to giving sustenance to the soul – in its ability to form and build upon relationships.  Juzo Itami’s Tampopo (1985) showcases this binary nature of food as it follows the travails of Tampopo, a Japanese widow struggling to perfect her ramen with the aid of a truck driver named Goro.  Several subplots highlight that special somewhere food finds itself amongst relationships and weave their way into the film; these subplots are not limited to a couple with a food fetish nor to a woman’s attempt to teach spaghetti etiquette to her ramen-slurping accustomed peers.

 

Goro and Gun escort Tabo into his mother’s ramen shop after rescuing him. (00:07:48)

 

The first sequence in Tampopo’s ramen shop, in particular, demonstrates food’s ability to bring people together.  After listening to Gun’s story regarding how to properly and proficiently eat noodles, Goro, ravenous for ramen, decides to stop by what appears to be a hole-in-the-wall ramen shop.  There, they rescue Tampopo’s son Tabo from three of his schoolmates’ stomping, and escort him from the rain into the shop.  It must be noted that Goro and Gun form a new relationship with Tabo indirectly because of their hunger.  Inside the shop, Tampopo serves the two their long-awaited noodles (though they are disappointed).  A quarrel then arises between the two and a customer, Pisken, who continuously attempts to make Tampopo swoon with suggestions of taking her to Paris.  They exchange words, naruto is flicked, and they take it outside (Pisken has a posse). This part of the sequence showcases the making of enemies (again, indirectly) because of Goro and Gun’s hunger.  The aftermath of the sequence forms a lasting relationship between Goro, Gun, and Tampopo.  After taking a beating, the two truck drivers are nursed by Tampopo, who asks them what they thought of her ramen and ultimately asks Goro to teach her the art of ramen.  Finally, this sequence under consideration showcases hunger and a ramen shop creating new relationships (good or bad) between strangers.

Although this sequence occurs in the beginning, its importance can be found in the manner it establishes the theme of the movie.  It is dark out, and the rain is pouring; nobody is thinking about the gold and the green.  However, in this dreary setting, the hunger of two truck drivers forms these new relationships between strangers.  The sequence serves to establish that food can bring anybody together, coincidence or not, and it leaves the viewer not shocked by the rest of the content of the film, but enthused and in anticipation.  Later, the viewer observes as a couple erotically use food to build upon their relationship, with them exchanging an egg yolk back and forth between their mouths.  Student-teacher relationships are noted between the woman and her peers as she futilely tries to teach them not to slurp when eating spaghetti and in the beginning story Gun reads to Goro. 

Tampopo (1985) demonstrates that food is not only a vital part of life but unavoidable because of its necessity.  It constantly plays a role in the daily life of a person, whether through sharing a meal with another or annoying a store clerk because all one wants to do is squeeze some peaches.

Tampopo’s Ramen: Female’s determination and Group’s communication

“Today, if they drink all the ramen soup in the bowl, I am succeeded.” Tampopo tells her son like this. After putting so much effort on improving the taste of ramen, Tampopo finally faced the challenge and test of her five “working partners”. And this is when the most important and intense scene of the movie occurs.

This scene is a medium shot, so it focuses most importantly on the content. In the shot, five men are sitting next to the table, holding the bowl, and drinking the ramen soup together. Ramen soup, the spirit of the ramen, serves as a really significant meaning to the cook. The finish of ramen soup is an implication that the ramen is delicious. At the same moment in this scene, the lights switch from dark to bright. The rhythm of the music becomes faster and louder. All of these evidences show that the ramen which Tampopo made was delicious. The five people’s faces are hidden behind the bowl, but the audience can imagine that their faces must be full of satisfaction. Finishing the soup means that these five people’s approval of the Ramen and Tampopo. This scene is extremely influential because Tampopo finally succeeded after long time efforts. Tampopo’s success indicates that females also have the ability and ambition to achieve their goals. Ramen is easy and simple, but a good ramen is chewy. This is as same as women’s spirits, which seem weak but in fact powerful and tenacious. In Japanese society, males always go out to work and earn money, but women usually stays at home and take care of the family. Nevertheless, the success of Tampopo shakes this traditional opinion, which suggests that women also have the rights to follow their own determinations. This motivates the women to struggle for their own independence and respect.

Another interesting thing to mention in this scene is that there is no dialogue between these five people. Also, they dressed in totally different ways. However, they have exactly similar actions. They use both hands to hold the ramen bowl on the same level with the right hand holds the chopsticks. This scene suggests that even these people came from diverse background with different social positions. They can still gather together to eat ramen. So, another essential part of this scene is to show that ramen is actually a way of communication. For example, in the beginning of the movie, the truck driver Goro get in fights with Pisken. Nonetheless, at the end of film, they aligned to each other because they both want to help Tampopo with her ramen. In another word, ramen performs like an “invisible language” which helps these two men to understand each other and work together. Deeper saying, food, such as Ramen, was a basic requirement for all people. People could live without money, but could not live without food. So, people are totally equal in front of the food. Food could gather people from different status into the same table, and talk without unpleasing and inequity. Moreover, when people are having food, they don’t have to worry about anything. All focus was on food itself, so people could express their feelings, wants, needs and expectation freely without concern. This provides a great communication environment.

As all has been said, this screen shot is especially notable because not only it shows the success and determination of female, but also it reflects the essential place of food in people’s communication.

Risking Life for Food: The Importance of Food as a Source of Happiness and Fulfillment in Tampopo

 

 

 

 

 

Food is a necessary part of everyday life. It shapes how societies function and serves as a major tool in globalization and the spread of culture within a country itself. In Tampopo directed by Juzo Itami, the major plot revolves around a woman, Tampopo, and her desire to be a successful ramen chef. Through persistent research and development, she eventually becomes successful. She takes a risk by opening a ramen-ya in the first place. She is not well trained and thus runs this mediocre restaurant until Goro, the trucker, helps train her to become better. He takes a huge risk on her; he goes in blind only hoping that his knowledge and dedication to ramen will transfer over to Tampopo. Thankfully, Tampopo is the ideal student; she does whatever it takes to try and become successful. She risks life and limb to make sure that she produces the best ramen. She puts everything on the line to pursue her life dream and doesn’t let anything stand in her way. This major theme that resonates throughout the story of taking risks and challenging the social norm, is not only shown in Tampopo’s story, but in that of that various side-plots throughout the film.

The old man in the scene below perfectly exemplifies the necessity of taking risks in life. He is told specifically to not eat the shiroko, the kamonamban or the tempura soba because “they almost got you last time” (as stated by his wife). However, the moment that she leaves, he immediately begins to gorge himself; so much so that he gets food stuck in his throat and begins to choke. He so thoroughly enjoys this food he eats with a blatant disregard for the warning he receives. He loves the food so much that he doesn’t really care what it will do to him; he only knows that he must risk eating it in order to be happy.

The old man is warned that if he eats what he likes, he is risking his life.

In general, however, living involves many risks. The old man is told that he can’t eat this, that, and all sorts of other things. But he still orders all the things he’s not supposed to. Why? Risk makes us feel alive. Life without risk is life stuck in a rut. Like Tampopo, the old man is not content with barely living, he wants to do what he wants, and not let anyone dictate what he can or cannot do. The predominant characteristic of humans is our ability to take risk. We need change and growth in our lives. If you’re not growing, then you’re dying. The old man literally takes this to heart, disregarding his previous negative experience.

 

The old man gets the food vacuumed out of his throat, saving his life. 

Itami shows the true importance of food and its correlation with happiness. Though this scene can be taken as a simple comedic interlude, I feel as if it is one of the most important moments in the film. It shows not only that food is something that people really enjoy, but it also shows the risks people will take to pursue something that they love. Food is an important status in Japanese everyday life. They unite family, community, society, and culture; things definitely worth taking risks to attain.

Tampopo Screenshot: Spaghetti and Ramen

Young women learning to eat in western style watch closely as a western diner opposite slurps up his spaghetti loudly.

 

During the late 1980’s we find Japan in the middle of a period of rapid economic growth which was also marked by a significant social and political shift in favor of western culture, style, and dining habits. Juzo Itami’s classic Tampopo, a spaghetti-western inspired film set in this time period, explores these cultural shifts and provides a humorous and down to earth perspective on the subject of food and it’s social and cultural complexities in this context. A particularly memorable vignette from the movie (pictured above) takes place in an upper scale restaurant where a lesson in western dining etiquette is in progress. A table full of young japanese women tentatively practice with their knives and forks under the strict guidance of an older woman who has apparently already mastered western dining. Surely not an uncommon sight in 1980’s Japan, this scene illustrates the popular desire for westernization as well as the high class attributed to western dining at the time. This scene however, is only one of a small few in the film which deals with “high society”, while the rest of the story features working-class japanese characters and their everyday struggles and pursuits. Itami does this on purpose, portraying these modest individuals as the backbone of japanese society and the bread and butter of the story, while the upper class is limited to short, rather comical episodes which don’t follow along with the main plot but rather appear sporadically throughout the film. The inclusion of these scenes, like the one above, explains Itami’s feelings toward the influx of western culture and, in his playful style, question the Japanese elite’s obsession with western culture. As the older woman in the scene adamantly explains that making noise must be avoided at all costs while eating, her students attention (as well as the foundation of her lesson) is shattered by a loud slurp on the other end of the room. As the camera pans we are suddenly greeted by an unfamiliar western face belonging to a rather stout man in a business suit who is slurping away at his own bowl of spaghetti. Shocked and fascinated, the young women watch and soon begin mimicking his exaggerated slurping. This scene takes the whole idea of the japanese preoccupation with western culture and gently reduces it to absurdity. The image of a table full of formally dressed japanese women visibly doing their best to imitate some chubby western man across the room eating his spaghetti does well to draw forth laughter, and in doing so, this scene effectively sums up Itami’s take on westernization. This restaurant scene is detached from the working class storyline in the same way that Itami feels all this anglophilia is. This scene is integral to the film as a whole because it sums up Itami’s feelings towards the key issue of westernization and reminds the viewer that the real Japanese story isn’t taking place over a plate of spaghetti, but over a bowl of ramen.

Tampopo: Connections and Broken Boundaries

Random man in the theater breaking boundaries by making noise by eat chips, causing a confrontation between him and Yakusho Koji’s character.

I felt that the most important scene in the movie is the beginning scene. This is when Yakusho Koji enters and introduces the tool of Tampopo—food. When he comes in he has a table set up with a basket of food. It is presented to the audience again when he asks them, “What are you eating?” We see this tool being put to use for the first time when he begins to talk about people eating chips and making noise in the theater. As soon as he states this, someone breaks the barrier by eating chips causing a brief confrontation to commence.

This scene is vital because it shows what to expect from the movie by setting the tone, genre, as well as by introducing food as the media through which messages will be conveyed. Throughout the movie we get the sense that food isn’t only a necessity, but a luxury that sets and breaks barriers as well as brings people together. It is important to note that though food is essential to the movie, Itami Jūzō uses it as a tool and not the focus. We see him and his girl brought together for a romantic dinner at the theater, showing the connection of people. Then we see the setting up of boundaries; no chips in the theater. The boundaries are broken as we see a random audience member eating chips thus breaking the aforementioned decree.

We see the connection with these ideas later in the movie as well. First we see people brought together with food, as we see the two men pull over for ramen. The ramen is continuously used to bring people together through the journey to teach Tampopo how to make the “perfect” ramen. We see food connecting the men on the street as well. This connects back to the beginning theater dinner and later to the date between main characters. The beginning scene gets us prepared for the mood and use of food making us more accepting and prepared for what is to come.

Another link we see between the first scene and the rest of the movie are barriers being broken by food. We see this in the meeting as the rookie who messes up several times but then he nonchalantly orders French food with an expertise that surpasses his superiors; surprising them and the audience. This is taboo since you aren’t supposed to show up your superiors. The rookie breaks the social barrier of what is expected of him as an underling. We also see this theme of breaking boundaries through food with the old lady in the grocery shop; going against the upper-class by damaging high-class foods.

These thematic ideas are reoccurring and the first scene gives the audience a bit of an idea as to what to look for and expect. Food is something everyone can relate to, so Itami Jūzō uses it to break the preconceptions people have and also uses it to show how it can bring people together. This scene also gives insight to the tools and messages that the Itami Jūzō wants his audience to come away understanding.

More Than “Just Ramen”

Tampopo is a Japanese comedy film directed by well renowned director, Juzo Itami. This movie is about a woman who is trying to make a living off of making ramen but is failing to succeed in her business endeavors. Although the plot surrounds the main character, Tampopo, and her quest to finally make a ramen that her customers will love and subsequently bring in more business, this film has a lot of subplots that gives it a deeper meaning and that presents its audience new ideas and perspectives. One of these is the idea of hierarchy and how it relates to the appreciation of food. 

One particular scene that stood out to me as I was watching Tampopo is what seemed to be a business lunch including high ranking executives and a young subordinate. The setting of this meeting is already setting up the mood as it is located at a high end Western styled restaurant as opposed to what most would consider as high end Japanese restaurants. Food has a lot to do with social class. More often than not, Western food, particularly French cuisine, is often associated to class and wealth. 

In this particular scene, we see that the distance of shot is medium. By giving the camera this distance from the actors, the audience can see everything that is happening. In the screenshot we see the subordinate who is indulged in the menu and is going along just fine ordering what he wants. By watching the movie, we are aware that he is well knowledgeable of French cuisine, which seemed to shock the his two superiors who are sitting right next to him. Despite being in a higher ranked position, everyone in the table ordered the same food. They pretended to look through the menu but got the exact same thing that the person next to them got.

The only reason why people find it shocking that the subordinate is able to know so much about that kind of food is because of the fact that he is in a lower social class than them. That is why I feel that this scene is an important part of the whole movie. The story of this subordinate relates to how the movie is trying to make a statement about ramen. Ramen is not exactly a gourmet food. Ramen is a food for the common man in Japan but the movie, Tampopo, is aiming to show its audience that Ramen can be so much more. In a way, the ramen can be a representation of the subordinate. At first glance, you would never assume that he would know so much about food because after all, he is just an ordinary person but it turns out he has a special quality that people who are above him don’t even have. This is very much how the movie is trying to show that ramen has a lot of things to offer especially with the way that people prepare and appreciate it.

Spaghetti vs. Noodles

The Japanese instructor explains that slurping spaghetti is taboo.

Tampopo is a film that revolves around food, including its consumption and its production. Throughout the film, many of the characters focus on the proper way to prepare, consume, and enjoy food, treating the entire process as art and as an intellectual pursuit. However, there is one scene that provides a basic theme that should be one of the main messages taken away by viewers: food is not only meant to be a piece of culture or art, but first and foremost, it is meant to be enjoyed.

In this scene, a straight-laced female teacher addresses many younger women who are arranged formally around a table in the corner of a French restaurant. She demonstrates the “proper” method of consuming spaghetti, picking up a few strands with her fork, twirling them around the spoon, and noiselessly slurping them into one’s mouth. At the same time that these proper girls are learning to eat spaghetti, an overweight and jolly-looking American businessman has ordered spaghetti across the room and is humorously slurping while the teacher is asking them not to make noise. His slurping is so convincing that one by one all the women begin to slurp and gobble down their noodles, even eventually the teacher. This scene is in stark contrast to the earlier ideas presented in the film of enjoying food by taking one’s time and ceremony. Instead, the businessman shows that food can be enjoyed quickly and even impolitely, as long as it is enjoyable.

This scene also makes a cultural statement, which addresses the idea that Western food is more high class than local Japanese food, so it has to be enjoyed in the proper way. This Westerner is directly showing the Japanese etiquette instructor that Westerners can be just as eager to eat good food and that they treat their food in a normal human way just as the Japanese do. In showing that a Westerner can be sloppy and carefree when appreciating a meal, Itami shows that food is just that, food. Just as various native Japanese throughout the film hastily and happily scarf down their local food, this businessman does the same with his familiar meal. In addition, the fact that the etiquette teacher understands that what she has been taught is immediately incorrect when she sees the American man’s behavior implies that overthinking the process of eating is unnatural, not in human nature. This goes along with the idea that that comes up throughout the entire film, the idea of the pleasure of food as universal and human. Food, though it varies from culture to culture, is part of the human experience. It is vital to social interaction, which is the basic necessity for society to exist. Though it is apparent that food can be an important symbol of cultural identity, the fact that every society values food, in general, is proof of its significance. Though this scene presents the idea of food as cultural power in the beginning (the Japanese are learning the proper way to eat spaghetti in an attempt to Westernize), it ends with the opposite idea. All people enjoy food and accept its value as a social tool. We are more alike then we are different.

Tamporo and Goro versus the Perfect Bowl of Ramen

The unnamed errand boy hunches over while the rest of the business clan sit erect in their seats. The young man is naive and ignorant of the proper ways, and the audience can sense him feeling unwelcome and undesirable. In contrast, the others in the group are confident, and take this setting as if it is a mundane task.

 

            Juzo Itami creates a delicious and delightful film in Tampopo with a twist on the Western movie genre. Dubbed as a “Ramen Western” by Itami himself, the movie takes the audience on a ride with Tampopo and Goro, the two main characters, as they set out to produce the perfect bowl of ramen.

            In this particular scene from Tampopo, a small group of businessmen and their errand boy are seated in a fancy, Western-style restaurant. This specific screen shot is a long shot where the atmosphere and the space of the restaurant are clearly shown. The angle is eye-level, and is a master shot. The master shot illustrates the contrast of body language between the businessmen and the lone errand boy. All of the businessmen sit with their backs straight, and this displays their confidence and familiarity with the situation. However, the errand boy slouches low in his seat which showcases his lack of comfort.  The utilization of the master shot showcases the basic, dull ambiance of the room. Although there is a floral centerpiece that catches the eye, the rest of the room is quite bland. The room has designs that are influenced by the West like the white tablecloth, the dinnerware, and the chairs.   

            A specific detail in this scene is that the errand boy is the only one in the room, excluding the waiter, wearing a black suit. The others have on brown, gray, and pin-striped suits. This makes the errand boy an outcast; the “black sheep” that does not fit in to the aesthetic of the group. It showcases his isolation and segregation from the others.

            This scene is the most important because it exhibits the underdog theme that is prevalent throughout the film. Tampopo, the main character, is the lowly, humble ramen cook that does not get the reviews and raves like that of the Big Guys of Ramen. Both Tampopo and the errand boy are not seen as threats to their peers, and are placed in the lowest level in their own hierarchies. With the errand boy, the menu is handed to him last and he is asked for his order last. This illustrates that he is of least importance in comparison to the other men in the room. Similarly, Tampopo’s Lai Lai Ramen is only visited by the bad seeds of the town unlike other ramen shops where it is regularly visited by people of middle-class ranking.

            By the end of this scene, the errand boy, whom the group thought of as a scrap dog they can easily boss, is the one who prevails. He is no longer insecure and self-conscious of his surroundings. He becomes confident of his skills and of his knowledge in high class cuisine. The business men, however, blush because of their ignorance. Like the errand boy, Tampopo flourishes into a successful ramen cook. By the end of the film, she becomes revered and prevails through it all. The idea of the underdog winning despite the odds is a strong theme that is shown throughout the film.  Despite both characters starting from the lowest level, they both come out on top and victorious.