Buffy The Vampire Slayer

SET VISIT: THE GRUDGE (PART #0)

3.4.04

By Smilin’ Jack Ruby

It was when my Japan Airlines flight was skirting the Bering Straits and nearing the Sea of Okhotsk that I was reminded just one more time just how cool this job is. Yes, leaving for Japan on the night of February 29th meant I was missing the Oscars (happily, sitting here watching the BBC World service at 4:00 in the morning, it seems that I may have won all my Oscar pools), but it meant I was going to Japan, a place I never, ever thought I’d be going in life. I’ve traveled now to Europe, Australia (twice), Canada (several times) and now Asia because of covering movie shoots and for a boy who grew up on the road in America or Europe every summer with my parents, traveling still is my favorite thing to do. I remember always being asked that question in grade school - what kind of job would you desire? - and answering, "One that would afford me a bit of globe trotting," but never believing it could happen.

But here we are in Japan - land of Godzilla, pachinko arcades raging late into the night, Kill Bill and Lost in Translation (’twas the Luc Besson-produced Jean Reno-starrer Wasabi that was the more recent film that made me really want to come), vast neverending metropolises, subways so jam-packed full of people that there are officers employed specifically to push them in to get the doors closed, mass amounts of people moving through the neon-hued streets late into the night, teenagers who wear suits instead of hoodies to be part of the "cool crowd" (some of whom flip up high-gloss pamphlets they’ve got palmed as you pass advertising half-clad femmes. Hookers? Strippers? Escorts? My "vielen dank, aber nein" elicits no further explanation), packs of schoolgirls all dressed in their Sailor Moon best even though it is 1 degree Celsius outside, and a corner room on the thirtieth floor of a huge hotel in Shibuya-ku district of Tokyo (Tokyu) that allows vistas in two directions that even at night seem to promise a sea of lights as far as the eye can see.

That said, as we (the trusty online press corps taking this trip to cover the set of Sony Pictures’ remake of Ju-On: The Grudge - directed by Ju-on’s original director Takashi Shimizu, adapted by Stephen Susco, produced by Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert and starring Sarah Michelle Gellar, Jason Behr, Bill Pullman, Clea Duvall and others - included myself, Patrick Lee from SciFi.com, Eric Moro from Cinescape and Roger Jackson from iFilm - only Roger have I not been to more than two other countries with) drove in from Narita Airport, if it hadn’t been for the signs in a foreign character and the fact that we were driving on the left hand side of the road, you wouldn’t have been able to tell the difference between that highway and any highway through, say, Kansas City. It was only when we neared Tokyo proper that things started to change.

The large buildings started first - but all large cities have big buildings, right? Not like this, really. As the highway rose to bridge-level and we were looking at buildings from the third floor, there were some recognizable company names: Mitsubishi, Peugot, Bose, a few others, but then the advertising kicked in. While no, it’s not the color-explosion a’la Las Vegas that I expected (that happened when I visited Shinjuku), it is rather different just because so many businesses and shops are packed on top of one another in these large by-the-highway buildings, even the shop’s shingle had to be neon-bright as that two-foot-by-one-foot square might be the sum total of their entire advertising.

We kept moving into Tokyo (surprisingly, virtually no traffic - and this is around 8:00 p.m. on a Monday after flying over the International Date Line) and caught glimpses of Tokyo Bay (or perhaps the Sumida River or another of the Bay’s inlets) as we crossed yet another high, beautifully-lit bridge. That’s when I saw my first real landmark. Rising in between the buildings was a red carbon copy of Paris’ Eiffel Tower tucked in amongst the buildings, but just as well-lit as everything else around, so still pretty striking. "Tokyo Tower," our driver said in heavily-accented English as we passed by, the first time he’d spoken since telling us at the airport that it would take "1 and a half" hours to drive from airport to the Cerulean Tower Hotel we were staying at. I realized I’d seen the Tokyo Tower before, but where?

Ah, yes - it was destroyed by Godzilla in the very first Godzilla: King of the Monsters, I believe. I have to go back and re-watch (I also thought it might’ve been the radio tour Raymond Burr reported from in the American-made part), but I specifically remembered watching it being turned into twisted metal with a few technicians falling out of it to the ground below as my favorite giant lizard ransacked the place.

We kept moving into the city and finally made it to our hotel. Checking in was a breeze and as Patrick, Eric and I agreed to hit the town after repairing to our rooms for half an hour, I hurried up to the thirtieth floor. Dropping my bags and taking off my shoes for a quick shower, I saw the remote and flipped on the television - my first taste of Japanese TV. I kid you not, it was a girl - obviously of age - seductively stripping out of a "sailor suit" per the instructions of a gentleman just off-camera. I quickly changed the channel and I was treated to a scene of actual hardcore sex. One more channel change and it was crazy/beautiful. Quickly changing it back to the hardcore, I stared at the remote for a moment and tried to make heads or tails of the buttons until I finally realized that those were the up-and-down channel paddles for the "pay-per-view" stations (which would vaporize after previewing their "wares" for a few seconds and advise the viewer to pay for them). I found the buttons for the regular stations, saw that we had the BBC World and CNN Japan, was happy and went off to figure out if I’d be electrocuted by the electric toilet.

Thirty minutes later, we hit the streets, but not before finding out that our hotel has eight different restaurants, its own Noh Theater, a jazz club, a florist, an actual 7-Eleven (2nd floor - and yes, open 24 hours), and a cigar shop. After admiring/commenting on the appeal of the Montecristo No. 4’s fresh from Cuba ("not so long your lungs collapse, but still a good smoke"), we spirited out into the street having absolutely no clue where we were. Two blocks away we ran into the "square" seen in Lost in Translation where the big dinosaur advertisement plays across the front of a building (the ad we saw was hardly as dramatic or big - this was also the site of the opening scene from GMK and the battle site for various scenes in the new Gamera series) and coupled with the various arcades we saw all around, we realized we were right in the middle of where Sofia Coppola shot her now Oscar-winning pic. I don’t remember seeing it in the movie, but right under where the dinosaur would’ve been walking - on the second or third floor of that building - is a Starbucks.

As we walked, the American franchises we found were odd. Two McDonald’s within two city blocks, yes, understandable. A Wendy’s? Sure, why not? A Shakey’s Pizza??? The single worst pizza franchise in Los Angeles here in Tokyo? Bizarre, but oh, well (Note: The following morning, I saw T.G.I.Friday’s, Tower Records, Yoshinoya, KFC, and more Starbucks than you can shake a stick at - for you Southern Californians, there were also clothing shops called "Santa Monica Style" and "Van Nuys"). We circled around and around through the streets glancing into various shops (Tokyo has its own specific style of street bling-bling for sale) and looked for a place to eat. We were near the financial district, so many suited men and women hurried past us as we went, but we saw plenty of Tokyo hipsters (full-on Elvis-style pompadours, mohawks, etc.) as well. Oh, and everyone was smoking.

After wandering through a few arcades (new games I hadn’t seen before: an interactive sword game where you stand on Dance Dance Revolution style pads and virtually battle with a sword-wand and a game where you’re above an electrical board with a paper-cutter style blade. Your goal? Virtually cut sushi as fast as you can) and a few near-misses with closed restaurants, we settled on a hole-in-the-wall that was little more than a staircase leading to a sub-basement restaurant. No, I have no idea the name of it, but the door at the base of the staircase opened Star Trek-style when you hit a button, which was fun.

We took a seat and were reminded once again of an odd predicament. I look, well, American as hell. Eric Moro is second-generation Cuban, but still looks western. Patrick Lee is fourth-generation Korean - born in San Francisco - but because he’s Asian, everyone and their dog looks to him as our "guide" - our "local friend" who must obviously be acting as our translator through Japan. Though he has a trusty phrasebook, Patrick does not speak Japanese in any way, shape or form, so it was always a bit of fun when anyone would turn to him as, "Oh, this guy’ll do the translating for the group, right?"

Realizing we didn’t speak Japanese beyond our quick thumbing through somewhat useless phrasebooks ("biru - three biru"), our waiter said - in perfect English - "I speak only a little bit of English" and handed us "picture menus." Of course, in Europe handing you the "English-language" menu means you’re getting the five dishes they prepare for tourists, but cruising through the vast picture menu here was - though reminiscent of Denny’s - just as fine, I’m sure, as their regular menu. I ordered a bunch of different kinds of hand-rolled sushi (te-maki) and though the uni (sea urchin) had all the texture of nasal phlegm, it was all delicious. Strangely, when trying to order different kinds of tuna (tekka-maki), the waiter recommended a special kind of tuna hand-roll, but I couldn’t really tell what it was. Naturally, I ordered it and when it arrived, it turned out it was tuna salad - like what you get in a convenience store sandwich, chopped tuna and mayo - wrapped in rice and seaweed. Hilarious. But, just as good.

We ate, had a couple of biru and then headed back out. It was getting late, we had been on a plane for twelve hours and we went back to the hotel to sleep. Honestly, I was out before I hit the pillow. At least for five hours. It’s always hard to sleep when you think you should be awake and exploring a city somewhere.

Additional Notes: After spending a rush hour morning walking from subway station to subway station, some other notes came to mind. First off, there’s a reason everyone looks so fit - everyone walks everywhere. There is not the kind of car culture found in Los Angeles or elsewhere in America. I’ve been told taxis here are the most expensive in the world, but the subways go everywhere and everyone is on foot - though the various neighborhoods are quite far apart.

Also, everywhere you go, all the buildings are kept around 80 degrees Fahrenheit and it is warm all over the place. I was thinking that was just the way things go, but it might have to do with all the SARS/bird flu stuff, too. It is not unusual at all on the streets to see people wearing the cotton mouth/nose-covering masks. On top of that, there’s no talking on the subway, which is interesting, and cell phones have been banned. Apparently, at one point, cell phones were ringing like crazy on the subway, but then it was approached as a social problem and cracked down on. Now, you never hear cell phones ringing, though they’re obviously everywhere. It is a big switcheroo to Los Angeles. Takes a note, Angelenos.

I thought I would be missing news of Major League Baseball starting spring training over here. Well, not so. Not only is the Japanese local news abuzz with talks about the Japan League teams (every time they show any photos of the local teams, I hurriedly scan the faces and jerseys as there are indeed many American ex-pats playing on the various teams), but they’re also at spring training in America. While yes, there are always references to Itrezu and Nomo (you get the idea that Nomo means a lot over here), you see a lot coverage of Hideki Matsui with the Yankees, but this week, even more of the other Matsui - Kazuo - as he is starting his first year with the other New York team, the Mets. Every time news turns to sports and baseball, the press records every last moment of his fielding, hitting, hanging in the dugout and then talking to the press during post-game press conferences. I can only imagine what Mets spring training camp looks like with an entire nation’s press corps hanging out watching their new star rookie. And humorously, the "hold" music here at my hotel is a synthesizer version of "Good King Wenceslas."

All right, check back tomorrow for our Part 1 of coverage from the set of Takashi Shimizu’s The Grudge including a chat with producer Michael Kirk and actress Rosa Blasi and a report on what we got to see shooting. Check back later in the week for our interviews with Shimizu-san himself and the "Dino De Laurentiis" of Japan (and Japanese horror in general), Taka Ichise followed by exclusive one-on-one interviews with Sarah Michelle Gellar and Jason Behr. In addition to all that, look for "Part 1.5," a tour of the historic Toho Studios with facilities manager Masaru Aso where we actually come face-to-face with the King of the Monsters, GODZILLA. Until then, sayonara!!