It’s been over two years since we reported on the Ramen Girl, a movie about an American woman (Brittany Murphy) stranded in Japan, who ends up learning how to make ramen. Even though it’s starting to look like the movie might go straight to dvd, this new trailer doesn’t look half bad, thanks to Toshiyuki Nishida. What do you think?
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Apparently some movie fans are pretty upset of this movie… a bad remake of a 1985 version call Tampopo?
http://www.tofugu.com/2007/07/26/the-ramen-girl-makes-me-want-to-cry/
YES YES!! i would totally go see this fun movie in theather!!
Doesn’t look anything like Tampopo. Is it just me, or did they show the entire plot in that trailer?
i had a chance to screen this… it’s a lilttle corny, but a lot of fun. there’s actually a tampopo connection in the film that definitely brought a smile to my face.
and yeea, ed i’m gonna totally bite you and put this trailer on my site at some point 😉
Brian: Yeah, I agree. And the tofugu article claims that Toshiyuki Nishida played Goro in Tampopo. Umm…no, he didn’t.
rameniac: I’m glad you liked it. It makes me look forward to the movie even more.
yea that article got it wrong. goro was tsutomu yamazaki… he is, like a father to me LOL
It is a very wonderful site!
Please link to my site.
Oops! I suppose I did my research wrong… hmm. I wonder how that happened. I guess I just wasn’t paying attention, eh? Anyway, like I said, I’ll reserve judgment until I see it, haha.
Oh, actually, I think I kind of know what happened. Tsutomu Yamazaki (who played Goro) is listed as the “Grand Master” in The Ramen Girl’s IMDB page. Apparently I somehow (I’m still unclear on this bit) got the Grand Master character mixed up with the Maezumi character and substituted Yamazaki’s name for Nishida’s. Weird.
This movie looks like a combination of the following:
Lost In Translation: Foreigner stuck in a country she doesn’t understand +
Kamataki: Gets in touch with the Japanese culture by +
Tampopo: Learning the art of making ramen
Shio Chashu onegaishamisu!
I suggested to Director Yamada of the Tora-san movies that he use Nishida as the next Tora-san after Atsumi Kiyoshi died in 1996. But the studio did not listen to me. I would LOVE to see more installments of the Tora-san series, with Nishida as the new Tora-san…..What do you think?
by the way, the movie should be spelled THE LAMEN GIRL….ramen is incorrect spelling, the actual word, as spoken in Chinese and Japanese and English is pronounced with an L, as in LA MEN, but the Japanese mis-spelled it with an R, since they cannot say the L sound. But in fact, it HAS an L sound, not an R sound, so let’s correct it now. THE LAMEN GIRL. Stop imitating the Japanese who cannot spell correctly!
Blonson: Thanks! I’ll add you to my links
Erin: Ah, so “Goro” *is* in it. I guess that’s what Rameniac meant about the Tampopo link. Very cool!
GregInVancouver: Yeah, one of the things that came to my mind when I saw the trailer was also “hmm…there’s a bit of ‘Lost in Translation’ in this story.”
it sickens me that people here ALWAYS associate a japanese movie that that has some concoction of japanese food or “ramen” as a “remake of Tampopo! (by the way was a great movie on its own…) this movie and story line is way different than that story line. now any “western” living in japan is now associated with lost in translation? wow… the japanese lead actor is a legend in japan. he has stared in over 20 films titled under the “tora-san” adventures…
No no no…this is Nishida Toshiyuki: the actor who portrayed Tora-san (the movie series was called, translated, “It’s tough being a man (Otoko wa tsurai yo)” was (he’s been dead 10 years) Atsumi Kiyoshi.
And who the hell cares if we spell it with an “r” or an “l”; either one’s an approximation.
hiro: I think people are just kind of lazy with comparisons. Plus, most people just haven’t seen many Japanese movies. But yeah, I agree with you, and I’m guilty too of making lazy comparisons too. (^_^;)
s.m. said on:
5/23/2009
“And who the hell cares if we spell it with an r or an l; either ones an approximation.”
Danny responds: “Oh, so it’s okay to spell London as Rondon? And a love letter is a rove retter? And a love hotel is a rove hotel? Get real, SM, lamen should be spelled Lamen. With an L. The Japanese made a mistake on this one and it should be corrected. Gently. Slowly. Over time. Ramen is wrong. Rondon is wrong. Am I right or am I wrong?”
No, you’re wrong. If the Chinese spell it ‘lamen’ it doens’t mean the Japanese have to. “lamen” is a Chinese word, “ramen”, is a Japanese word, end of story. And, if you want to get picky, it should be ‘raamen’, as the ‘a’ is extended.
You think we have the spelling right for all the words in English we’ve ‘borrowed’ over time?
Flipside, i respect your POV but you are wrong. Ramen is NOT a Japanese word. It is a Japanese borrowing of Lamen, from the original Chinese word for noodles. In nihongo, they can write it the way they wish, sure, in katakana or hiragana, but in English, it SHOUDl be sppled Lamen. Look it up. Google it. In this case, you are wrong, sir.
danny I don’t think I can take your reasoning seriously as you have spelled some English words incorrectly in your last post. flipside on the other hand has pointed out that “ramen” should actually be spelled “raamen” as the katakana shows it on the wiki website. Being san-sei I find that very interesting. Since many of the asian languages evolved from Chinese it wouldn’t surprise me if ramen came from a Chinese word. Since the Japanese language doesn’t have an equivalent to “L”, the “R” comes closest. Still waiting to see this movie.
islandguy8484, good post, but you miss my point. Yes, the Japanese spell the word in English with a R but they are wrong to use an R. It is really an L sound. In nihongo, they do not have a L sound, so in their own writing system katakana or hiragana, since they don’t do Lamen in kangi, they an write it their way. But when they write the word in English, they should follow the Chinese English system, which does have an L and does spell it as Lamen. It’s that simple. In nihongo, RA- ME -N is fine in the hiragana katakana system…..but when they write it in English, they should tell the world the truth, which is that it is really said as LAMEN……. would they write Jack London’s name in English as Jacku Rondon? No his name is Jack London in English. Lamen is Lamen in English. It’s that simple. Japan is not a god of English. They often make mistakes. So do I. SMILE. Typing as fast as I can, sumimasen…..
me too cannot wait for the movie…
DANNY
re
Comment:
danny I don’t think I can take your reasoning seriously as you have spelled some English words incorrectly in your last post. SO I TYPE BADLY SORRY…..flipside on the other hand has pointed out that “ramen” should actually be spelled “rAAmen” as the katakana shows it on the wiki website. BS! Being san-sei I find that very interesting. Since many of the asian languages evolved from Chinese it wouldn’t surprise me if ramen came from a Chinese word. IT DOES. AND IT IS PRONOUNCED LAMEN IN CHINA AND TAIWAN. I LIVE THERE….Since the Japanese language doesn’t have an equivalent to “L”, the “R” comes closest. IN KATAKANA SURE..BUT NOT IN ENGLISH……Still waiting to see this movie. ME TOO
It doesn’t matter whether or not the Japanese would have called it “lamen.” All that matters is that they don’t. Nobody is going to use a Chinese word, or pronunciation, when referring to something that is Japanese (nobody meaning third party who is neither Japanese nor Chinese, that is). Your idea, quite frankly, is stupid, and only serves to confuse things. “Tell the world the truth” – that’s hilarious. The world doesn’t care about the origins of ramen (both the word and the dish). They only care that, when they say “ramen” to someone, that person knows they’re referring to the Japanese dish, not the Chinese one. I’d even venture to say nearly all of the ~1.4 billion Chinese people on this planet don’t care. So why is it so important to you that the world learns of the origin of ramen? It serves no useful linguistical purpose, that’s for sure. Misplaced patriotism, maybe?
On topic, I thought the movie was pretty good, though the ending was a little weak and abrupt.
Esquilax, thanks for your reactions. You are right and you are wrong. Ramen is NOT a Japanese dish. It is a Chinese dish. Sorry but that is the truth. The Japanese mis-spelled the word when they wrote it in Egnlish due to their particular way of pronouncing the L sound (they cannot say it, so it comes out as R). I respect that. I am neither Chinese nor Japanese. What if the Japanese spelled hamburger as Lamburger, would be correct, too? No way. the fact is RAMEN is wrong. it should be LAMEN. start using this spelling please.
DAnny
PS; i saw the movie and i loved it. great great movie, despite the mis-spelling. Smile.
RE:
“Nobody is going to use a Chinese word, or pronunciation, when referring to something that is Japanese (nobody meaning third party who is neither Japanese nor Chinese, that is). ” LAMEN IS not a Japanese dish, it is completely 100 percent a Chinese dish, which the Japanese took over and transfored in their wonderful way but it’s still lamen. A rose is a roser is rose, or should i say a lose is a lose is a lose? Kidding.
re: “It serves no useful linguistical purpose, thats for sure. ” ISNT THE TRUTH A USEFUL PURPOSE? ask any Japanese person and they will tell you they are wrong to spell in Ramen. Ask around
I haven’t read all of this thread, so I don’t even really know why you guys are arguing, but I do know that I took a semester of Japanese at my University and the teacher, who was Native-Japanese, said they don’t use the R sound-My last name was pronounced “Ha-way-doh” because of this-only the ha sound is actually in my last name..And in case you are thinking that everyone’s last name is different, many of the students whose names were comprised of sounds that the Japanese language does have sounded the exact same.
Went to bed and for some reason thought about my reply and remembered that it was because the R sound in my name is at the end of the syllable (Har) which was why it wasn’t used-some R sounds are used in Japanese. I am sorry for butting in on the conversation and making an ass of myself lol..
Thanks for your comments!