Adrift In Tokyo

Just watched a very good movie called TENTEN~Adrift In Tokyo, A comedic story about a Loan Shark Collector who offers one of his marks a million yen to pay off his debts if he'll accompany him on a walk of indeterminate time: "Could be days or even a month", he flatly states. Without much choice, the mark accepts the job, and over the course of days, the two men form a special bond as they experience life on the road together.

Odagiri Joe , Miura Tomokazu

The Loan collector is played with witty delight by Mr. Momoe Yamaguchi Miura Tomokazu, whose character of Fukuhara is a life-loving person, and his constant chattering about this and that is reminiscent of Charles Grodin in Midnight Run or Kazama Morio in Instant Numa! The hapless debt-ridden man he eventually employs as his road companion of sorts is played with glum moroseness by Odagiri Joe, here rocking the frizziest hairdo ever seen on an asian man! As Takemura, he's a young man who's always felt like luck hasn't been on his side. Abandoned by his parents at the age of 5, he's always looked at life as a series of let downs and broken promises. But through the course of their walk, he begins to see in Fukuhara the father figure he's longed for all his life.

Eventually Fukuhara lets Takemura in on the secret: He's accidentally killed his wife and is going to turn himself in at the Kasumigaseki Police Station at the end of their journey. At first not believing or caring, by the time they have arrived at the destination, he's not only come to believe it, but has come to find he cares for this man who's somehow given him a whole new outlook on life.

Don't Worry though, the Movie isn't as dark as all that, the story is played very lightly, and, like I mentioned earlier, is pretty much a comedy however you look at it. But the twist and turns the two men go through, the fun and interesting eateries, the fights and the late night-talks all add up to a very sincere and thought- provoking film.

At one point Fukuhara takes Takemura to meet a lady-friend of his named Makiko (played by the ever-stoic Koizumi Kyoko) where they can stay for a few days and it's here that Takemura meets her niece Fufumi, played by the excitably genki Yoshitaka Yuriko!

Koizumi Kyoko, Miura Tomokazu, Odagiri Joe, Yoshitaka Yuriko

 Fufumi's been led to believe that Fukuhara is Makiko's overseas husband, and to protect the illusion, Takemura suddenly finds himself pretending to be Makiko's SON! With the four of them sitting down to a wonderful home cooked meal one evening, for the first time in his life, Talemura finds himself feeling, "So, this is what a family feels like". A touching scene!

Miura Tomokazu, Yoshitaka Yuriko, Koizumi Kyoko, Odagiri Joe

And while We're at it, Special mention MUST be made of that ZANY Yoshitaka Yuriko! From the moment she enters, she's stealing the scenes, going off portraying her patented "Woman/Child" girly-girl, the kind that is sooooo cute and ditsy as to border on Mental incapacitation! With her one-of-a-kind high-pitched and scratchy voice, can ANYONE do this better than her? LOL!

Yoshitaka Yuriko