And... Action!

We don't go to the theater very often.  I'd like to go more often, but it is hard with young kids.  But when a really, really exciting movie comes out, we make a big deal about it and head to the theater.  As soon as I heard "Incredibles 2" was coming out, I told my husband that we needed to see it in the theaters - for our son, of course. 

Seeing movies in Japan takes a little extra effort on our part since I'd rather watch it in English.  Most adult movies are shown in the original language with subtitles since Japan has such a high literacy rate (99% according to most sources), so it usually isn't a problem to find a movie in English.  However, kid movies are almost always dubbed.  If I watch a dubbed movie I cannot follow along the story with everyone else.  I have to fill in a lot of blanks and guess what is going on due to my lack of Japanese.  I have watched movies in Japanese in the theater before, but I missed a lot and I would rather get the full experience.  So my husband kindly looked around to find English showings during the day.  Since the English versions of kid movies are subtitled, they are considered adult films and generally shown at night.  This made my husband's job a bit more difficult.

After a bit of searching, he found an 11 am showing in Shinjuku.  He pre-purchased our tickets online because we would have been rather upset to go all that way just to be told that the show was sold out.  A second reason he purchased the tickets early was to get good seats.  Japanese theaters have assigned seating.  This is extra nice when you have a certain area you like to sit in, but want to arrive right before the movie starts (a must with a young child, in my opinion).

I recently learned that they don't have matinees in Japan.  Theaters have a discount day once a month, usually on the first.  Otherwise, you pay full price.  Our tickets cost ¥1,800 each and our son's was ¥1,000.  Since it costs over $40 for us to watch a movie, we really have to want to see it!

This is only the third movie I have every seen in a theater in Japan.  But in my experience, the theaters all have a nice lobby with seating, a snack bar with the regular fare, and a gift shop selling movie merchandise. 

I assume the seating is for those waiting for their show to start or for their friends to arrive. 

The snack bar at today's theater had a variety of popcorn flavors, including: curry, caramel and premium cheese mix, caramel, strawberry, butter with soy sauce, steak, mentai mayo (a spicy fish egg with mayonnaise), and consommé.  They also offered hot dogs, chicken nuggets, French fries, and churros, as well as ice cream. 

The gift shop had everything from cheap shitajiki (a decorated plastic writing board that you put into a notebook so your pen or pencil doesn't imprint on additional sheets of paper) to toys to expensive collectibles.  I'm always impressed with the amount of merchandise at these gift shops. 

The theater itself is just like those in the US, other than the assigned seats.  The big difference to me is that there really is no talking and people don't come late to the movie.  It is considered very rude to disrupt anyone else's movie experience, so you just don't do these things. 

We all really enjoyed watching "Incredibles 2" in the theater.  My son talked over and over about his favorite part - the raccoon scene.  I'm glad we made the effort to go.  It was such a fun experience for the whole family.