Film: Tokyo's many cinemas were until recently concentrated in Ginza, Shibuya, Shinjuku and Ikebukuro and could be frustrating for foreign visitors. Although blockbusters were shown in English with subtitles, screens closed early and seats were never allocated on purchase, resulting in a serious scrum for good seats. Worse, more tickets were sold than the cinema could seat. But all that is slowly changing. At the giant Virgin Toho Cinema multiplex (website: www.tohocinemas.co.jp/roppongi/index.html) in Roppongi Hills shows run late or 24 hours, and seats are always allocated on purchase. Round the Yamanote line is the Shinagawa Prince Cinema (website: www.princehotels.co.jp/shinagawa/cinema/), a plush 10-screen multiplex with enormous seats and all the latest films. A good arts cinema is Cinema Rise, 13-17 Udagawa-cho, Shibuya-ku (tel: (03) 3464 0052; website: www.cinemarise.com).
Rather than literary representations, Tokyo has always inspired powerful images, from the ukiyo-e woodblock prints of the Edo period to the films of the present day. Juzo Itami's Tampopo (1986) and Yasujiro Ozu's Tokyo Story (1953) explore aspects of life in the city, while Katsuhiro Otomo's acclaimed Akira (1988) is a sci-fi animation set in a futuristic vision of Tokyo. Until recently, it was Ridley Scott's Blade Runner (1982) with which many Westerners were most familiar, with scenes of a dark, rainy, neon-studded cityscape. But 2003's Lost in Translation blew all that away, presenting Sophia Coppola's beautiful vision of Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray lost in the neon wonders of modern Tokyo.