Gakusei Travels

日本で映画を見ている

Sam and I went to the movies!

Recently, the new Haikyuu movie, 劇場版ハイキュー!! ゴミ捨て場の決戦 (Haikyu!! the Movie: Decisive Battle at the Garbage Dump) released in theaters across Japan. I really wanted to see it, so Sam and I found a theater not too far from campus in Tachikawa. I was super excited just to see the movie that it hadn’t really crossed my mind until I got to the theater that “hey, you’re in Japan. This movie likely won’t be in English.”

Since we’re college students, we were able to get discounted tickets at 1500￥ or around $9.62 USD, which is way cheaper than back home. Even a general ticket is 2000￥ or $12.83. I don’t really go to the movies anymore in the United States, because tickets are just way too expensive on top of buying snacks. The last movie I actually saw in theaters was the Little Mermaid with Halle Bailey when it released last summer. And since I was in California at the time, the tickets were even more expensive. I think it was around $18 for an adult ticket, so double than what I paid in Japan. There were so many movies I wanted to see during the Summer of 2023, but it was just too expensive.

Now back to Japan lol.

The theater honestly didn’t have many movies showing, as compared to the US. Of course Haikyuu, a Detective Conan Movie, and the Blue Lock anime movies were showing. So was Planet of the Apes, Godzilla, and a few others. For the American movies, they actually had a few screening options. One could either watch it in Japanese dubbed or English with Japanese subtitles. I also noticed that the movies didn’t have many screening times. The Haikyuu movie for example was only showing twice for the whole day at either 9AM or 5 PM. In America, there’s usually several showings across several theater rooms, so I wonder why they don’t have more showtimes in Japan. The theater wasn’t super big with 9 theater rooms, but I was still surprised by it. I’m also a little disappointed, just cause there are a few movies that released back at home, like Zendaya’s new movie Challengers, that I was hoping to be able to see while here in Japan.

The theater in Japan had some similar concession snacks like America such as popcorn, soda, french fries, and beer. They also had hot dogs and these calzone-type pizza snacks. Then in a separate shop they sold things like candy and merchandise for the movies being shown. My popcorn, drink, and calzone in total cost 1460￥ or $9.37. So in total, for my ticket and food I spent the cost of one movie ticket back at home. That’s before buying the overpriced American popcorn and soda. It’s no wonder why so many of us sneak snacks into the theater! It’s a scam! What’s cool about the little tray they give you is that it fits into the cupholder of your seat, so you don’t have to have your food in your lap during the entire movie.

Something also interesting about the theater is that they wouldn’t let you into the theater until 10 minutes prior to the movie started. Sam and I were confused as to why when we scanned our tickets, the QR code didn’t work. The employee announced our movie 10 minutes prior to the show starting, and that’s when everyone went back to find their seat. I found it odd, cause in America we don’t do that, but then it also kind of makes sense? Because you have to sit through 20 minutes of trailers, so what’s the rush to get to your seat? lol

Most of the trailers were in Japanese, of course. I learned that there is going to be another My Hero Academia movie, but sadly it’s coming out August 2nd, and I will have gone home by then. Which means I will have to wait 4 months for it to come out in the U.S T^T. There was also a trailer for the new Bad Boys movie with Will Smith and Martin Laurence. It was so funny, because the trailer itself was in English, but all the subtitles and voice narration over the actors was in Japanese. I may have to go see it just because.

Another interesting difference is the movie ratings. In America, the movies are rated G for General, PG, PG-13, and Rated R. Here in Japan, the movies are rated G, PG-12, PG-15, and PG-18. I’m not quite sure that the difference between PG-12 and PG-15 is or how they get categorized, since the gap isn’t that big? The Haikyuu movie was considered rated G.

I actually enjoyed the movie more than I thought I would. Don’t get me wrong, I love Haikyuu, and the movie centered around my favorite characters, Kuroo and Kenma. I just thought I would be lost the whole movie, because I wouldn’t understand what was being said. I’d say I understood clearly a good 35% of the movie’s dialogue. I had to focus really hard, cause the moment my mind started wandering, nothing made sense lol. The rest I kind of understood from context clues and the majority of the movie is these rowdy volleyball players yelling 「ナイス！」and「チャンスボール」with lots of 「やっしゃ！」 It was entertaining, and some of the jokes/interactions between characters were funny even without us fully understanding it. But it was weird, because the theater was dead silent. Something funny happens and no one reacts, so as Sam puts it, we’re trying to “laugh in lowercase” so that we’re not those disruptive foreigners.

When the movie ended, the lights didn’t turn on right away and no one moved from their seats. So Sam and I just copied everyone else. She thought it was meant to be a sign of respect? You wait until the movie is completely over and gone through the credits. But there ended up being a post-credit scene, similar to Marvel movies, so I’m not sure if it was for the reasoning Sam thought or the after credit scene. I will find out for sure the next time I go see another movie. Sam and I want to see the Blue Lock movie, so we’ll be back soon!

After the movie, we got diner at the nearby mall. There, we found a gatchapon machine with Haikyuu themed prizes. (we refused to pay for the overpriced merchandise at the theater) I ended up pulling Kuroo, the perfect way to end the day.