The Train Man - Fantastic Japanese Subway & Geeky film

Thank you Richard Branson

Well as you know if you've been reading the earlier posts I'm currently in sunny California for work and still trying to get used to all the time differences, but I believe it's about 8.23 UK time while I'm typing this in the small hours in CA (note the trendy State shortcut already!)

On my great flight over with Virgin Atlantic - I was watching films and this one caught my eye - Train Man or Densha otoko - the description in the in-flight brochure was very brief and I was a bit worried about reading English subtitles on a small screen as the film is Japanese.

I am soooo sooooo glad I bothered though. The film combines the subway and internet geekery into one, in a way you simply couldn't believe (unless you've already seen it - it was a major box office success in Japan - also a TV series and a play and an anime cartoon strip).

The story is about a geeky 22 year old who spends a lot of time travelling around on the subway (his internet nickname is Train Man). On one of his journeys, a suited drunk gets on the train and starts insulting everyone. He picks on a pretty young office worker and our geeky hero finds this all too much and is the only person in the carriage who comes to her aid. The suited drunk is bundled off the train and our hopeless geeky hero goes to the police station with the pretty office worker and they make a report.

Of course geeky boy falls madly in love and rushes home to report the story to his mates on IM or some sort of Japanese internet chat equivalent called 2channel (I think - look guys I've hardly slept so forgive any inaccuracies)

Apparently based on a true story, his internet friends all give him advice about how to date this woman, as up until then geeky boy "Train Man" has been unable to speak to women and all his geeky mates, lead equally insular lives where the keyboard is their main friend.

In true geek mode, I took some pictures of some of the many subway scenes from the film - my poor travelling companion must have thought he was sitting next to a nutter. But I've found a picture which illustrates the film. Plus there are some more pictures here and trailers here from the film's official website.



I'll update this post with more pictures when I get back next week, but if you get the opportunity to see this film - please do - it's funny, it's touching, it's romantic, it's geeky, it's about subway commuting and tons, tons more - Highly recommended! You can get a few of the DVDs here or it looks like you can buy the Train Man (Streetcar Man) DVD with English subtitles from Japan.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Monday, November 14, 2005 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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