Mom Thinks I’m Crazy to Marry a Japanese Guy

Okay, first of all, contrary to this post’s title, I’m not getting married to a Japanese guy. Heck, I’m not even getting married to anyone! Well, at least not yet anyway… One day, perhaps?

You’re probably wondering why I titled this post as “Mom thinks I’m crazy to marry a Japanese guy” and it’s because it’s the title of a movie I watched recently. On the 8th, the Japan Foundation held a screening of this movie at the Taiwanese Art Academy in Westwood. Yeah, Westwood of all places. (Westwood traffic was bad. The 405 traffic was also bad. So, what else is new?) Because of it being in Westwood, I was close to not attending this screening. I was actually quite hesitant to RSVP for this screening. And then on the day of the screening, I had other errands to tend to prior to the screening which made me second guess on whether I actually wanted to even go to Westwood. In the end, I decided to go to the screening. I was a few minutes late, but I made it and me being a tad bit late wasn’t a problem because 1) I managed to get a seat and 2) the screening hadn’t begun yet. I honestly wished I had gotten there early so that I could have gotten a seat in the front row. Sitting behind people taller than me was a pain. Worst of all was how I couldn’t see all of the movie’s subtitles thanks to it being blocked by heads in the audience. Meh. (Thank goodness that my crappy Japanese skills came in handy, I guess?) The idea of sitting on the ground, right in front of the first row actually crossed my mind a few times during the screening but I suppose I knew better and chose to stay put. (I mean, I was actually fortunate to even have a seat. There were actually people standing against the wall in the back of the room to watch the movie.)

The screening basically begins after a brief introduction of the academy, two artists and the director himself are done. Apparently, the academy also had food for attendees but I had skipped out on it since I wasn’t hungry and I was in a rush to obtain a seat. The girl sitting next to me annoyed the heck out of me because she went to gets seconds or thirds and the screening was already about to begin. (Like, are you here for the food or the movie?) To make matters worse, this same girl was frequently checking her mobile phone and responding to text messages. (Again, are your here for the movie or WTH exactly are you here for?) This annoyed the heck out of me because her phone kept on flashing. I’m glad it was silent but here I was trying to watch the movie and had to see this phone of hers flashing bright lights. Those lights were super bright and they gave me a headache. I am not sure why her screen’s brightness level was not set up to adjust to the darkness of the room. So annoying! I should add that she had a pager as well or what seemed to be a pager. All I can say is wtf was she doing here? If you’re that busy, you don’t need to be at a screening. Gosh, this girl made things annoying for me.

Talking about bright lights and all that, people kept coming in and out of the room. Although a black curtain existed to block out any sunlight coming in from the academy’s front windows, it didn’t do much each time someone entered or exited the room. A lot of attendees seemed to be super annoyed with this and I get it because it’s an interruption to the movie viewing experience. However, I wasn’t as bothered by this compared to that girl’s brightly lit phone. It was still an annoyance nonetheless and it could’ve been prevented had they had two curtains instead of one. There needed to be 2 curtains with a buffer in between them so that no sunlight would enter the room when someone enters or exits the screening room. Eh, but it was a free event and I suppose people can’t complain much for a free event, right…?

Okay, so I haven’t even talked about the movie yet. In summation, the movie is about two people from different countries (Japan and Taiwan) meeting each other via Facebook and falling in love with each other.

Prior to RSVP-ing for this screening, I watched a preview of “Mom thinks I’m crazy to marry a Japanese guy” on YouTube and felt very wishy washy on whether I should watch this movie or not. I’ll explain why. I was worried that this movie had to do with -philes. Y’know, a Japanophile or a Taiwanophile. Personally, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people having preferences of being in a relationship with a specific ethnicity or two but, it kinda rubs me the wrong way when someone will ONLY get into a relationship with a specific ethnicity or is just beyond obsessed with whatever ethnicity they worship/desire in their significant other. I suppose I was just afraid that I wouldn’t be able to stomah the movie had it had anything to do with a Taiwanophile or a Japanophile.

Fortunately, Yi-Han, the female lead could actually speak/write/understand Japanese and this supposedly lowers the -phile factor if there was any to begin with. I don’t think anyone was a -phile in the movie but I really can’t say for sure either simply because I couldn’t see a decent amount of the screen when the two lead actors began messaging each other.

Since a good chunk of the screen was covered by heads in the audience, I’m a bit confused as to what led to the initial messaging. A natural disaster? I know there was an earthquake in Japan but was there some natural disaster in Taiwan too which led the two to connect? Eh, totally lost here.

I suppose you could find out easily enough if you watch the movie or better yet, ask the real Mr. and Mrs. Mogi since the movie is based off of their love story. Yeah, a true story… (I’m curious as to how much of their story the filmmaker was able to squeeze into the movie…)

Anyway, -phile or not, one thing is clear and that is they met on Facebook. Anyone remember the time when it was super taboo for people to get into relationships from Facebook or some dating site/app?

Well, obviously, it’s no biggie anymore these days since it seems completely normal. In fact, two people I know in my life (high school classmate and family friend) got married thanks to a dating app!

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with people meeting a significant other online but I personally am somewhat against it for myself. This could probably be another blog entry in itself but I feel that many people have lost the ability to make an authentic human connection “thanks” to the technologically savvy world we live in. On top of that, I feel many people’s social abilities have gone down the drain and I think it all has something to do with this lack of human connection. And it sucks, I tell you.

Ask yourself when was the last time someone of the opposite gender took the time to approach you, talk to you and get to know you in hopes of it leading to something more (relationship)? My point exactly. Most people would rather take the easy way out and communicate on their phone simply because of the ability to reach more fish in the sea and to move on easier from rejection.

There was a scene in the movie when Mogi got upset/depressed/sensitive at Yi-han for Facebooking a photo of her ex along with a gift he had given her. Yi-han was not able to figure out why Mogi was being silent for a good chunk of time. Talk about dense! (I mean why the F would you post a photo of your ex on Facebook and expect it to not bother a potential SO?) Regardless of how dense the girl is, she would have figured it out easier had their communication been in person as oppose to over Facebook messenger.

Anyway, based on the trailer I watched, I, for some reason didn’t think I’d like Mogi however he actually managed to gradually grow on me throughout the movie. (His acting was good, guys!)

Mogi aside, the person that caught my eye most was actually Mogi’s friend.

Takashi Okamoto was playing the cheerful, laid-back friend in the movie and he was single, I believe. I was somewhat tempted to fangirl over him throughout the movie for no reason. I guess that just tells you how much charm I saw in him. lol For those of you that haven’t watched the movie but want to see who I’m talking about, his Instagram is: takashiokamototakashi.

Ladies, don’t forget to thank me for finding his IG. lol

Anyway, the movie overall was good. Unfortunately, the story came off too condensed for me. Of course, I realize it was probably impossible to squeeze Mr. and Mrs. Mogi’s complete love story or courtship into a 2 hour timeframe.

I also found the proposal to be quite sudden and dramatic. (Like, did that type of proposal really happen in Mr. and Mrs. Mogi’s true love story? I wonder.)

Also, was Yi-han’s mom actually as dramatic as she was in the movie? (It turned me off so badly when the mom faked her illness for the sake of her daughter’s attention. Oh, and it wasn’t just here that she was dramatic. She was also quite the drama queen when she invited her daughter’s ex boyfriend over without her daughter’s consent. Like, wtf.) I don’t know if I want to know the answer to that question. Anyway, the soundtrack featured in the movie was pretty much spot on. All but one song was pure ear candy for me.

After the movie screening ended, I got a free photobook (or journal actually) from the Taiwan Academy in Los Angeles and had lots of fun on the 405 freeway yet again.