The Journey

In the plane on my way back from Japan, I had the opportunity to watch a couple of Japanese movies that I don't think have made it to theaters in France. One of them was a highly entertaning romantic comedy called "Mixed Doubles". I want to talk about it in this post because it was a really fun movie, but it also seemed very telling about Japanese culture (skip to trailer below if you want to avoid spoilers).

It was your quite typical rom com... told the Japanese way. Girl has a tough childhood in small country town, being brought up to be a table tennis champion by her mother. She hates table tennis all the way and gives it up when her mom dies towards the end of high school. Girl moves to the big city. Girl meets Boy... who is a table tennis champion! Boy cheats on Girl with his mixed doubles partner. After the break up, our heroine quits her city job and goes back to her hometown to regroup. On the way there, she meets The One on the train. She reconnects with her high school best friend and decides to take over the management of her mom's tennis table club. What better revenge than to take up table tennis again and beat the nasty Boy in the next year's tournament? Of course, the club has become quite shabby, and even with the addition of The One, who turns out to be a former athlete, the team initially assembled is an eclectic collection of friendly weirdos. A lucky break comes in the form of the unlikely Chinese couple who runs the local restaurant and is revealed to be formely from the Chinese national table tennis team. Intense training can start! And this is the point where the plot departs from what one would expect from an American scenario. In the American remake of this movie, the characters will obviously be playing basket ball or something at least a little spectacular. They will work hard, overcome obstacles, and steal the victory in the bloody tournament! Because, where there's a will, there's a way. And they will live happily ever after. In the actual Japanese movie, they do work hard. They overcome more obstacles than would fit in an American feature presentation. They also learn their limits, physically and as a team. They do absolutely great in the tournament. They come *this* close to winning, but Murphy's law rears its ugly head at the last minute and they don't. Because you can give your all to reach your goal and still not suceed. However, look at everything they *have* achieved: everyone on the team who was more or less depressed at the beginning of the movie has found happiness. They have supported each other all along the way. They will continue happily ever after on their journey together.

To me, that was the essential Japanese message of this movie: it's all about the Journey.

I was quite impressed to hear this message again in the 9th mensetsu podcast, comparing Japan and the United States. Aude says: "In Japan, it's all about the process and it doesn't really matter what the result is, while in the US it's all about the result and it doesn't really matter how you got there or who got you there".

I am a practical person. However, these days, I feel generally weary of results and I am getting more interested in journeys.