Saw this in the cinema when I was 16 and thought it was incredible, my generation’s bit of peak Bertolucci or something. It’s been a long hiatus but I caught it again the other day. My god, it’s fucking appalling, an arty-farty piece of silly, trivial gibberish, and unbelievably racist. The characters are one-note, self-obsessed twats, and the picture depicts the Japanese as a mass of hysterical idiots. About 20 minutes in I couldn’t believe what I was watching. It’s concocted anthropology à la Nanook of the North (1922). Never again. Sad!
Wanderings and ... wonderings. 
I completely agree. I never liked that overrated crappy movie!
My post: https://tokyo5.wordpress.com/2009/05/24/ramen-girl/
Yep! A girl who follows her bf and has nothing better to do in Tokyo then stay in her hotel already annoyed me so much . Plus you’d think every tourist ended up in weird sm bars. I’d save the ad scene that is funny especially if you understand japanese but watch the movie and you’ve learnt nothing about Japan!!!!
Yep, I was two weeks staying in Tokyo and the experience was a world away from the milieu this movie portrays; it feels like it was made in another dimension, like in a CGI environment. Terrible script, appalling ‘outsider view’ of another culture. It’s complete bollocks.