Few movies did more to introduce westerners to contemporary Japan and its sense of humor than Juzo Itami's culinary comedy Tampopo. The film was a watershed work among foreign films released in the late-1980. Up to then, casual moviegoers who occasionally watched foreign movies seemed to think of Japanese cinema only in terms of samurai cut-ups, even though they make, and had been making, far more contemporary comedies than any other genre. Tampopo changed all that. Western audiences were surprised that the Japanese had such a wonderful a sense of humor, and such an obsession with food. Tampopo whetted Americans' appetite for Japanese cuisine, especially ramen, the noodle soup which is at the film's core.
The backbone of the film is the story of Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto), a widowed noodle shop owner whose attempts at ramen are decidedly underwhelming. One rainy evening, she is visited by Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and Gun (a young Ken Watanabe). Through a complicated series of events best left for viewers to experience themselves, Goro ends up agreeing to mentor Tampopo in the art making great ramen. This narrative is broken up by a series of comic, tragic, and romantic vignettes involving random, often anonymous characters, including a low-level mobster who obsesses over the movies, a man with a foul-smelling toothache, and an elderly lady with a compulsion to grope the food in her local grocery store.
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