Tampopo

This article is about the film of this title. For the J-pop group, see Tanpopo.

Tampopo
Pamphlet cover
Directed by	Juzo Itami
Produced by	Seigo Hosogoe Juzo Itami Yasushi Tamaoki
Written by	Juzo Itami
Starring	Tsutomu Yamazaki Nobuko Miyamoto Ken Watanabe
Cinematography	Masaki Tamura
Studio	Itami Productions
Distributed by	Toho
Release date(s)	01985-11-23 November 23, 1985
Running time	115 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Tampopo (タンポポ, Tanpopo, literally "dandelion") is a 1985 Japanese comedy film by director Juzo Itami, starring Tsutomu Yamazaki, Nobuko Miyamoto and Ken Watanabe. The publicity for the film calls it the first ramen western, a play on the term Spaghetti Western (films about the American Old West made by Italian production studios).

Plot

A pair of truck drivers, the experienced Goro (Tsutomu Yamazaki) and a young sidekick named Gun (Ken Watanabe), stop at a decrepit roadside ramen (noodle) shop. Outside, Goro rescues a boy being beaten up by three schoolmates. The boy, Tabo, turns out to be the son of the widowed owner of the struggling business, Tampopo (Nobuko Miyamoto). When Pisken annoys Tampopo, Goro invites him and his men to step outside. Goro puts up a good fight, but wakes up the next morning in Tampopo's home.

When Tampopo asks their opinion of her noodles, Goro and Gun have to tell her they are not very good. After Goro gives her some advice, she asks him to become her teacher. They decide to turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle soup making". Goro takes her around and points out the strengths and weaknesses of her competitors. She still cannot get the broth just right, so Goro brings in the "old master" and his superlative expertise. When they rescue a wealthy elderly man from choking on his food, he lends her Shohei, who has a masterful way with noodles. They also steal the best recipes.

Pisken feels bad for being too drunk to tell his men to stay out of the fight, so he offers Goro another chance one on one. After the rematch ends in a draw, Pisken reveals he is a contractor, and offers to make over the shop's interior. Tampopo's latest effort still comes up short, so Pisken teaches her his own secret recipe. When the five men consume her latest creation down to the last drop, Tampopo knows she has won. (Tabo also triumphs, beating all three of his tormentors.) As customers fill her newly redecorated shop, the men file out one by one.

The main narrative is interspersed with stories involving food on several levels. The primary subplot involves a white-suited yakuza gangster (Koji Yakusho) and his lover (Fukumi Kuroda), who find erotically inventive ways to use food. Other satirical vignettes involve a lowly worker who upstages his superiors by displaying his vast culinary knowledge while ordering at a gourmet French restaurant; a housewife who rises from her deathbed to cook one last meal for her family; and a women's etiquette class on how to eat spaghetti properly (without a sound, as "people from foreign countries would absolutely never forgive loud slurping"). Another subplot involves a corner store clerk who has to deal with an older woman obsessed with squeezing food. The clerk's scene segues into a restaurant involving an investment scam and the intended victim, who turns out to be a conman himself.

Cast

Actor	Role
Tsutomu Yamazaki	Goro
Ken Watanabe	Gun
Koji Yakusho	White-suit man
Rikiya Yasuoka	Pisken
Nobuko Miyamoto	Tampopo
Sen Hara	Cheese-squeezing pensioner
Mariko Okada	Etiquette guide in restaurant

Further reading

• Ashkenazi, Michael. "Food, Play, Business, and the Image of Japan in Itami Juzo's Tampopo." In Anne Bower, ed., Reel Food: Essays on Food and Film (New York: Routledge, 2004).

External links

• Tampopo at the Internet Movie Database
• Tampopo (Japanese) at the Japanese Movie Database
• Review: Hinson, Hal, 'Tampopo', June 17, 1987, Washington Post. Accessed 2008 March 29.