Yes, going to a cinema in Japan is an experience in and of itself. Here’s a breakdown of my movie experience at United Cinemas in Sapporo.
I heard about the unique experiences that foreigners were having at the cinema in Japan, and I simply had to book myself in for a movie to see for myself!
Before I even left my home, I was shocked at how ridiculously low the prices were compared to my home country Australia.
Adult tickets were a mere 1200 yen, which is less than 10 USD. To give some perspective, that’s about half the price of an adult ticket in Australia, which typically costs over 20 AUD.
Buying Tickets – No English? No Worries!
If your Japanese is lackluster like mine, you probably want to avoid as much interaction with non-English-speaking Japanese people as possible.
I opted to purchase my ticket online to save myself the embarrassment of trying to purchase a ticket in broken Japanese at the counter.
I was emailed a confirmation code to print out my ticket upon arrival.
To my dismay, the machines had no English menu option available, which is actually quite rare nowadays. This is probably because I was on the northern island of Hokkaido, where foreigners are few and far between compared to Tokyo.
Regardless, I knew that all I had to do was enter my code somewhere in the machine, so after making a few mistakes and navigating to the wrong sections, I eventually figured out how to input my ticket code (the whole struggle only took about a minute).
The Best Snack Bar Ever
That’s it, I was now well on my way to watching my first movie at a cinema in Japan! However, it seemed my efforts in avoiding interaction with Japanese customer service were futile, as there was no other way to buy my mandatory popcorn and drink.
Fortunately, there was a long line which gave me ample time to rehearse my order in my head. Putting together the images on the menu with the few Japanese letters I could read (I recommend learning basic hiragana and katakana before you come), I could make out the words “drink set half-and-half.”
In addition to the standard popcorn and drink options, there were also options for hot food like fried chicken and hot dogs, but I decided to stick with the basics.
A Quick Lesson In Ordering Food
There are many words in Japanese which are “borrowed,” meaning they are derived from foreign languages (usually English) and written in one of Japan’s three languages, katakana. This alphabet comprises about 10% of the entire Japanese language and is super easy to learn because as long as you can sound out the word, you can instantly make the connection to its English equivalent.
Putting this into practice, katakana words such as ハーフ (ha-fu) can easily be recognized as “half” in English. Similarly, I saw the word カラメル (carameru) which you can quickly identify as caramel. Along with the supporting images, I was able to get my order of a large half salted half caramel popcorn and a large Pepsi, all for just 750 yen (less than 6 USD)!
Incredibly Practical, Super Comfortable
Upon receiving your order, you are given your popcorn and drink on a convenient snack tray to keep it all together.
This concept alone got me excited, as I was able to carry around my snacks in a more secure way.
If you’re from Australia like me, you know the struggles of holding a large drink cup in one hand and a large popcorn in the other. It’s super uncomfortable and often leads to spills!
Just when I thought things couldn’t get better with this cinema in Japan, I noticed the people around me connecting their trays to the in-built cup holders that you typically find with movie seats everywhere in the world.
The tray connects securely and you can even rotate it both clockwise and anti-clockwise to suit your most comfortable sitting position.
It should also be noted that there are big gaps underneath the tray that are specifically designed to give you maximum leg space and minimize contact between your tray and thigh.
Again, I was blown away by how comfortable this made the movie experience. I didn’t need to grab my heavy large drink from the cup holder each time I needed to take a sip, and I certainly didn’t need to worry about dropping my popcorn bucket on the floor (unfortunately, I’ve been a victim of this).
A Cinema Experience To Remember!
By the end of the movie, I was damn well satisfied with just about everything (including my horrendous attempt at ordering in Japanese).
Speaking of which, you should keep an eye out for the “sub” option when you watch a movie in Japan, as this means it will have its original audio (usually English for Hollywood movies) but with Japanese subtitles.
Choosing the “dub” option means the audio will be in Japanese, which might end up being more of a comedy for us English speakers. There are no English subtitles in Japan, so keep that in mind before watching a Japanese movie.
In my case, I actually did watch a Japanese movie (Tokyo Revengers 2) despite not having English subtitles, but only because I had seen the original anime series of the film prior (so I more or less knew what was going on with the plot).
Wrapping up a brilliant movie experience that cost no more than 15 bucks (USD), I walked out, dumped my rubbish in the bin, and stacked up my tray in the tray return, all while feeling like an absolute king!
Of course, if you are planning to visit Japan, you’ll need a way to get around the country as efficiently and affordably as possible. Japan Rail provides an abundance of travel passes to suit your travel needs. So whether you are traveling individually or as a group, the JR Pass is every traveler’s go-to for getting around and making the most of your time in Japan!