Film Noir affirms the notions that there is a dark side within us all,
and that the human mind has a capacity for evil that far outweighs
the threat from monsters under the bed. The Noir world is enveloped
by darkness. It’s streets exude a kind of underlying menace and
it’s characterization confirms this notion. In Noir,the bad guys are
bad, but the good guys aren’t much better. It is a world for the tough
and the streetwise and there is no room for emotion. The motivation
is greed and it does not matterwho gets stepped on in the process.
Film Noir seems to me to be a realists view of the world. In real life,
the good do not always triumph and the bad does not always get
caught. One of the most important aspects of Film Noir was the city.
The city suffocated the viewers and the characters with its
claustrophobic alleys and streets, and allowed them to get lost within
its labyrinth. It offered the main characters countless bars and
nightclubs where they could get intoxicated, do their dirty business
or find a beautiful woman. The city was also home to many of the
vital locations in Film Noir such as on board trains, busses or on train
stations. New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Los Angeles was
always the base from where Film Noir movies was filmed as they
were the cities that exemplified all of the above. Tokyo however was
never been thought of as a Noir city, mainly because it was on a
different continent with different people and with a completely
different environment. Despite this, Tokyo has grown to become
a city where you can find all of the previous mentioned criteria
and more.

The physical layout of the Noir city is possibly its most important
component. Noir directors use the city to suffocate their victims,
given the viewers a sense that the character is trapped. The city is
portrayed as a confusing labyrinth that the character must
navigate through in order to reach his final destination. Tokyo
was physically laid out and built long before vehicles was invented
and used and as a consequence is a comparatively claustrophobic
city. A city with many small alley ways and a somewhat of chaos
in terms of the planning of the street layout. A very typical trait for
old cities, unlike Los Angeles where roads are well planned and all
streets seem to be parallel to one and other.

The bars and the night life play a very
important part in Noir. It is the place
where you would drink, meet women
and do the dirty business such as dealing
with criminality. “The urban milieu consists
of deep shadows, rushing traffic, flashing
lights, and a cast of underworld characters
such as black market gamblers, con men
and above all the femme fatale who
embodies the temptations and threat of
illicit desire” (Film Noir, 12).

Tokyo certainly doesn't hold a shortage on
bars, nightclubs, hostess clubs or any of the
above mentioned. Especially the quarters
of Roppongi, Ginza and Shinjuku where the
criminality also is higher than in most other
parts of Tokyo. It is where you meet after
work with your colleagues and take the
pressure of a hard days work by drinking
and meeting women. These areas can very
well be recognized with scenes from Noir
films. In fact a Neo Noir film such as
“Blade Runner” from 1982 and “Batman”
from 1989 is the perfect example of Noir
films that on the spot resembles Tokyo.
It's small alley ways in rough little old
areas, the skyscrapers in the more centered
parts of Tokyo, the huge monitored TV
screens all over the city with very advanced
technology and also a very futuristic look.

The women in hostess bars can very well
be compared to the women of Film Noir.
It is usually a very attractive woman, a sort
of femme fatale, that works during the night
and makes a living out of playing with their
sexuality and good looks and somehow take
advantage of mens weakness for an attractive
woman. In Tokyo they exist everywhere and
women here make a living out of drinking
with the clients that come. They get a certain
amount of percentage depending on how much
they can drink. Of course the visiting men are
paying for these drinks. The more you drink,
the more your customer drinks. The more
drunk they get, the easier it is to take advantage
of the men, asking for extra money.

A mama-san, or mamasan, is a woman who
works in a supervisory role in certain
establishments in Southeast Asia, typically
those related to sex work, but sometimes in
drinking places as well. Papa-san may be used
to refer to a man in a similar position.
To at least some extent, these can be considered
the local equivalents of a pimp or madam,
although the conventions of bar fine prostitution
in Asia are quite different from those of
either street or brothel prostitution in the
United States. Once you have found your femme
fatale, the majority of the big city parts in Tokyo,
such as Ebisu, Ginza, Shinjuku and Shibuya
offer a lot of so called “Love Hotels”. It is a
place where you can take your woman and check
in for the night. It has a scary resemblance
to the Brothels or so called “Gentlemen's clubs”
in America.

The Yakuza, unlike their counterpart such as
the italian Mafia in L.A or New York, are not a
secret society. Yakuza are heavily involved in
sex-related industries, such as smuggling
uncensored pornography from Europe and
America into Japan. They also control large
prostitution rings throughout the country.
They also engage in simple blackmail, obtaining
incriminating or embarrassing information about
a company's practices or leaders. Once the yakuza
gain a foothold in these companies, they will
work for them to protect the company from having
internal scandals exposed to the public. Some
companies still include pay-offs as part of their
annual budget. The yakuza operates allot of their
time around the areas of Roppongi and
Shinjuku and allot at night time.

Much like New York and L.A who had a huge wave
of immigrants from Ireland and Italy, Tokyo
experienced a huge wave of Russian and African
immigrants during theearly part of the 90's.
Many immigrants were denied good jobs
due to their lack of language skills and
difficulties to get in to the Japanese society
and instead a lot of these immigrants decided
to earn money in less legitimate ways. Seeing
that a large scale of the criminality and illegal
activities in the areas of Roppongi and
Shinjuku are, a part from the Yakuza,
created by Eastern Europeans and Africans.

Tokyo also offer a very advanced update of the local commuting system. People living and working in Tokyo can sometimes spend up to four hours on the train daily to get to and
from work. Seeing that the distances between city parts in Tokyo are enormous. It just wouldn't be beneficial economically or time-wise to have a car here.




A very famous train scene from a Noir movie is “Strangers on a Train” from 1951, where the opening scene takes place on a train with two men meeting and discussing murder. Another good scene is from “Pick Up On South Street” from 1953. The opening scene here also takes place on a crowded train as it is the perfect place for the silent crime.