I Went to Watch “Suzume no Tojimari” and Got Disappointed (But Because of Something Else)
“Suzume no Tojimari”（すずめの戸締まり）is a new Japanese anime movie, directed by Shinkai Makoto - the director of “Your Name” and “5 Centimeters Per Second”. It was released on 11 November 2022. It tells a story where a teenager girl named “Suzume”, who had a task to close mysterious doors, which opened across Japan, so that she could prevent disasters and destructions from happening.
The trailer was released several months ago. Just seeing the art and animation, and hearing the soundtrack of its, I immediately fell in love with it and wanted to watch it as soon as it’s released in the cinema. I eagerly waited, waited, and waited for a long time. Finally, November 2022 came.
I asked my friends to watch with me, but got refusal because the place we’re living is not that urban, which means the nearest cinema is still very far. Even by train, it still takes us about 1 hour to get there. However, when I searched for other way, I found out it took only 30 minutes to go there by bicycle. Still, they refused to go by the same reason. As for me, cycling for 30 minutes isn’t a hard thing to do, so I decided to buy the ticket online without any hesitation.
Then, the long awaited day came…
I started my journey enthusiastically, even more than when I go to the hospital I’m practicing in. Looking at the watch, I realized that it was 2 pm. The movie started at 3 pm, so I would go there in time. I put my bone conduction earphone on my ears and listened to my favorite music while cycling. Perhaps it was because I was super excited for the movie, or because of the songs in my ears, I biked really fast. But sometimes I stopped the bicycle to check the route on the google map. Everything was so smooth. In fact, it was too smooth to be my life.
After cycling for about 5 minutes, I entered into a tranquil village with houses along the road and beautiful scenery. But after that, I reached a narrow road for cars without any space for walking and cycling. Also, the road was on a hill with a big river along the side I was cycling! And there wasn’t a barrier between the road and the slope to the river!
Oh google map… look at what you made me do!
Nevertheless, I forced myself to go forward even though I was really scared. I was afraid that I would hit by a car behind me, that I would fall down into the river, and that I would get scold or swear by other drivers whether it came from their mouths or their mind.
After the not-so-safe road, I arrived at a long bridge and I had to bike uphill. I looked at the road in front of me and thought to myself “Shit!”. Then, I collected all of my strength from every part of my body to bike upward. Also, I had to go in the opposite direction of the strong wind! I felt that my heart pumped out really fast and my blood vessels in my neck cried “Dup! Dup! Dup!”. I knew that I had to stop to drink some water before continuing the journey. However, the good thing was that it was so beautiful along the bridge that I couldn’t help but take some pictures for memories.
Then, I kept on cycling…
…until I noticed that I went so far away…
Around me, there was nothing but the villager’s houses and apartments. There was not even a convenient store. I looked at google map and it said that I would arrive at the cinema in 3-4 minutes.
“What on earth is that cinema to be located in this remote area?!”
At the same time, I still hoped that I would reach my destination. Maybe I would leave this village in no time and go into an urban area again.
It’ll be okay! Everything’s gonna be okay!
In the end, everything was NOT okay…
I looked at the road in front of me…
There was a sign with a phrase which could be summarized as “DO NOT ENTER”.
I read the sign and looked at the google map alternately.
Umm… I had a question…
WHAT THE F*CK?!!!
I tried to find a path to reach the destination, but it was futile. If there was not the sign “Do not enter”, there was only a dead end. I checked google map one more time to find the reason why thing became like this. Was it because even google map couldn’t stay up to date with Japan’ situation? 🤔😏
After looking carefully, I got a shocking answer.
The road I was biking on wasn’t the route to the cinema!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
When I searched into the cinema’s website and clicked on access button, it showed google map and told me how to get there by using the blue line. However, maybe because it became crazy or something, it designated me to go to the middle of nowhere! As for the real destination, it was in several kilometer farther from here!
To give you a clear picture, it was like this:
I looked at my watch and got even more horrifying fact.
It was time the movie started!
F*ck… my… LIFE!!!
Exhausted, annoyed, and thirsty, I just wanted to throw away my phone, but it wasn’t cheap, so I put it into my bag gently. There were only two options - I could keep on biking to the cinema and watch the movie from the middle part of the story, or I could go back home, sit down, and get depressed for wasting time and money for nothing. And of course, I chose the second one. I didn’t want to watch my most anticipated movie without knowing what happened in the beginning of the story.
I was so glad that my friends didn’t accompany me. If they had been here, I wouldn’t have known what kind of face they looked at me and vice versa.
I decided to go home, but I was so thirsty that I needed water. Thankfully, there was a vending machine even in this quiet place (I love you, Japan!). However, since I was so tired physically and mentally, I didn’t think much about what kind of bottle of the drink to choose, and I ended up push on the Pepsi button. And guess what? The think which fell down was Pepsi, but in a can! That meant I had to stand there and drink it until nothing left so that I could bike safely! But it wasn’t just a small can. It was 600 mL! More than I normally drink!
Sigh…
I drank it, but the flavor was too strong for me to drink in one go. I was so ignited because I really wanted to go home as soon as possible.
At the same time, I thought that I could stop the time, stop every thought, and observe everything around me. There was only dorms and small houses, and no sound even that of a person or an animal. It was in the afternoon, so the sun hadn’t gone down yet, making me to see the environment surrounding me clearly. The autumn wind touching my body, the cold Pepsi in my hand, and the relaxing music in my ears calmed my mood down effectively. Looking behind me, I saw a light brown cat. I smiled at him, but he ignored me and went to sleep on the other side of the tiny road.
I maybe got lost in a remote area, and lost money from buying the ticket and chance to watch the movie, but at least I got to experience this rare and atmospheric scenery in the afternoon of Japan.
But man! I could do this without losing any money!
Finally, some words for google map…
I’ve depended on you for a very long time, and you’ve brought me to many amazing places both in Cambodia and Japan, so I’d like to give you a thumb up. On the other hand, for this big miss you (and I) made, I’m going to be more careful when using you in the future.
Thanks for the adventure, though.
