UPDATE (2 March 2016)Just received email from the film's director in response to my email of Feb. 29th where I had visited production company's web site asking about film and lamenting the fact it was not available on DVD. NEWS! The director told me that "out of the blue, MGM has released the movie on DVD" and it is now available on Amazon.com! After a decade or so of wanting a DVD of this film, my wish has been answered. Thanks MGM.This is a sweet, simple, funny low budget movie that is nearly impossible to find and as far as I can tell only on VHS. I have my third VHS copy. Can't remember what happened to first one. Second one I bought cheap at a flea market and had no sound. I have seen a used copy or two for sale on eBay and Amazon.I used this film in teaching Freshman Comp II at a community college in the early 90s for several reasons, but partly due to its low key humor that includes contrasting a real Japanese (a girl) with a Japanese- American wannabe rocker who eats cold cereal rather than sushi.It's a quiet movie with no sex, cursing, drugs etc. Just some interesting characters and a cute leading actress. The lead female character narrates the film in a sweet voice.

This is a cute and sad little story of cultural difference. Kyoko is a beautiful Japanese woman who has run to California to escape from a failed relationship in Japan. Ken is a Japanese American manual laborer with aspirations of rock and roll stardom but little concrete to offer a potential partner. Kyoko "marries" Ken in order to be able to stay permanently in the U.S., with the understanding that although they will live together until she gets a "green card" the marriage will be in name only. It soon develops that the parties are not on the same wavelength - or perhaps in the same "time zone", hence the title of the movie. As an immigration attorney I have seen such "arrangements" take on a life of their own, so I was pleased to see how well the filmmaker developed the dramatic possibilities of this situation.

I just saw this on the Asian network. Steven Okazaki really caught the impossibility of communicating between the two young people, with the language differences and even the two cultures. He also caught the everyday life of an Asian-American, including the very tiring familial issues that can arise.Spoiler: It was a very sad movie in that you would very much like things to work out between the two parties and you really care for them. It's obvious that Ken is a good person and so is Kyoko. But the movie ends as you expect it to end. Ken's show of anger is just perfect at the very end - exactly as it would happen in real life, still worrying about not breaking anything, even though the most important thing in his life has disappeared.

While "Living on Tokyo Time" is highlighted with fine performances from the two leads and a real sense of realism and desperation, the main feeling I took away from my viewing was depression. Dreams and hopes are shattered in the story and perhaps in the real world there are no happy endings, but, that's why we have movies.