Lost in Translation Filming Locations: A.P.C. Underground in Harajuku
A small but memorable scene from the film: Charlotte (Scarlett Johansson) leaves Bob Harris (Bill Murray) a voicemail telling him to meet her and her friend Charlie Brown (Fumihiro Hayashi) at a bar called ‘Orange’. The voicemail is played as a voiceover while Bob travels by taxi to the bar. The bar’s location is not described in the movie, but a shot of Bob getting out of the cab (where he looks at a map Charlotte faxed him) is near the Miyamasu-zaka exit of Shibuya Station, an area which has been completely transformed since the film premiered with the development of large commercial skyscrapers Shibuya Hikarie and Shibuya Scramble Square (among others).
Once inside the ‘bar’, we see Bob sitting alone at what is clearly a strip club. The establishing shots show a narrow space with concave wooden walls, while several dancers contort their bodies on stripper poles in varying states of undress. Bob is clearly uncomfortable, and at one point he shows more concern for an unsteady dancer almost falling off her platform than the ‘entertainment’ itself. Charlotte shows up soon after and once she realizes where they are, she asks Bob if he wants to leave. They run through Shibuya’s scramble square and see an ad for the Japanese whiskey Bob is in Japan working on an advertising campaign for (Suntory’s Hibiki 17, which currently retails on the second-hand market for about USD 800 per bottle) before winding back to the Park Hyatt in Shinjuku.
Trucks with giant ads plastered on them similar to the one that has Bob’s whiskey ad are a common sight in Shibuya, where there are many eyeballs stopped at intersections. Often these trucks advertise recent music releases or employment opportunities at some of Tokyo’s seedier nightlife establishments, all while blaring obnoxious jingles or J-Pop. Recently, however these trucks have been coopted by the Tokyo Metropolitan Government for use as large public service announcements imploring Tokyoites to stay home during the latest COVID-19 delta outbreak. these pleas are overwhelmingly ignored and the trucks have little (to no) effect other than to instill a very fleeting sense of guilt in passers by before they move on to their next dangerous indoor activity.
The strip club that Bob and Charlotte visit in this scene is not actually a strip club and is also not located in Shibuya. These scenes were shot at the Ura-Harajuku outlet of French fashion brand A.P.C. (4–27–6 Jingumae, Shibuya, Cosmos Harajuku Building, B1F). The shop’s interior was designed by French architect Laurent Deroo and his inspiration for the design were the pillboxes on the beaches of Normandy. A.P.C. remains very popular in Japan and is a favorite of street fashion influencer Hiroshi Fujiwara, who is also featured in the film (and was featured previously in this series). I would not be surprised if Fujiwara himself suggested this filming location to Sofia Coppola or the film’s location scouts given his affection for the brand and its proximity to his own fashion brands in Tokyo’s Ura-Harajuku neighborhood.
The A.P.C. ‘Underground’ store in Ura-Harajuku is generally unchanged since the filming in 2002, with the distinct wooden interior the immediate standout. The store manager was vaguely aware that the store had been featured in a Hollywood film but neither he nor the other employee had ever seen Lost in Translation. The store was much smaller than it appears in the film, probably due to the large wall-to-wall mirrors that the filmmakers took advantage of to make it look larger. The stripper poles, unfortunately, have been removed.
A.P.C. Japan website: https://www.apcjp.com/jpn/
Lareunt Deroo’s website: http://www.laurentderooarchitecte.com/
Suntory’s Hibiki website: https://whisky.suntory.com/en/na/products/hibiki/sku
Soundtrack from the scene at A.P.C. Underground Harajuku:
