Japan Synopsis
タンポポ
“The first Japanese Noodle Western.”
In this humorous paean to the joys of food, a pair of truck drivers happen onto a decrepit roadside shop selling ramen noodles. The widowed owner, Tampopo, begs them to help her turn her establishment into a paragon of the "art of noodle-soup making". Interspersed are satirical vignettes about the importance of food to different aspects of human life.
Audience Engagement
295 audience reviews — more than 90% of Japan films in our index.
Popularity sits at the 78th percentile among Japan films.
Titles With Overlapping Themes
Films and series that share thematic tags with Tampopo. Number on each card indicates how many keywords overlap.
Other Titles From New Century Producers
The 1984–1986 Japan Window
Among 91 Japan films we catalog from this window, Tampopo places #14 — near the top of its class.
The 1980s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 1980s in Japan, 280 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Tampopo premiered alongside 33 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 33 other Japan films in 1985.
The 657th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Tampopo, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- truck driver · 4
- ramen · 4
- gastronomia · 3
- business woman · 2
- foodie · 1
- food · 21
- restaurant · 17
- widow · 10
- hoodlum · 8
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #651 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (86th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.0 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Comedy productions specifically: #270 of 1,411 (top 19%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | New Century Producers, Itami Productions |
| Runtime | 1h 55m |
| Release Date | November 23, 1985 |
| IMDb | tt0092048 |