Emily Blunt and Ewan McGregor in ‘Salmon Fishing in the Yemen’ SALMON FISHING IN THE YEMEN – 2 stars A bureaucrat and a PR agent work to indulge a sheik’s wild plans. With Ewan McGregor, Emily Bunt, Kristin Scott Thomas. At Lincoln Square, Cinema 1-2-3 and the Sunshine. Inoffensive but unexceptional films like “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” are hard to berate, even when they feel, at best, like merely a cute doodle. Based on a novel by Paul Torday, director Lasse Hallström’s light dramedy stars Ewan McGregor as Alfred, the type of officious little British government worker so often seen in 1950s and ’60s British comedies. Alfred’s a sweater-vest-wearer in the office of Fisheries Excellence in London who, pressured by a PR agent (Emily Blunt) and a pushy Parliament press secretary (Kristin Scott Thomas), aids a Yemeni sheik in stocking his man-made river with farm-raised salmon. After the PR agent’s soldier boyfriend is reported MIA in Afghanistan, she and Alfred fall in love, much to the delight of the press lady, who sees a smashing lovey-dovey headline following one about British-Middle East relations.

Hallström – whose humanistic warmth in good movies was once as marketable as a Swedish Frank Capra’s — goes for a “Local Hero”-type feeling, but the movie has to swim upstream to get anywhere. sushi delivery london e8The cast gives it all a good go, and pip-pip and all that for noticeable intelligence and a bit of the old British satire. genki sushi menu honoluluYet “Salmon Fishing” takes patience and rewards with no bite.sumo sushi menu birmingham JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI – 3 starssushi san francisco kabuto Documentary about an expert sushi chef in Tokyo. jiro dreams of sushi port

At Lincoln Plaza and IFC. In Japanese with subtitles. Dedication to craft and commitment to excellence is the real subject of this charming documentary about Jiro Ono, an octogenarian who’s operated a tiny sushi restaurant in the basement of a Tokyo office building for decades, where patrons can wait months for a reservation. jiro dreams of sushi toronto tiffOnce they’re seated, there’s nothing fancy about the ambience — it’s just perfectly prepared courses with no seconds on specific dishes, as Jiro and his two grown sons look on. We see them going to markets, discussing the sacrifices made for work and watching their life’s pursuit be shared with strangers. An extraordinary morsel of a movie, and yes, you’ll want sushi afterward. But it won’t taste like Jiro’s. Send a Letter to the EditorAfter a setback from the natural and nuclear disasters of 2011, tourism has rebounded in Japan’s capital Tokyo.

The renewed surge of visitors is being partly attributed to Tokyo’s successful bid for the 2020 Summer Olympics and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s efforts to bulk up the economy. This sprawling and marvelous metropolis brings high-tech gadgets and visions of the future together with glimpses of old Japan. Tokyo has something for everyone. The Tokyo Skytree, which is approximately twice the height of the Eiffel Tower, is the tallest tower in the world and second tallest structure in the world. The Skytree has two enclosed observation decks which offer spectacular views over Tokyo. One of the observation decks contains the Tembo Gallery.  Dubbed “the world’s highest skywalk”, the Tembo Gallery consists of a sloping spiral ramp that gains height as it circles the tower. It allows visitors to look over the Kanto Region to spectacular distances. You can also enjoy a sky-high meal at the Musashi Sky Restaurant, which serves French-Japanese fusion cuisine. Another fantastic option is the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower, a 54-story high skyscraper that houses companies like Google Japan, Pokemon, and The Mori Art Museum.

The gorgeous observation deck offers a breathtaking 360-degree view of the city skyline, and the Sky Deck/helicopter pad on the roof of the building is the only open-air observation deck in the city. Or you can live like Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation and stay at the Park Hyatt Hotel in the Shinjuku Park Tower, where the 2003 hit film was set.  The Hotel is an elegant oasis of space and calm overlooking Tokyo and the Kanto Plain all the way to Mount Fuji. The famed three-star Micheln restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo is owned and operated by sushi master Jiro Ono, who became internationally known after the 2011 documentary, Jiro Dreams of Sushi. The fascinating documentary by David Gelb, which showed at Tribeca Film Festival and is available to stream on Netflix now, follows 85-year-old Jiro Ono as he follows his quest to perfect the art of sushi. It also profiles his two sons, both of whom are sushi chefs. The restaurant is located inauspiciously in a Tokyo subway station and only has seats for 10 diners at a time.

It is so popular that international travelers have made it a destination and the waiting list is booked months in advance. Chef Ono serves a tasting menu of roughly 20 course for a total of 30,000 Japanese Yen (just under US $300). For more information visit www.sushi-jiro.jp/eng-index.html Round 15 of the 2014 Formula One World Championship takes the drivers to Suzuka this weekend for the Japanese Grand Prix, held at the famous Suzuka Circuit, which is close to the town of Nagoya, 2.5 hours’ drive away from Tokyo. Suzuka is one of the most revered circuits in the world; it’s a race track which only the best drivers succeed, which may explain why 18 of the last 19 grand prix at the track have been won by world champions.  The circuit was originally built by Honda in the sixties to test their bikes and cars and is still owned by the company today. This year, Max Verstappen will become the youngest driver to take part in a Formula One weekend when he drives for Toro Rosso at Suzuka after his 17th birthday.

The Dutch youngster, who is the son of the former F1 driver Jos, will drive Jean-Éric Vergne’s car in the first practice session at Suzuka In the host city of Suzuka, this is also plenty to do. You can jump on the thrilling roller coasters that give a great view of the circuit and the sea, and there’s plenty of excellent restaurants with local cuisine to try. Thursday, October 23 to Friday, October 31, 2014. The 27th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will run at Roppongi Hills and other central Tokyo venues. TFF started in 1985 has since grown to become one of the leading film festivals in Asia, as the only one accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). This year, a 21-movie lineup has been announced for its special screenings section, including The Expendables 3; Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi’s documentary about the The New York Review of Books, The 50 Year Argument; and The Cathedrals of Culture documentary series, with episodes from Robert Redford and Wim Wenders.

Although the Tokyo festival will only have this one Japanese film in competition, Pale Moon, it has been aiming to promote more local films through programs such as this year’s focus on Japanese animation. TIFF has also unveiled a seven-year initiative to promote Asian films and nurture Asian film professionals. For more information visit 2014.tiff-jp.net/en/ Tokyo has three grand tournaments for sumo wrestling, which take place over 15 days in January, May and September at Ryogoku Kokugikan, Tokyo’s National Sumo Hall. The world’s best square off in thrilling matches that can be as short as five seconds. If you don’t happen to be in Japan during one of these tournaments, try experiencing it on American soil instead. The US Sumo Open at Long Beach in Southern California has grown to become the largest amateur sumo competition outside of Japan. Seventy men and 15 women from more than a dozen countries compete at the Walter Pyramid at California State University.