A special relationship: The Coppolas and Tokyo

What explains the special relationship between Sofia Coppola and Tokyo, portrayed so beautifully in Lost in Translation?

In interviews, Sofia Coppola has talked about spending time in Tokyo in her twenties for her clothing label Milkfed. It turns out that her association with the city goes back way earlier. Papa Francis was a fan of Japanese culture and cinema and would occasionally take young Sofia along with him on his trips to Japan. Donald Richie (1924-2013), a long time resident of Japan and the leading Western authority on Japanese film, recalls his meeting with Sofia in his book The Japan Journals:

"Party with Francis Coppola and family — wife, daughter, and father. . . Daughter, only nineteen, is a forced bloom. I wonder if she was allowed any childhood. And now pushed into a movie role. Sweet. Unsure. Latches onto me in a nice kind of way. For protection. Looked around and decided I was the least threat. Also, I knew her before. Last time was when she was six. She does not remember but is told I am an Old Friend."

There is a photo of the young Sofia accompanying the above text:

Ritchie with Sofia Coppola in Tokyo

Here is Richie's description of Francis in his element in Tokyo:

"To the machiai where Francis Ford Coppola is staying. He is giving a big party--Neapolitan food he cooked himself, served by geisha. At the last minute he went out and bought a recording of Madama Butterfly to symbolise this meeting of Italy and Japan, while the geisha served spaghetti with chopsticks and tried to make us drink the wine out of sake cups. Francis himself worked all day in the kitchen with the maids, all of whom got red and tipsy from trying the Chianti. One of them kept getting unbalanced by the big bow of her obi and sitting down suddenly. Francis in messy but complete command."

Ritchie (far left) and Francis Ford Coppola in Tokyo.