Slope and Bookstore in “My Uncle”

The place where the uncle (Ryuhei Matsuda) and Yukio Haruyama (Riku Onishi) take a break on their ‘thinking journey’ in the movie “My Uncle” (2016) is the Onna-zaka [literally translated as Girl’s Slope] in Kanda, Chiyoda Ward. ‘The atmosphere of the nearby Otoko-zaka [literally translated as Man’s Slope] was also appealing, but I chose the Onna-zaka over because of its slightly bent portion which made it a perfect spot for the two protagonists to sit and have a break. I also thought Onna-zaka was a better location because I saw students belonging to the female rugby club of a nearby university training hard at the Otoko-zaka. That made it impossible for me to consider the slope as an appropriate resting spot.
Later, I filmed scenes at the nearby Tamura Bookstore, a fine second-hand bookstore in Jinbocho. I think the charm of this bookstore lies in its appearance. Multiple stacks of seemingly complex books are piled up, and a number of handwritten price tags are stuck here and there. Putting a hopeless manga-reading grown-up among all these books makes him look a little smart… doesn’t it? Anyhow, I chose this place to try to create this kind of impression. While filming at the bookstore, I found a book titled ‘Morio Kita’s World: New Commentary, Special Edition’ [unofficial translation] near the entrance. I spent a lot of time reading it at the hotel during filming in Hawaii. The book provided me with quite a few ideas I could use when directing the uncle character.’
{Nobuhiro Yamashita, director of “My Uncle”}