Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on June 2010

© Warner Bros

Critics overseas haven’t been too kind to Sex and the City 2. So it must have been a relief for the cast and crew to head off to Japan and get the feel-good factor back again. For Sarah Jessica Parker, 45, Cynthia Nixon, 44, Kristin Davis, 45, and Kim Cattrall, 53, the warm welcome began at Narita, where hundreds of female fans cheered their arrival and offered gifts of flowers and chocolate. This was followed by a tumultuous reception at the red carpet premiere at Roppongi Hills Arena.

“Japanese audiences have been so loving,” gushed Parker. “In fact, Japanese fashions have had a huge influence on the show. Our costumer designer Patricia Field comes to Japan a lot and she would always bring back fashion magazines.”

At the height of the show’s popularity, Japanese women often went to New York on Sex and the City tours. “I remember them coming up to us to explain how big the show was in Japan,” said Nixon, while Davis added that Japanese women would tell her how much they understood her character’s conservative viewpoints and identified with her. “No matter where we go, no matter how different the culture is, the story translates so well,” said Cattrall. “I used to think it was just about four New York gals, but it seems to be a woman’s movement that cannot be stopped.”

In the new movie, the four women are dealing with the usual issues of love, relationships, aging, menopause, work and fashion. Courtesy of a sheik enamored by Cattrall’s character, they jet off for a decadent week in Abu Dhabi, complete with chauffeured Maybachs, butlers and lots of designer outfits. This gives the film a chance to take some potshots at how women are treated in an Arab culture—illustrated vividly when the quartet sing a karaoke version of “I Am Woman” at the hotel nightclub. They also find that they have much in common with their Muslim sisters beneath their veils, especially a passion for Suzanne Somers’ books.

The UAE segment (actually filmed in Morocco) has generated some controversy abroad, but the stars say critics are missing the point.

“We’re not a political show; we’re a social satire,” said Nixon. “For some reason, the TV show has always been incendiary to some people. A few years ago, when the Republican National Convention was being held in New York, I saw women wearing T-shirts that said ‘Carrie Bradshaw doesn’t speak for me, and neither does John Kerry.’ What was that all about? We never set out to be hard-hitting.”

Director Michael Patrick King, 54, who also produced and wrote the script for the film, said it is “as fantastic, glamorous and grounded in reality as the women watching it want it to be. Really, all we are doing is exploring the lives and loves of these four characters.”

That exploration has been going on for 12 years now, and Parker admitted to having mixed feelings about being associated with one part for more than a decade.

“It’s delightful to do something you love for so long. People identify with us and we come into their living room each week, but there have been times when I have had to remind people that I’m not Carrie Bradshaw. In that sense, the whole phenomenon can be invasive, but not in a way that I feel resentment. After all, we are here because of the commitment that the women of Japan have made to us.”

Chris Betros is the editor of Japan Today (www.japantoday.com).