Mr. Thank You (1936) Arigatô-san (original title)

Director:

Hiroshi Shimizu

Writers:

Yasunari Kawabata (novel)
Hiroshi Shimizu (screenplay)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Mr. Thank You is the kindly young driver of a local bus traveling from poverty stricken coastal villages...

Plot Keywords:

Bus | Driver | Passenger | Countryside | Mother Daughter Relationship

Cast

Shôsuke Agata	...	Man on wake
Kiyoshi Aono	...	Old countryman
Bakudankozo	...	Itinerant entertainer
Shôtarô Fujimatsu	...	Primary school student
Kaoru Futaba
Masao Hayama	...	Primary school student
Yoshitarô Iijima	...	Primary school student
Tsuruhiko Ikebe	...	Pharmacist
Takashi Ishiyama	...	Gentleman with beard
Mitsuyoshi Kanai	...	Old villager
Shiro Katsuragi	...	Groom
Kanji Kawahara
Kimie Kawai	...	Newly-wed woman
Reikichi Kawamura	...	Villager fromTokyo
Masae Koike	...	Itinerant entertainer
Yoshiko Kuhara	...	Korean woman
Tsuruko Kumoi
Michiko Kuwano
Chieko Kyotani
Fumie Mikami	...	Itinerant entertainer
Kiyoko Minakami	...	Bride
Mitsuko Mito
Hiroshi Nagao
Einosuke Naka	...	Peddler
Tomoko Naniwa	...	Itinerant entertainer
Shigeru Ogura	...	Newly-wed man
Kazuji Sakai	...	Peddler
Setsuko Shinobu
Takayuki Suematsu
Eiko Takamatsu
Reikô Tani	...	Doctor
Shô Tonegawa
Mayumi Tsukiji
Ken Uehara	...	Arigatô-san
Toyoko Wada
Nagamasa Yamada	...	Peddler

Directed by
Hiroshi Shimizu

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Yasunari Kawabata		novel
Hiroshi Shimizu		screenplay

Original Music by
Keizo Horiuchi

Cinematography by
Isamu Aoki

Set Decoration by
Kotaro Inoue

Costume Design by
Tetsuzo Shibata

Makeup Department
Sueko Endô	....	hair stylist

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Toyojirô Nagasaki	....	assistant director
Isao Numanami	....	assistant director
Yasushi Sasaki	....	assistant director

Sound Department
Haruo Dobashi	....	sound
Kaname Hashimoto	....	sound
Rokusaburô Saitô	....	sound effects editor

Camera and Electrical Department
Takeshi Saitô	....	assistant photographer
Hiroshi Sano	....	gaffer
Shôsuke Yoshida	....	assistant photographer

Music Department
Kinji Shinoda	....	orchestrator

Transportation Department
Kinzô Murata	....	transportation coordinator
Hidehiro Takeuchi	....	transportation coordinator

Other crew
Kentarô Abe	....	film development
Hidesaburô Fujioka	....	title designer
Kazuo Maejima	....	archivist
Toshimi Nassho	....	film development
Tayû Tajiri	....	stage manager

Production Companies

• Shochiku Ofuna

Distributors

• Shochiku Company (1936) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Criterion Collection, The (2009) (USA) (DVD)
• Eclipse from the Criterion Collection (2009) (USA) (DVD) (subtitled)
• Shochiku Home Video (2008) (Japan) (DVD)

Also Known As:

"Arigatô-san" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

78 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

Shochiku Ofuna

Slight, but pretty good

Nice little Japanese comedy. Mr. Thank You is a bus driver who often brings people from the country to Tokyo. As he drives along the narrow dirt roads, he profusely thanks the farmers and such who move to the side as he passes them. At one village, he picks up a 17 year old girl and her mother. The girl is being transported to Tokyo, where her mother will sell her into prostitution. It's the Great Depression, and the family can no longer afford to support her. Over the course of the trip, Mr. Thank You becomes more and more aware of the girl's sad face. The rest of the bus chat amongst themselves, drink, smoke, whatever. The film runs about 80 minutes, and, honestly, is pretty slight. The titular character and the young girl are rather dull people. A couple of the other passengers are more interesting, but they also are generic types of people (e.g., modern woman or stuffy businessman). It's funny much of the time, and well filmed. I like seeing the Japanese countryside and its people. Japanese films of every era focus way too much on just Tokyo that it's easy to forget the rest of the country.