Tokyo Story (1953) Tôkyô monogatari (original title)

Director:

Yasujirô Ozu

Writers:

Kôgo Noda (scenario) and
Yasujirô Ozu (scenario)

Release Date:

13 March 1972 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An old couple visit their children and grandchildren in the city; but the children have little time for them.

Plot Keywords:

Elderly | Trip | Village | Beautician | Atami Hot Springs

Awards:

2 wins

Cast

Chishû Ryû	...	Shukishi Hirayama
Chieko Higashiyama	...	Tomi Hirayama
Setsuko Hara	...	Noriko Hirayama
Haruko Sugimura	...	Shige Kaneko
Sô Yamamura	...	Koichi Hirayama
Kuniko Miyake	...	Fumiko Hirayama - his wife
Kyôko Kagawa	...	Kyôko Hirayama
Eijirô Tôno	...	Sanpei Numata
Nobuo Nakamura	...	Kurazo Kaneko
Shirô Osaka	...	Keizo Hirayama
Hisao Toake	...	Osamu Hattori
Teruko Nagaoka	...	Yone Hattori
Mutsuko Sakura	...	Oden-ya no onna
Toyo Takahashi	...	Rinka no saikun (as Toyoko Takahashi)
Tôru Abe	...	Tetsudou-shokuin
Sachiko Mitani	...	Aparto no onna
Zen Murase	...	Minoru Hirayama - Koichi's son
Mitsuhiro Mori	...	Isamu Hirayama - Koichi's son
Junko Anan	...	Biyouin no joshu
Ryôko Mizuki	...	Biyouin no kyaku
Yoshiko Togawa	...	Biyouin no kyaku
Kazuhiro Itokawa	...	Geshuku no seinen
Fumio Toyama	...	Kanka no otoko
Keijirô Morozumi	...	Junsa
Tsutomu Nijima	...	Noriko's office boss
Shozo Suzuki	...	Jimuin
Yoshiko Tashiro	...	Ryokan no jochuu
Haruko Chichibu	...	Ryokan no jochuu
Takashi Miki	...	Tuyauta-shi
Binnosuke Nagao	...	Onomichi no ishi

Directed by
Yasujirô Ozu

Writing credits
Kôgo Noda		(scenario) and
Yasujirô Ozu		(scenario)

Produced by
Takeshi Yamamoto	....	producer

Original Music by
Takanobu Saito

Cinematography by
Yûharu Atsuta

Film Editing by
Yoshiyasu Hamamura

Production Design by
Tatsuo Hamada

Art Direction by
Tatsuo Hamada

Costume Design by
Taizô Saito

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Osamu Takahashi	....	assistant director
Kouzou Yamamoto	....	assistant director
Shôhei Imamura	....	second assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Setsutaro Moriya	....	set dresser
Toshio Takahashi	....	set designer

Sound Department
Yoshiomi Hori	....	sound assistant
Mitsuru Kaneko	....	sound engineer
Yoshisaburô Senoo	....	sound

Camera and Electrical Department
Takashi Kawamata	....	assistant camera
Itsuo Takashita	....	lighting technician
Takeshi Yakuwa	....	lighting assistant

Editorial Department
Ryuji Hayashi	....	colorist

Other crew
Tomiji Shimizu	....	script supervisor

Production Companies

• Shôchiku Eiga

Distributors

• Shôchiku Eiga (1953) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Shochiku Home Video (2003) (Japan) (DVD) (box-set)
• Shochiku Home Video (2007) (Japan) (DVD)
• Aito Mäkinen & Co (1964) (Finland) (theatrical)
• British Film Institute (BFI) (2010) (UK) (theatrical) (re-release)
• Gutek Film (2010) (Poland) (theatrical)
• Svensk Filmindustri (SF) (1964) (Sweden) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Austria) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Germany) (theatrical)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (theatrical) (re-release)
• BFI Video (2010) (UK) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Criterion Collection, The (2003) (USA) (DVD)
• DeA Planeta Home Entertainment (Spain)
• Gutek Film (2012) (Poland) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2005) (Australia) (DVD)
• Madman Entertainment (2006) (New Zealand) (all media)
• Mainostelevisio (MTV) (1966) (Finland) (TV)
• New Yorker Films (1972) (USA) (subtitled)
• Raro Video (2005) (Italy) (DVD)
• Sandrew Metronome Distribution (2009) (Finland) (DVD)
• Sandrews (2009) (Sweden) (DVD)
• Tartan (2004) (UK) (DVD)
• YLE Teema (2005) (Finland) (TV)
• Yleisradio (YLE) (1981) (Finland) (TV)
• trigon-film (2007) (Switzerland) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Haiyuza  courtesy: Chieko Higashiyama, Eijiro Tono
• Bungakuza  courtesy: Haruko Sugimura, Nobuo Nakamura, Nagaoka Teruko
• Gekidan Chidori  courtesy: Zen Murase
• Gekidan Wakakusa  courtesy: Mitsuhiro Mouri

Also Known As:

"Tôkyô monogatari" - Japan (original title)

Runtime:

136 min

Country:

Japan

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Finland:S | UK:U | Spain:T | Singapore:PG | Brazil:18 | Hong Kong:I | Sweden:Btl | Portugal:M/12 | Australia:PG | South Korea:15 | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Atami, Shizuoka, Japan

Company:

Shôchiku Eiga

Trivia:

American cinema expert Donald Richie took Satyajit Ray to see the film. Ray was overcome with emotion by the end.

Quotes:

Kyoko:Isn't life disappointing?
Noriko:[smiles] Yes, it is.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Santiago (2007)

Things are the way that they are and it is perfect

Ozu's Tokyo Story is a serene and contemplative look at the breakdown in the relationship between grown children and their elderly parents shortly after World War II. The film concerns itself with problems many of us must face: the struggle to maintain a self-fulfilling life independent of parental expectations, the changes in relationships wrought by time, and the inevitability of separation and loss. Ozu does not point the finger at either parents or children but, like many of his films, offers a thoughtful meditation on the transitory nature of life.

As the film opens, we see an empty street, empty train tracks and an empty pier, perhaps an early indicator of the sense of loss that pervades the film. An elderly father, Shukishi Hirayama (Chishu Ryu) and his wife Tomi (Chieko Higashiyama) are preparing to travel by train to visit their children in Tokyo. When they arrive, they are met with indifference by daughter Shige (Haruko Sugimura), their grandchildren Minoru (Zen Murase) and Isamu (Mitsuhiro Mori), and son Koichi (So Yamamura), a Tokyo pediatrician. When Koichi is called to visit a patient and Shige cannot leave her beauty salon, the Harayamas postpone a sightseeing trip and start to complain that they expected the children would be living in more comfortable circumstances. Their widowed daughter-in-law Noriko (Setsuko Hara), however, welcomes them warmly and gives them the experience of being appreciated.

To give themselves some breathing room, the children pool their resources and send their parents to Atami, a health spa. Their visit, however, is cut short when the noise and crowds make going home seem like a better alternative. When they get back to Tokyo, Shige tells them she has a meeting scheduled at her house and Tomi decides to spend the night with Noriko. Shukishi, in a very humorous scene, goes out drinking with old friends and shows up late at night at Shige's house completely drunk. When the elderly parents return to Onomichi, the mother suddenly becomes very ill and the entire family, including youngest son Keizo from Osaka, must come and visit them. The moment of epiphany comes when the youngest daughter Kyoko (Kyoko Kagawa) asks Noriko whether or not life is disappointing. Her answer mirrors Ozu's concept of mono no aware, that we cannot avoid the sadness of life, but her beaming face tells us that things are just the way that they are and that it is perfect.