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Tokihiko Okada, Hideo Sugawara, Hideko Takamine, and Emiko Yagumo in Tôkyô no kôrasu (1931)

Tokihiko Okada and Tatsuo Saitô in Tôkyô no kôrasu (1931)

Hideko Takamine in Tôkyô no kôrasu (1931)

Tokihiko Okada in Tôkyô no kôrasu (1931)

Hideo Sugawara in Tôkyô no kôrasu (1931)

Tokihiko Okada

Shinji Okajimaas Shinji Okajima

Emiko Yagumo

Tsuma Sugako (His wife)as Tsuma Sugako (His wife)

Hideo Sugawara

Sono Chounan (First Son)as Sono Chounan (First Son)

Mitsuo Ichimura

Hideko Takamine

Sono Choujo (First Daughter)as Sono Choujo (First Daughter)

Tatsuo Saitô

Omura Sensei (Teacher)as Omura Sensei (Teacher)

Chôko Iida

Sensei no tusma (Mrs. Omura)as Sensei no tusma (Mrs. Omura)

Takeshi Sakamoto

Rou-Shain Yamada (Old employee)as Rou-Shain Yamada (Old employee)

Reikô Tani

Shachou (Company President)as Shachou (Company President)

Ken'ichi Miyajima

Hisho (Secretary)as Hisho (Secretary)

Chishû Ryû

Isamu Yamaguchi

Kaisha no Douryou (An Employee)as Kaisha no Douryou (An Employee)

Kanji Kawara

Director
- Yasujirô Ozu
Writers
- Komatsu Kitamura(original story) (author: novel "Tokyo no Gassho")
- Kôgo Noda(original story) (screenplay)
All cast & crew
See more cast details at IMDbPro

Mr. Omura, a teacher, leads a group of male students in an outdoor drill. One slight, comic young man, Shinji Okajima, has no shirt under his jacket; he scratches at fleas and makes faces behind Omura's back. Jump ahead several years, Shinji is married with three children. He sells insurance, and on the company's annual bonus day, he protests when an older worker is fired. Shinji loses his own job as a result, and he and his wife must find ways to cope. Lassitude, pride, the demands and needs of young children, and relationships from bygone school days all play a part in the outcome of their struggle. —<jhailey@hotmail.com>

toilet humor unemployment protest job insurance 31 more

Genres
- Comedy
- Drama
Parents guide

Trivia
In the top 10 of Kinema Junpo's Top Japanese Movies of 1931.

Quotes
Shinji Okajima: No waitresses?
Omura Sensei (Teacher): No waitresses. My wife and I do all the work.
Shinji Okajima: Pretty waitresses can attract customers.
Omura Sensei (Teacher): Like they attracted you as a student?

Connections
Featured in The Left-Handed Woman (1977)

Top review

8/10

Wonderful film of 1930s Tokyo

I don't have much to add to the other fine reviews, just two things:

(I) I rarely like silent films, but this one kept me entertained (and moved) throughout. I guess Ozu is just that good.

(2) There's a fascinating reference by the lead character, a salaryman for an insurance company where business has been slow in Depression-era Tokyo, to "Hoover's policies" not helping Japan as yet. I'm not sure if it was ironic or not -- I'd be surprised if it was meant to be an argument for a more Keynesian policy, but I'm not certain. In a way, I suppose the mention shouldn't come as a shock -- the world economy was sufficiently integrated in the 1930s for US economic policy to have a significant impact on Japan. Still, it was a reminder of, well justified or not, the importance of the US in the outlook of the typical Japanese.

helpful•2

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