Plot
A retired couple, Shukichi and Tomi Hirayama (played by Chishu Ryu and Chieko Higashiyama respectively) live in the town of Onomichi in southwest Japan with their unmarried youngest daughter Kyoko (played by Kyoko Kagawa). The couple travel to Tokyo to visit their son and daughter and daughter-in-law.
Their eldest son, Koichi (So Yamamura), is a pediatrician with two sons. Their eldest daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), runs a hairdressing salon. Koichi and Shige are both busy with work and their families, and do not have much time for their parents. Only the couple's widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko (Setsuko Hara), goes out of her way to entertain them. She takes them on a sightseeing tour of metropolitan Tokyo.
Koichi and Shige pay for their parents' stay at a hot spring spa at Atami, but the parents return early because the nightlife at the hotel interrupts their sleep. When they return, Shige explains that she sent them to Atami because she wanted to use their bedroom for a meeting. Tomi goes to stay with Noriko, whose husband died eight years ago in the war. Tomi advises Noriko to remarry. Shukichi, meanwhile, gets drunk with some old friends, then returns to Shige's salon.
The couple remark on how their children have changed, and they leave for home. During the journey Tomi is taken ill, and they make an unplanned stop at Osaka, where they had planned to meet their youngest son, Keizo (Shiro Osaka), without dismounting from the train. When they reach Onomichi, Tomi becomes critically ill. Koichi, Shige and Noriko rush to Onomichi, on receiving telegrams, to see Tomi, who dies shortly afterwards. Keizo arrives late as he is outstationed.
After the funeral, Koichi, Shige and Keizo decide to leave immediately, with only Noriko not returning. After they leave, Kyoko complains to Noriko that they are selfish and inconsiderate. Noriko responds that everyone has their own life to lead and that the drift between parents and children is inevitable.
After Kyoko leaves for school, Noriko informs her father-in-law that she must return to Tokyo that afternoon. Shukichi tells her that she has treated them best despite not being related by blood. Noriko insists on her own selfishness; Shukichi credits her protests to humility. He gives her a watch from the late Tomi as a memento, and advises her to remarry. Noriko breaks down in tears and confesses her loneliness. At the end, the train with Noriko speeds from Onomichi back to Tokyo, leaving behind Kyoko and Shukichi.
Read more about this topic: Tokyo Story
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“Trade and the streets ensnare us,
Our bodies are weak and worn;
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And we despoil the unborn.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
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—Philip Larkin (1922–1986)
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—John Ashbery (b. 1927)