History Film / TokyoStory

* TheMourningAfter: Noriko for her husband, although, as she confesses to Shūkichi, it isn’t quite that simple. In fact, she feels terrible loneliness, but is racked with guilt about her desires to move on after her husband’s death.

* DysfunctionalFamily: A quiet, understated example. There isn’t any melodrama, but it’s made plain that the parents and children have grown distant from each other. Koichi and Shige don’t have time for their parents, leaving them alone at home, eventually packing them off to a spa resort to get them out of the way. All but Noriko leave as soon as possible after the funeral, but not until Shige starts claiming her mother’s stuff, much to Kyōko’s disgust. Apparently the grandparents have never met their grandchildren Minoru and Isamu before, despite the fact that the older boy must be at least ten.

* GrowingUpSucks: The young Kyoko, learning from Noriko that it's natural and inevitable for children to lose contact with their parents in order to live their own lives, remarks that life is disappointing. Noriko agrees that it does, as a simple fact of life.

[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Tokyo_Story_2225.jpg]]

->‘Isn't life disappointing?’

* Their daughter-in-law Noriko (Setsuko Hara). Her husband, the old couple’s second son, was killed in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The widowed Shūkichi sits alone at home, preparing for the loneliness he will now face, while Kyoko comes to terms with the fact that she will eventually grow up to lose contact with her father, and Noriko, though having the hope for remarrying, is still lonely and depressed.]] Despite the fact that this sounds like the making of a DownerEnding, in practice it's simply a beautiful, poignant reminder of the way that life goes on.

* HappilyMarried: Shūkichi and Tomi, to a degree―he occasionally pokes fun at her and briefly berates her for her occasional forgetfulness; [[spoiler:he regrets not treating her better after she dies]]. The others... not quite so much.

* Their daughter-in-law Noriko. Her husband, the old couple’s second son, was killed in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

-> '''Kyoko''': "Isn't life disappointing?"
-> '''Noriko''': (smiles) "Yes".

->‘We came back at the wrong time.’

-> "We came back at the wrong time."

''Tokyo Story'' is a 1953 Japanese film by director Creator/YasujiroOzu. It's about Shūkichi and Tomi Hirayama, an elderly retired couple who visit their children in Tokyo. Their children are:

* Their son Koichi, a pediatrician who is married to Fumiko. They have two sons, Minoru and Isamu.

* Their daughter-in-law Noriko. Her husband, the old couple's second son, was killed in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.

* ChubbyMamaSkinnyPapa: Shūkichi is still lean in his old age, while Tomi has a grandma's plumpness.
* DysfunctionalFamily: A quiet, understated example. There isn't any melodrama, but it's made plain that the parents and children have grown distant from each other. Koichi and Shige don't have time for their parents, leaving them alone at home, eventually packing them off to a spa resort to get them out of the way. All but Noriko leave as soon as possible after the funeral, but not until Fumiko starts claiming her mother-in-law's stuff, much to Kyōko's disgust. Apparently the grandparents have never met their grandchildren Minoru and Isamu before, despite the fact that the older boy must be at least ten.
* {{Foreshadowing}}: After Tomi starts having dizzy spells while at the resort, it is not a surprise when she later becomes seriously ill.
* HappilyMarried: Shūkichi and Tomi. The others... not quite so much.
* HenpeckedHusband: Fumiko pushes her husband around. Shūkichi notes this in one of his more candid moments.
* MeaningfulFuneral: Tomi's. Grasping, selfish Fumiko wants her mother-in-law's stuff. Kyōko resents her for it.
* TheMourningAfter: Noriko for her husband, although, as she confesses to Shūkichi, it isn't quite that simple. In fact, she feels terrible loneliness, but is racked with guilt about her desires to move on after her husband's death.

* SliceOfLife: It's a portrait of children growing distant from their parents, and family bonds breaking down. As far as plot goes, little happens over the course of the movie, other than Tomi's death, which is perfectly ordinary and undramatic.
* StepfordSmiler: The "depressed" variant. The smile that Noriko has plastered to her face only cracks once, during the scene with Shūkichi in which she breaks down crying and confesses her loneliness.

* MeaningfulFuneral: Tomi's.

* SliceOfLife

* DysfunctionalFamily: A quiet, understated example. There isn't any melodrama, but it's made plain that the parents have grown distant from each other. Koichi and Shige don't have time for their parents, leaving them alone at home, eventually packing them off to a spa resort to get them out of the way. All but Noriko leave as soon as possible after the funeral, but not until Fumiko starts claiming her mother-in-law's stuff, much to Kyōko's disgust. Apparently the grandparents have never met their grandchildren Minoru and Isamu before, despite the fact that the older boy must be at least ten.

* HappilyMarried: Shukichi and Tomi. The others... not quite so much.

''Tokyo Story'' is a 1953 Japanese film by director Creator/YasujiroOzu. It's about an elderly retired couple who visit their children in Tokyo. The movie explores the relationship between two (three, if you count the grandchildren) very different generations in Japanese culture. Widely considered to be one of the greatest movies ever made.

* [[spoiler:MeaningfulFuneral: Tomi's.]]