History Film / Departures

''Departures'' is a Japanese film directed by Takita Yojiro and scored by Music/JoeHisaishi, which won the [[UsefulNotes/AcademyAward Oscar]] for best foreign film in 2009.

Offered an immediate start and a fantastic wage by simply for turning up, Daigo presses business owner Sasaki and learns that the ad was a misprint: the job is with "departures" in the sense of [[NeverSayDie "the recently departed"]]. Hardly enthused about being a type of mortician, Daigo reluctantly becomes an assistant, an especially undesirable job due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

* BadAssGrandma: The old lady who runs the public baths single-handedly [[spoiler: until she collapses]].

Offered an immediate start and a fantastic wage by simply for turning up, Daigo presses business owner Sasaki and learns that the ad was a misprint: the job is with "departures" in the sense of [[NeverSayDie "the recently departed"]]. Hardly enthused about being a type of mortician, Daigo reluctantly becomes an assistant, an especially undesirable job due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

-->-- '''Creator/RogerEbert''', quoting ''Gates of Heaven'' in his review of ''Departures''.

Kobayashi Daigo is a cello player in a classical orchestra in Tokyo, but when his cash-strapped ensemble is disbanded, he finds himself without a job. He decides to give up on music and move with his wife back to his hometown in Yamagata prefecture, in northern Japan.

He settles in his late mother's house, and applies for a job in what appears to be a travel agency. In fact, the job offer had been deliberately advertised in a misleading way: the business is actually that of a mortician, who couldn't find an assistant due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]][[note]] The lowest of all the castes, the ''Untouchables'' were given the 'spiritually contaminated' jobs that destroyed their moral character and made them and all their children irreperably evil to the point that merely seeing or being in the presence of an ''Untouchable'' could lead you down the path of vice and puppy-kicking. These jobs included collecting shit/'nightsoil' from the towns and spreading it about the rice paddies, gutting and chopping up animals for consumption, making things from animals (e.g. leather), and moving and preparing for funerals and burying/burning the dead. Unsurpisingly, most 17th-century Japanese Christian converts came from this caste, as it was a religion that (unlike UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}}) told them that they were as spiritually clean/pure as everyone else and that there was no hereditary spiritual taint upon them and their children owing to their jobs. This was a major reason why Christianity was soon banned and its followers exterminated -- it threatened to elevate the ''Untouchables'' to the status of full-citizens, undermining the entire basis of the caste system and by extension Japanese Society itself. ''De facto'' enclaves/districts of Burakumin continued to exist '''''well into the 1970s''''' despite the abolition of the caste system in the 1860s [[/note]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

* TrailersAlwaysSpoil: [[spoiler:A particularly devious example, since it ''had'' to have been on purpose with an American audience in mind - Tomeo is clearly wearing a ''boy's'' uniform in that black-ribboned photo.]]

''Departures'' is a Japanese film directed by Takita Yojiro and scored by Music/JoeHisaishi, which won the [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for best foreign film in 2009.

* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide: The Wholesome Crossdresser, though we only hear this from the SeenItAll president.]]

* [[spoiler: WholesomeCrossdresser: The deceased pretty girl in the opening scenes and the receiver of a red dress in the trailers is actually a boy.]]

He settles in his late mother's house, and applies for a job in what appears to be a travel agency. In fact, the job offer had been deliberately advertised in a misleading way: the business is actually that of a mortician, who couldn't find an assistant due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]][[note]] The lowest of all the castes, the ''Untouchables'' were given the 'spiritually contaminated' jobs that destroyed their moral character and made them and all their children irreperably evil to the point that merely seeing or being in the presence of an ''Untouchable'' could lead you down the path of vice and puppy-kicking. These jobs included collecting shit/'nightsoil' from the towns and spreading it about the rice paddies, gutting and chopping up animals for consumption, making things from animals (e.g. leather), and moving and preparing for funerals and burying/burning the dead. Unsurpisingly, most 17th-century Japanese Christian converts came from this caste as it was a religion that (unlike UsefulNotes/{{Buddhism}} and UsefulNotes/{{Shinto}}) told them that they were as spiritually clean/pure as everyone else and that there was no hereditary spiritual taint upon them and their children owing to their jobs. This was a major reason why Christianity was soon banned and its followers exterminated - it threatened to elevate the ''Untouchables'' to the status of full-citizens, undermining the entire basis of the caste system and by extension Japanese Society itself. ''De facto'' enclaves/districts of untouchables continued to exist well into ''the 1970s'' despite the abolition of the caste system in the 1860s [[/note]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

''Departures'' is a Japanese film directed by Takita Yojiro and scored by {{Music/JoeHisaishi}}, which won the [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for best foreign film in 2009.

''Departures'' is a Japanese film directed by Takita Yojiro, which won the [[AcademyAward Oscar]] for best foreign film in 2009.

He settles in his late mother's house, and applies for a job in what appears to be a travel agency. In fact, the job offer had been deliberately advertised in a misleading way: the business is actually that of a mortician, who couldn't find an assistant due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]][[note]] The lowest of all the castes, the ''Untouchables'' were given the 'spiritually contaminated' jobs that destroyed their moral character and made them and all their children irreperably evil to the point that merely seeing or being in the presence of an ''Untouchable'' could lead you down the path of vice and puppy-kicking. These jobs included collecting shit/'nightsoil' from the towns and spreading it about the rice paddies, gutting and chopping up animals for consumption, making things from animals (e.g. leather), and moving and preparing for funerals and burying/burning the dead. Unsurpisingly, most 17th-century Japanese Christian converts came from this caste as it was a religion that (unlike Buddhism and Shinto) told them that they were as spiritually clean/pure as everyone else and that there was no hereditary spiritual taint upon them and their children owing to their jobs. This was a major reason why Christianity was soon banned and its followers exterminated - it threatened to elevate the ''Untouchables'' to the status of full-citizens, undermining the entire basis of the caste system and by extension Japanese Society itself. ''De facto'' enclaves/districts of untouchables continued to exist well into ''the 1970s'' despite the abolition of the caste system in the 1860s [[/note]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

He settles in his late mother's house, and applies for a job in what appears to be a travel agency. In fact, the job offer had been deliberately advertised in a misleading way: the business is actually that of a mortician, who couldn't find an assistant due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]][[note]] The lowest of all the castes, the ''Untouchables'' were given the 'spiritually contaminated' jobs that destroyed their moral character and made them and all their children irreperably evil to the point that merely seeing or being in the presence of an ''Untouchable'' could lead you down the path of vice and puppy-kicking. These jobs included collecting shit/'nightsoil' from the towns and spreading it about the rice paddies, gutting and chopping up animals for consumption, making things from animals (e.g. leather), and moving and preparing for funerals and burying/burning the dead. Unsurpisingly, most 17th-century Japanese Christian converts came from this caste as it was a religion that (unlike [[UsefulNotes:Buddhism Buddhism]] and [[UsefulNotes:Shinto Shinto]]) told them that they were as spiritually clean/pure as everyone else and that there was no hereditary spiritual taint upon them and their children owing to their jobs. This was a major reason why Christianity was soon banned and its followers exterminated - it threatened to elevate the ''Untouchables'' to the status of full-citizens, undermining the entire basis of the caste system and by extension Japanese Society itself. ''De facto'' enclaves/districts of untouchables continued to exist well into ''the 1970s'' despite the abolition of the caste system in the 1860s [[/note]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.

He settles in his late mother's house, and applies for a job in what appears to be a travel agency. In fact, the job offer had been deliberately advertised in a misleading way: the business is actually that of a mortician, who couldn't find an assistant due to the lingering association of such work with the ''Untouchable'' or ''Burakumin'' caste in Edo-era/[[ImperialJapan pre-1868 Japan]][[note]] The lowest of all the castes, the ''Untouchables'' were given the 'spiritually contaminated' jobs that destroyed their moral character and made them and all their children irreperably evil to the point that merely seeing or being in the presence of an ''Untouchable'' could lead you down the path of vice and puppy-kicking. These jobs included collecting shit/'nightsoil' from the towns and spreading it about the rice paddies, gutting and chopping up animals for consumption, making things from animals (e.g. leather), and moving and preparing for funerals and burying/burning the dead. Unsurpisingly, most 17th-century Japanese Christian converts came from this caste as it was a religion that (unlike [[UsefulNotes/Buddhism Buddhism]] and [[UsefulNotes/Shinto Shinto]]) told them that they were as spiritually clean/pure as everyone else and that there was no hereditary spiritual taint upon them and their children owing to their jobs. This was a major reason why Christianity was soon banned and its followers exterminated - it threatened to elevate the ''Untouchables'' to the status of full-citizens, undermining the entire basis of the caste system and by extension Japanese Society itself. ''De facto'' enclaves/districts of untouchables continued to exist well into ''the 1970s'' despite the abolition of the caste system in the 1860s [[/note]]. Daigo, at first reluctant, warms to the job, as he discovers it implies a deep form of respect and care for the deceased. In a heavily ritualized ceremony, his boss and he prepare the bodies for encoffinment, before the eyes of the relatives.