The Japanese movie titled Tokyo Story and directed by Ozu, YasujirōYasujirō Ozu was released in 1953 and is categorized as drama.
Key cast members of Tokyo Story include Chishū Ryū, Chieko Higashiyama, So Yamamura.
The plot of Tokyo Story is: A retired couple, Shūkichi and Tomi Hirayama (played by Chishū Ryū and Chieko Higashiyama respectively) live in the town of Onomichi in southwest Japan with their daughter Kyōko (played by Kyōko Kagawa) who is a primary school teacher. They have five adult children, four living. The couple travel to Tokyo to visit their son, daughter, and widowed daughter-in-law.
Their eldest son, Kōichi (So Yamamura), is a pediatrician, and their eldest daughter, Shige (Haruko Sugimura), runs a hairdressing salon. Kōichi and Shige are both busy, and do not have much time for their parents. Only their widowed daughter-in-law, Noriko (Setsuko Hara), the wife of their middle son Shōji who is missing presumed dead during The Pacific War, goes out of her way to entertain them. She takes time from her busy office job to take Shūkichi and Tomi on a sightseeing tour of metropolitan Tokyo.
Kōichi and Shige are too busy to give time but instead pay for their parents' stay at a hot spring spa at Atami. Shūkichi and Tomi go but the parents return early because the nightlife at the hotel interrupts their sleep. Tomi also has an unexplained dizzy spell. When they return, Shige explains that she sent them to Atami because she wanted to use their bedroom for a meeting. The elderly couple have to take themselves out for the evening. Tomi goes to stay with daughter-in-law Noriko with whom she develops an emotional bond. Tomi advises Noriko to remarry. Shūkichi, meanwhile, gets drunk with some old friends from Onomichi , then returns to Shige's salon. Shige is outraged her father is lapsing into the alcoholic ways that overshadowed her childhood.
The couple sadly remark on how their children have changed, and they leave for home earlier than planned, intending to see their younger son Keizō when the train passes through Osaka. Though they originally had planned to see him without leaving the train, Tomi takes ill during the journey and they decide to disembark, staying until she feels better the next day. However, when they later reach Onomichi, Tomi becomes critically ill. Kōichi, Shige and Noriko rush to Onomichi to see Tomi, who dies shortly afterwards. Keizō arrives late as he has been away on business.
After the funeral, Kōichi, Shige and Keizō leave immediately, with only Noriko not returning. After they leave, Kyōko is angry with them and voices her complaints to Noriko about her siblings by deriding them over being selfish to their family. She believes that Kōichi, Shige and Keizō don't care how hard it was for their father when he lost their mother. Kyōko believes that strangers and even Noriko would've been more respectful towards her. Noriko responds that while she understands Kyoko's disappointment with her siblings, she also explains that everyone has their own life to lead and that the drift between parents and children is inevitable. She convinces Kyoko not to be too harsh on her siblings because one day she too will understand how hard it is for them to have to take time from both their families and their own lives.
After Kyōko leaves for school, Noriko informs her father-in-law that she must return to Tokyo that afternoon. Shūkichi tells her that she has treated them best despite not being related by blood. Noriko insists on her own selfishness; Shūkichi credits her protests to humility. He gives her a watch from the late Tomi as a memento. Noriko breaks down in tears and confesses her loneliness. Shūkichi encourages her to remarry again as soon as possible. At the end, the train with Noriko speeds from Onomichi back to Tokyo, showing Shūkichi alone preparing for the solitude he now experiences in his home in the harbor town of Onomichi..
