A necessary film, in the way that vegetables are necessary.

An elderly couple leave their small fishing village to travel to Tokyo to visit their children and grandchildren. Armed with a small packed lunch and the most perfectly packed suitcase you will ever see, they embark on their train journey to the metropolis. Once there, though, they discover that though they are welcome enough - their son "Koichi" (Sô Yamamura) - a paediatrician, and his beautician sister "Shige" (Haruko Sugimura) are pretty much caught up in their own lives and have little time to spend with their parents. In a land where duty is everything, this film depicts the rather unfeeling, though never callous, way in which the elderly pair are bundled from pillar to post, to a spa populated by youngsters and ultimately into the care of their widowed daughter-in-law "Noriko" (Setsuko Hara) who makes time to look after and try to entertain them. The film takes it's time. The delicate performances from the older couple are a joy to watch, especially once he "Shukichi" (Chishû Ryû) has had some saki with his friends; and she "Tomi" (Chieko Higashiyama) is superb as the long suffering, kindly wife who has a stoicism that is both entertaining and laudable. It all comes to an head in quite a sadly poignant fashion, allowing the brief appearance of their other son "Keiso" (Shirô Ôsaka) for a conclusion that is both depressing and yet oddly fitting. This is beautifully crafted observation of changing family dynamics, or priorities and of, well, just taking people for granted.