Tea and Rice
Cast & Crew
Yasujiro Ozu
Shin Saburi
Michiyo Kogure
Koji Tsuruta
Keiko Tsushima
Kuniko Miyake
Film Details
Technical Specs
Synopsis
Mokichi and Taeko Satake, married for some years, met through an arranged interview in accordance with Japanese custom. Mr. Yamanouchi, Taeko's father, is a retired politician and financier who personally selected Mokichi from the offices of a Yamanouchi-owned company. With no children to care for, Taeko spends her extensive leisure time with two other wives, dining at expensive restaurants, attending the theater, and taking trips to resort hotels, while informing their husbands that they are attending alumnae meetings or visiting sick friends. Taeko's niece, Setsuko, is disappointed when her parents arrange for her to interview a prospective husband. Aware of her aunt's unhappy marriage to a near-total stranger, Setsuko openly declares her opposition to an arranged marriage. Rather than appear at the theater where her parents have arranged for her to meet her prospective husband, Setsuko spends the day with Mokichi and his friend Noboru. Mokichi refuses Taeko's demand to reprimand their niece, pointing out that for Setsuko to consent to such an arrangement could only lead to a marriage as unsatisfactory as their own. For the next two weeks the couple engage in a war of nerves, picking at each other until Mokichi finally declares that he likes a simple life, while Taeko replies that she is accustomed to traveling first-class in every way. Taeko then leaves for Kobe without saying when she will return. Mokichi is called to Uruguay on business, and he wires Taeko, asking her to return. Although Taeko fails to show up at the airport to see off Mokichi, she does arrive several hours later, claiming she was unavoidably delayed. Mokichi's plane develops engine trouble and he returns home. He asks for a simple meal of tea and rice, which Taeko has always hated. She eats with him, however, and the two are reconciled.
Director
Yasujiro Ozu
Cast
Shin Saburi
Michiyo Kogure
Koji Tsuruta
Keiko Tsushima
Kuniko Miyake
Chikage Awashima
Chishu Ryu
Yuko Mochizuki
Film Details
Technical Specs
Quotes
Trivia
Notes
Released in Japan in 1952 as Ochazuke no aji. Alternative title: The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice.
