Name: Topsy-Turvy Journey
Released: 1970
Duration: 1 min 33 s
Cast: Frankie Sakai, Chieko Baisho, Kensaku Morita, Kumi Hayase, Tomomi Sato

Cast & Crew

Film Details

Also Known As

Gyakuten ryoko

Release Date

Jan 1970

Premiere Information

Los Angeles showing: Apr 1970

Production Company

Shochiku Co.

Distribution Company

Shochiku Films of America

Country

Japan

Technical Specs

Duration

1h 33m

Synopsis

Goichi, a conductor on the Tokyo-Aomori express train, enrolls in cooking classes because he is in love with the school's manager, Kaori Hara. Sakura, who operates a barber shop and also works as a geisha, is in love with Goichi and enrolls in the same class to divert his attention from Kaori. Sakura learns that Goichi is going on a picnic with Kaori, and to further discourage their romance, she doses his food with a laxative. Just as Goichi is about to reveal his feelings for Kaori, he suffers from the effects of the laxative. Meanwhile, Ayako, a new waitress in the express diner and the daughter of the diner's manager, Daikichi, falls in love with Shinsaku, an assistant conductor. After Daikichi objects to the romance, Mine, Goichi's widowed mother, pays him a visit to intercede in behalf of the lovers, only to end up engaged to Daikichi, himself a widower. Goichi proposes to Kaori, who promises to marry him if he will quit the railroad, be adopted into her family to carry on her name, and take a job in her father's orchard. Goichi agonizes over quitting the railroad but eventually decides he can agree to Kaori's demands. He arranges to meet her at a hotel in Iizuka Spa and orders Shinsaku to give her the rail ticket for Iizuka. At the hotel, however, he finds Sakura in his room. Kaori, realizing how much Goichi loves his job, could not accept the ticket, and Sakura took it instead.