Yasujirō Ozu

The only son: The story examines the motherly love of a peasant woman who gives up everything so that her son can receive education in Tokyo. Ten years later, the mother pays her son a visit in Tokyo, believing that he has become a successful young man. However, upon arrival, she is bitterly disappointed to find out that her son is working as a night-school teacher and living in poverty with his family.

Tokyo Story follows an aging couple, Tomi and Sukichi, on their journey from their rural village to visit their two married children in bustling, post-war Tokyo. Their reception is disappointing: too busy to entertain them, their children send them off to a health spa. After Tomi falls ill she and Sukichi return home, while the children, grief-stricken, hasten to be with her.