Atami Spa Scene (Tokyo Story) --Scene Analysis

Shot 1: (Sound of footsteps and there is lively, upbeat music playing in the background) an empty hallway with a mirror all the way in center vision. The camera seems to be low on the ground. There is a clock in the upper right hand corner and slippers on the floor. It is at a low angle and suddenly a young woman comes out in a spa robe from the left side and begins to look in the mirror. Another woman comes out from left side and is playing with her hair. Two women in kimonos appear and begin gentle conversation as a man in a spa robe walked from slightly in front of the camera to the back of the hallway, waving around a towel. Following him is a woman, who seems to be carrying some sort of tray and follows his same path as the two women in kimonos saying goodbye to each other and both walk out of the scene, one straight to the left and the other walks forward. This lively scene cuts to:

Shot 2: (Upbeat music fades to a more mellow song with a man singing. Lots of feet shuffling) and it is shot from a low angle. We see the same woman carrying the tray come up from stairs and pass another young woman and a young man smoking a cigarette. The young woman with the tray then turns to the right off camera. In the left hand corner of the shot, there are two pairs of slippers in front of a sliding door. After the man smoking goes down the stairs, it cuts to:

Shot 3: We see the woman shuffling down another hallway with another low angle shot. (Sound of woman’s feet shuffling on the floor) There are three people also in the hallway and all of them are in spa robes. One man walks across the shot into a room with multiple pairs of slippers in front of it. The other two are standing in the hallway and waving fans while looking into another room. The woman with the tray stops in front of the room across from the pair and bows and takes off her shoes before she walks into the room where:

Shot 4: (Sound of games being played, lots of thumps and chip movement. The sound is quite loud) There is a table surrounded by people who all seem invested in a game, though we cannot see what is on the table. There are two bottles, empty, in the lower right hand corner of the shot. (Music/singing wasn’t noticeable but slowly faded in) The woman with the tray walks straight behind the table in view and give the tray to the table behind them. There are four people at the table at first (two men, two women) but then another man sits next to the woman on the far right. The woman who was carrying the tray leaves and:

Shot 5: (Thumps continue and so does the man singing) the camera focuses on the other table in the room, surrounded by four men. In the lower right corner, the tray the woman was carrying had bowls of food on it and the man on the far right is smoking a cigarette. (Man on the far left knocks on the table) They too are playing a game, and as the man who is turned away from us moves then poker chips are seen on the table. In the background, a man moves to a:

Shot 6: (Sounds of game playing still heard in the back ground, same with the singing) Low angle shot of the hallway in Shot 3. There are the same two people in the back, a man and a woman, and their heads are leaning through a door. The man walks across the shot and puts his head into the room opposite from where he left. Shortly after him a woman follows him, fan in hand, peering to where the other three people are. Then it cuts to:

Shot 7: (still sounds of game playing, obnoxious laughs, and singing continues) A low angle shot of a door with two pairs of slippers and then:

Shot 8: (Singing) A floor shot of an elderly couple laying side by side, fanning themselves. There is a lamp and a tray of two glasses and a pitcher on the floor in front of their heads. Then:

Shot 9: (Singing and thumps, game playing) Just a shot of the elder man. He is lying down and the camera is aimed so his side profile is seen. He is fanning himself with a sort of annoyed facial expression. Then:

Shot 10: (Singing, thumps, and roulette) A side-profile of the elder women who is also lying down and fanning herself. She says something to the man and it cuts to:

Shot 11: (Singing, thumps, and roulette) Same as Shot 9. He gives a large sigh and then:

Shot 12: Same as Shot 8. (More obnoxious laughs, roulette sound)The couple talks for a bit and the fanning get more intense as we see:

Shot 13: (singing and obnoxious laughs continue) Same hallway as Shot 2. There are two people in the back ground talking while on the right side of the camera, a man and a woman quickly greet each other. The man leaves the shot to the right. Another woman comes up the stairs, goes through a door on the right side while the initial woman goes down the stairs and it cuts to:

Shot 14: Same hallway as Shot 3. The people are still there peering into a room, with a woman standing in the middle of the hallway, greeted by another woman. They are fanning themselves while watching the other room and the shot cuts to:

Shot 15: (singing continues) A shot in a different room where the band is playing. There are three people, a man on the left and right who are both playing guitars and a woman right in the middle playing an accordion. The man to the far right is singing and:

Shot 16: Same as Shot 9 and cuts to:

Shot 17: Same as Shot 10 and back to:

Shot 18: Same as Shot 9. (singing continues and flaps on the fan) He fans himself more heavily and gets up from his laying position into a sitting position where there is:

Shot 19: A low angle shot of him fanning himself but he blocks out the elder woman before she sits up as well. They are both sitting up, fanning themselves and both have pretty tired and annoyed facial expressions.

The main conflict in Ozu’s Tokyo Story, to me, is the conflict between parents and their children. Shige, one 

of the Hirayama’s daughters, does not to want to take care of her parents and since so, she recommends that she will pay for them to go a spa in Atami. The eldest son, Koichi, agrees with Shige’s notion. This spa, as seen in this scene, completely is not suitable for the older couple. It is too loud and too lively as the couple is trying to rest and relax due to their old age. They end up leaving early, much to Shige’s dismay because of a business meeting coming up, and she sends them off again to find somewhere else to stay.

I think my analysis doesn't focus on the Atami itself, but what led up to this specific scene that made it pivotal to me. This scene shows the difference between generations and cultural values, while comparing it to the selfish nature of people. Their children should have been able to take off a day of work to show their parents around Tokyo, but each child (except their widowed daughter-in-law) only keeps themselves in mind as different situations come up. In order to selfishly work for themselves, they send them to this spa in which they obviously did no research (and it was a cheap spa as well) and sent them off without thinking about what they really wanted. The parents ventured a long way to Tokyo to spend time with their children, not spend time with each other at a spa. While it is true that children eventually have to leave “the nest,” it doesn’t mean they can never return to it. It doesn't really hit the children that they should have spent more time with their parents, until after the death of their mother Tomi. I think Ozu wants people to realize that family is one of the most important things and once they are gone, they are gone. They can never come back and past conflicts can never be fixed once they leave.