The Only Hat

                             

Shukichi blinks a lot and wears a small smile. 

Like his tone of voice, they seem say, "oh, it's alright. I don't mind that you have to work. A good doctor is a busy doctor. I'll go to bed." 

But inside he dies from living with the pain of knowing the suffering he caused to his children. Now, older, condemned to wonder, "am I a nuisance to them?"

Does he feign interest in the castle they pass or is he genuinely interested? He looks like a man trying to enjoy himself despite a deep and unforgettable pain—a despair—brought into clear relief when considers his children are not with him. I imagine him trying to mask the pain inside, saying to himself, "they would be here if only they weren't so busy."

He is of the old school, the generation on its way out and he is powerless now. His greatest effect on his children is the one he caused them years ago when he was a drinker. Now, he rides the bus with young strangers. He alone wears a hat and I cry for it. It's the first tears I have shed from Ozu. He is an old and discarded man.

                             

Tomi doesn't feel the same as her husband. She stares, unblinking—does she even look out a window?—as the sights go by. She neither has nor feigns interest in the Tokyo around them—she need not stuff her feelings down with pretty sights—she is not guilty: She raised her children as her husband drank. 

All the while, cheerful carnival music plays on to lure the viewer into a sense of, "isn't this nice?"

But these two didn't travel for three days to see Tokyo—they traveled for three days to see their kids and their kids got a babysitter and sent them to camp.

Noriko, the one who cares for them the most, smiles as always and pretends all is well.







Comments

  1. Campbell LozuawayOctober 30, 2021 at 11:11 AM

    This piece brought to you by David Campbell Lozuaway-McComsey.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Krishnan VenkateshNovember 3, 2021 at 9:31 PM

    A very deep insight about the hat. Thank you. Total isolation, a formality that tries to express a sense of cheerful occasion but is really an apology of sorts. He sees clearly what's happening in front of him but also that he cannot make the connection with any of his children except Kyoko.

    ReplyDelete

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