Yasuo (Hiroshi Abe) grew up as an orphan. He married a woman he loved and they had a son Akira (later played by Takumi Kitamura). Yasuo's life seemed great at the time, but his life totally changed after his wife died in accident. Since that time, Yasuo, who never experienced parents' love himself, has to raise his son Akira alone.
Acting
Hiroshi Abe's devastating restraint
Production
Meticulous Showa-era detail
Director
Takahisa Zeze
Hiroshi Abe
Yasuo Ichikawa
Takumi Kitamura
Akira Ichikawa
Anne Watanabe
Yumi
Yuko Oshima
Yukie
Kumiko Aso
Misako Ichikawa
Hiroko Yakushimaru
Taeko
Akaji Maro
Kaiun
Ken Yasuda
Mitsumo
Gaku Hamada
Hirosawa
Takashi Ukaji
CEO Bito
Toshinori Omi
Section Chief Hagimoto
Mutsuo Yoshioka
Kuzuhara
Shohei Uno
Toku-san
Mai Kiryu
Yasuko
Tetsushi Tanaka
Akiyuki Shimano
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
The title 'Tonbi' refers to a Japanese idiom about a clumsy, awkward person — deeply insulting in the 1960s setting but reclaimed here.
Director Takahisa Zeze spent years developing this after the novel's 1980 release, waiting for the right actor to age into Yasuo.
JP
