One Bowl of Kakesoba

Overview

Set in Sapporo during the oil crisis of the early '70s, the film centers on the Hokkaitei soba stand run by a stoic patriarch and his perky wife. One New Year's day, a haggard-looking mother and her two adorable moppets poke their heads into the restaurant and ask for a single bowl of kakesoba. Noticing that the trio is looking a little low in the heels, she puts in an extra scoop of noodles. The youngest boy declares that the soba is delicious. The next year, the same threesome appears again asking for one bowl of kakesoba. This time the old man dumps in two helpings. He is struck by how much the youngest looks like their own son who was hit by a truck three years previous. The following year, the three return and this time the mother tells her story...

Cast

Tsunehiko Watase

Proprietor of Hokkaitei

Pinko Izumi

Mother

Shingo Tsurumi

Elder brother

Masaya Obi

Elder brother as a boy

Hidetsugu Takiguchi

Younger brother as a boy

Kōen Okumura

Leonard Kuma

Shingo Yanagisawa

Shino Ikenami

Kazumi Kawai

Masayo