I Wonder How My Uncle Is Doing: 'Tora-san, the Expert: Tora-san's Tropical Fever Special Edition' (1997, Shochiku, Yoji Yamada)

Text by Toshiaki Sato (Entertainment Film Researcher) Illustration by Koji Kondo

On August 4, 1996, I was in Shibamata, Katsushika. The day before, I had watched the sample video of the 48th film, 'Tora-san to the Rescue,' which had just arrived, in order to write an article. It was a hot day with the midsummer sun beating down, and I just really wanted to go to Shibamata, so I headed from the Kanamachi side along the Edogawa riverbank toward Taishakuten Daikyoji Temple.

It was just past noon, and when I looked toward Daikyoji Temple from the riverbank, a round, fluffy cloud had spread out over the temple, blocking the glaring sunlight and softening it. Just a round cloud over Daikyoji Temple—I thought to myself how strange things can be.

I would learn later that that was the day Kiyoshi Atsumi closed his 68-year life.

A year later, director Yoji Yamada decided to choose his 'favorite work' from the 'Tora-san' series and create a special edition with clear visuals and sound renewed to Dolby Surround. That was 'Tora-san, the Expert: Tora-san's Tropical Fever Special Edition.' At the time, George Lucas was producing 'Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope Special Edition' ahead of the release of 'Star Wars: Episode I.' Steven Spielberg was producing the 'Lawrence of Arabia Restored Version' with the master David Lean. In the global film industry, it had become a trend to digitally restore past masterpieces and present them as new works to the younger generation who had missed the originals.

Since we could no longer see new 'Tora-san' films, the idea was to choose one exceptional film and give it a fresh start, which is how the 'Tropical Fever Special Edition' was made.

Before that, 'Tora-san' had been revived twice. On September 12, 1996, director Yoji Yamada, Chieko Baisho, Gajiro Sato, Gin Maeda, Chieko Misaki, Masami Shimojo, Hisao Dazai, and others gathered in Shibamata to film a certain project. It was a photo shoot for a campaign poster titled 'Tokyo's Trash is Tough.' It featured visuals with an atmosphere where Tora-san was away on his travels, while the usual daily life continued at the Kurumaya in Shibamata.

At the end of that year, in the finale of 'The Man Who Catches the Rainbow' (1996), directed by Yoji Yamada and starring Toshiyuki Nishida, the protagonist Katsuo Shiragane, who runs a small movie theater in Tokushima, Shikoku, is humming the 'Tora-san' theme song while driving his car, and Tora-san is standing there on his travels. There was such a visual. Although it was a CG composite, Tora-san was continuing his journey energetically, and I was so happy about that that I went to the movie theater twice just to see that shot.

Eventually, in 1997, 'Tora-san's Tropical Fever Special Edition' was produced. 'Tokyo's Trash is Tough' depicted the Kuruma family, 'The Man Who Catches the Rainbow' featured Tora-san, and the 'Special Edition' depicted Mitsuo on his travels reminiscing about Tora-san. The daily lives of the people of 'Tora-san' continue; that is what is depicted in these three works.

At the beginning of the 'Special Edition,' Mitsuo, now a salesman, is taking a break and drinking a beer on a bench on the platform at Kozu Station on the JR Tokaido Line during a business trip, when a narration of Mitsuo saying, 'I wonder how my uncle is doing?' plays. When Mitsuo happens to look at the outbound platform behind him, a Tokaido Line train pulls in.

Through the window, Tora-san is standing there. Whether he noticed Mitsuo or not, he raises his right hand as usual and says, 'Yo!' Tora-san on his travels appears here as well. Whether this is Mitsuo's fantasy or reality, it doesn't matter. The moment Tora-san is standing there is captured on the screen.

From there, Mitsuo, who has boarded the train, reminisces about Tora-san and Lily. Their meeting as migratory birds in Abashiri in the 11th film, 'Tora-san's Forget-Me-Not,' their reunion in the 15th film, 'Tora-san's Rise and Fall,' Tora-san's aria about wanting to hold a recital for Lily, and their parting. The fact that the four corners of the screen are blurred like a photo album is a technique from director Keisuke Kinoshita's masterpiece 'Twenty-Four Eyes' (1955), which was also referenced in 'The Man Who Catches the Rainbow'.

These famous scenes of Tora-san and Lily at the beginning are a wonderful digest filled with director Yamada's thoughts. From there, the renewed 'Tropical Fever' begins.

For this work, all of Naozumi Yamamoto's music has been re-recorded. Moreover, it is the first in the series to be in stereo and Dolby Surround. The performance by the Tokyo New Philharmonic Orchestra is wonderful. The familiar 'Lily's Theme,' 'Tora-san's Theme,' and 'Shibamata's Theme' are included, of course, and the 'Tora and Lily's Theme,' written specifically for the Special Edition, is music that suggests the two are close and living together.

In 2011, on Disc 2 of the CD 'Tora-san's Music Journey Continued: Everyone's Tora-san,' which I produced, I included plenty of the music from this 'Tora-san's Tropical Fever Special Edition.' The thoughts of Naozumi Yamamoto and director Yoji Yamada to create music for Tora-san one more time after the series ended are packed into the sound.

In 'Tora-san's Tropical Fever,' Tora-san, who had finally confessed, 'Lily, will you settle down with me?' but ultimately failed, said, 'Be happy!' when he saw Lily off at Shibamata Station. A while later, the happy, happy final scene of his reunion with Lily at the bus stop in Nitsukeba, Tsumagoi Village, Agatsuma District, Gunma Prefecture. The new music that plays there. Following that, a shot of Mitsuo, who has returned from a business trip, stopping by the Kurumaya on the Taishakuten approach. The shop clerks Sanpei-chan (Masayasu Kitamura) and Kayo-chan (Mieko Suzuki) welcome Mitsuo back. The unchanging daily life is casually depicted. Sanpei-chan says to Mitsuo, 'Thank you for your hard work.' It is 'Thank you for your hard work' here as well.

Eventually, the camera capturing Mitsuo heading home along the approach rises above the approach. Mitsuo exchanges greetings with Bingoya (Koji Tsuyuki). The sound of a crow cawing and the sound of the bell that Gen-chan must be ringing can be heard. Just as the camera captures the Taishakuten gate, the Nitenmon, one phrase of the 'Tora-san' motif plays.

The newly filmed parts at the beginning and end are, so to speak, a frame, but this scene is a masterpiece by director Yoji Yamada. It is a wonderful ending filled with a warm gaze that accepts the fans' feelings for the 'Tora-san' series.

I planned 'Tora-san's Music Journey Continued' because I really wanted to include this series of music on the CD. This song, which I titled 'Mitsuo's Return Home: I Wonder How My Uncle Is Doing,' is what could be called the coda (finale) in classical music terms for the epic drama 'Tora-san,' which continued for 26 years and 48 films from 1969.

'I wonder how my uncle is doing.' Even if we aren't Mitsuo, we fans often find ourselves wondering, 'I wonder how Tora-san is doing.' The answer lies within the forty-eight films of the 'Otoko wa Tsurai yo' series, which Kiyoshi Atsumi, director Yoji Yamada, and a vast number of staff and cast members continued to create over twenty-six years. Whenever we watch the films, we can always, at any time and in any place, meet Tora-san, Sakura, Hiroshi, Mitsuo, Oichan, Obachan, Gozen-sama, Tako-shacho, and Gen-chan.

Furthermore, that passionate feeling of 'I wonder how Tora-san is doing' has come to fruition in forms such as director Yoji Yamada's original novel 'Kekko Kedarake (Akudo Shosetsu Torajiro no Kokuhaku)' and the Nippon Cultural Broadcasting program 'Minna no Tora-san,' and it continues to be passed down to the next generation. I always think that even now, Tora-san is out there under the open sky, doing just fine, as always.

Please enjoy the rest of this in 'Minna no Tora-san from 1969' (Alpha Beta Books).