Really rotten, spoiled grandsons!
I recently saw another Japanese film on TCM from the late 50s/early 60s, can't recall the title, but it, too had featured two young boys, an grouchy older brother and impressionable younger one, who gave their parents The Silent Treatment b/c they couldn't have something/go somewhere. What they needed was a good spanking, as did the spoiled brats in this film! The parents just laughed off their children's complete disrespectfulness and selfishness. Is that the way Japanese children were raised back then? Is it like this now, with the children being spoiled and undisciplined, and running the show? I felt terrible for the grandparents who got not one speck of affection from these rude brats in "Tokyo Story"; even when the grandmother took the little one out for a walk, he completely ignored her. The grandparents stayed around long enough for the kids to have thawed towards them, but I'll bet they didn't.
It was a strange, too, to hear the grown children saying how "old" the folks were, with Mother being around 68! Things have changed, thank heavens. It was just the one daughter whom I felt was self-centered and impatient with her parents; the others seemed a bit better, but it was the daughter-in-law who made the biggest impression and was the most devastated at the death of the older woman. I loved her! In my opinion, this was a wonderful film, loved the actors and scenery, both inside and out. It sure made my back and legs hurt, watching the cast continually going from a kneeling position to standing and back again, the rooms, too, looked so closed-in; I felt claustrophobic! Loved it...