Tokyo Story: Onomichi, Atami and Tokyo

Tokyo Story begins and ends in Onomichi, where retired couple Shūkichi and Tomi Hirayama live with their daughter Kyōko. The film's famous dawn scene was shot in the grounds of Jōdo-ji: on the morning after Tomi dies, Shūkichi and his daughter-in-law Noriko watch the sun come up. The 3 a.m. shoot drew about 2,000 onlookers to the small temple yard. Past the gate you can still see the main hall, built in 1327, the Amida hall and the pagoda.

Visitor guidance: Jōdo-ji is a temple in Onomichi; the main hall, Amida hall and pagoda stand just inside the gate.

In Tokyo the Hirayamas first go to their eldest son Kōichi, a doctor with a small clinic in the suburbs. Adachi is one of the Tokyo wards where the film was shot, and its listing of locations includes a shot of the Arakawa embankment. The clinic is a film set, so the pin only marks the Arakawa riverside area of Adachi.

Location precision: The clinic's exact street is not documented in the sources; the pin marks the Arakawa riverside area of Adachi where the film was shot.

Kōichi and his sister pay for their parents to stay at a hot spring spa in Atami, but the old couple come back early because the nightlife keeps them awake. That seawall no longer exists, so the pin marks the Atami beachfront instead. Atami has been a hot spring resort since the 8th century.

Location precision: The seawall seen in the film no longer exists; the pin marks the Atami beachfront nearby.

Visitor guidance: Atami's beachfront lies near the town's hot spring district.

Back from Atami, the couple spend the afternoon in Ueno Park before splitting up to seek accommodations for the night. In the film, Shūkichi and Tomi are shown at the old front gate of Kan'ei-ji temple, whose land the park later took over. The park itself was established in 1873 on former temple land.

Location precision: The film shows spots around the park, such as the old Kan'ei-ji gate; the pin marks the park centre.

Visitor guidance: Ueno Park is a public park in Taitō, Tokyo.

On the way home the couple leave from Tokyo Station, where the film shows the Yaesu-side departure board and ticket gate. Its waiting area is one of the few indoor places in the film not shot on a studio set. During the journey Tomi suddenly becomes ill. The station opened on December 20, 1914.

Visitor guidance: Tokyo Station is in the Marunouchi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo.

Tomi and Shūkichi plan to see their younger son Keizō when the train stops in Osaka. The film marks that stop with a short shot of Osaka Castle's main keep, a brief glimpse of the city rather than a scene. Osaka is also one of the four places named as filming locations, with Tokyo, Onomichi and Atami. The keep you can see today is the ferroconcrete one built in 1931.

Visitor guidance: The keep stands in the grounds of Osaka Castle.