Perfect Days

Hirayama works as a public toilet cleaner for The Tokyo Toilet project in Tokyo's upscale Shibuya district, across town from his modest home in a middle-class neighbourhood east of the Sumida River. He repeats his structured, repetitive routine each day, starting at dawn. His pride in his work is apparent by its thoroughness and precision. He dedicates his free time to his passion for music cassettes, which he listens to in his van to and from work, and to his books (Faulkner, Kōda, Highsmith), which he reads every night before going to sleep. His dreams are shown in flickery impressionistic black-and-white sequences at the end of every day. Hirayama is also fond of trees and spends time gardening and photographing trees. He eats a sandwich every day in the shade under trees in the grounds of a shrine, and takes film photos of their branches and leaves and the 'Komorebi' (木漏れ日) – sunlight filtered by the leaves. Hirayama's love of trees is contrasted with the repeated appearance of the Tokyo Skytree during his drives and bike rides through the city. Hirayama's young assistant, Takashi, is often late, loud, and not as thorough. One day, a young woman named Aya calls on Takashi at the toilet he is cleaning, so he hurries to finish. He tries to leave with Aya, but his motorbike will not start, so he persuades Hirayama to let him use his van. When Aya says Takashi can stay with her as she works at a girls bar, he complains that he is broke. Unbeknownst to Hirayama, Takashi slips Hirayama's Patti Smith tape into Aya's purse. Takashi talks Hirayama into going into a shop to get some of his cassettes appraised. When Takashi discovers they are valuable, he urges Hirayama to sell but Hirayama refuses, giving him some cash so he can take Aya out. When Hirayama runs out of fuel, he is forced to sell a cassette for fuel money. Hirayama commences a tic-tac-toe game with a stranger after finding a piece of paper left hidden in a stall. The game continues over the course of the film. He exchanges furtive glances with a woman eating lunch one bench over. Aya catches up with Hirayama to return his cassette. She asks to play it in his van one last time, and then gives him a thank-you kiss on the cheek, leaving him visibly startled. On his free day, Hirayama does his laundry, takes the film with his tree photos to be developed, cleans his flat, buys a new book, and dines at a restaurant where the proprietor shares gossip with him. Niko, Hirayama's niece, shows up unannounced, having run away from his wealthy estranged sister Keiko's home. Hirayama lets Niko accompany him to work during the next two days. They photograph the trees in the park and ride bikes together. Eventually, Keiko comes to pick up Niko in a chauffeured car. Keiko tells him that their father's dementia has worsened and asks whether Hirayama will visit him in the nursing home where he lives. She says that he does not recognise anything anymore and will not behave the way he did before. Hirayama sorrowfully refuses but hugs his sister goodbye. Before she leaves, she asks him whether he really cleans toilets for a living, and he says yes. As they drive away, Hirayama begins to cry inconsolably. The next day, Takashi quits without giving notice, leaving Hirayama to cover his shift. Later, as Hirayama goes to his usual restaurant, he sees the female proprietor embracing a man. Hirayama hurries off, buying cigarettes and three bottled highballs to consume at a nearby riverbank. The man Hirayama saw at the restaurant approaches and asks him for a cigarette. The man tells him the restaurant proprietor is his ex-wife whom he had not seen in seven years, and that she opened her restaurant the year after divorcing him. He says he visited her to make peace before he dies of cancer, telling Hirayama to look after her. Hirayama lightens the mood by offering him a drink and inviting him to play shadow tag, and they eventually part ways. The following morning, Hirayama begins another workweek. As he drives his van and listens to Nina Simone sing "Feeling Good", a range of powerful emotions wash over his face.

Plot from Perfect DaysCC BY-SA 4.0