Actress Chieko Baisho (84), Takuya Kimura (52), and director Yoji Yamada (94) appeared at a stage greeting event in Osaka for the upcoming film TOKYO Taxi (opening November 21).

Baisho and Kimura previously co-starred in Hayao Miyazaki’s 2004 animated classic Howl’s Moving Castle. “At that time, it was animation, so we only worked together through our voices,” Baisho recalled, before sharing her thoughts on reuniting with Kimura in live action for the first time.

In TOKYO Taxi, Kimura plays a taxi driver while Baisho appears as his passenger. “I mostly saw his back,” she said with a smile. “But I couldn’t help noticing how large Kimura’s eyes looked in the rearview mirror.” Drawing laughter from the audience, she added, “He’s the opposite of Kiyoshi Atsumi, who had small eyes. Kimura has such powerful eyes.”

The film is based on the French hit Driving Madeleine, which topped France’s box office upon release in 2022. Yamada, who has spent decades portraying Japanese life from the Showa to Reiwa eras, now turns his attention to modern-day Tokyo, its transformations, its humanity, and its quiet joys.

The story follows taxi driver Koji Usami (Kimura), who works nonstop to cover his daughter’s school tuition, car inspection costs, and home lease renewal fees. One day, he receives a request to drive Sumire Takano (Baisho), an 85-year-old lady, from Tokyo’s Shibamata to a senior home in Hayama, Kanagawa. During the journey, Sumire asks to make a few detours to visit meaningful places for what she calls her “farewell tour of Tokyo.” As they travel through the city, what begins as a one-day drive slowly becomes a journey that transforms both of their lives.

Source : ORICON NEWS