BEING TWO ISN'T EASY
Original Story: MATSUDA Michio Sreenplay: WADA Natsuto Planning: FUJII Hiroaki
Photography: KOBAYASHI Setsuo
Music: AKUTAGAWA Yasushi
Directed by: ICHIKAWA Kon
The first thing I saw after I was born...
.. were shadows.
Moving all the time,
they were the rays of the sun,
or leaves in the wind,
or red toys hanging from the ceiling,
or, perhaps, faces with dark eyes
or nurses in white dresses.
But I found this things out long after.
I felt like I was floating in a tranquil wind.
Sometimes I heard other noises, like big waves.
And I would move my arms and legs.
Then, I felt the weight of my body for the first time.
And moved my hands and feet.
I felt lonely when I was cold and hungry.
When I think I am all alone, I am sad.
He has smiled.
My baby can smile.
He knows his Mommy.
He's happy to see her.
Smile again for Mommy!
We'll tell Daddy when he comes home that you have smiled.
You smiled at Mommy!
I was only trying out my muscles.
I just moved my facial muscles a little.
The lady who thought I smiled is my mother.
Only 19 days old...
.. I didn 't know you were my mother.
I thought you were...
.. just a nice shadow.
That's my boy! Good! Good!
Look! Ta-chan can walk!
Quitting already? Keep at it! You're a boy.
This impatient man seems to be my father.
These are my first steps alone,
so my feet wobble.
I am human being.
I don 't know whether I am a boy or not,
but I'm a human being.
I can 't walk a lot, at fiest, like other animals.
What is it?
What's the matter?
Let go of him!
Not so tight! He can't breathe!
Look at him! He's all hot and sweaty!
He was napping, so I was in the kitchen,
next thing, he was up there!
He might have fallen if I had called him, so I held my breath to get him!
I was terrified...
If he falls, it's the end for him.
I think wooden Japanese houses are the best for babies.
Apartments are dangerous.
Don't you make your living from them?!
Isn't he heavy?!
He'll be a handful,
from now on, until he goes to kindergarten.
Mine were also a handful.
Watch him constantly.
- We made a fence. - A fence?!
At the door.
Daddy. Potty.
Don't lie, you just went!
Take your nap.
I fixed your crib.
Sleep, baby.
Go to sleep! Understand?
I'm home!
He won't sleep!
So hot and crowded at the beauty parlor! Am I late?
Did you behave with Daddy? That's a good boy.
Look this way.
- Funny? - It's nice. Very pretty.
Looks nice all the time.
Before he was born, we went out on Sundays.
- Let's go see a movie. - He didn't wet his crib?
I just took him.
He knows we come if he says ''potty''. It's to get out.
He left all this...
You should have fed him everything.
- He wouldn't eat. - You didn't try!
You don't love him enough to make him eat.
Don't joke!
I'm sweating to make his fence!
It takes me an hour to feed him,
30 minutes to prepare it, 41 / 2 hours a day
Same hours as office work.
The other hours smoking or baseball talk.
It's worse for me.
You don't have to bow down as I do.
It's not the same thing.
- He's not hurt! - How did he get out!
Tying with a string doesn't work.
- I fixed the screw. - He loosens it!
- Nail it down? - Can't close the bed. We're cramped.
I give up.
- Look here son, behave yourself! - So naughty lately!
Undoing strings and screws is very hard.
But I learned how. Why won 't they praise me?!
Always finding fault. That's why grown-ups are unhappy.
Ta-chan, stand up.
Just right. Can't get out now.
I want to grow up fast!
Well? Isn't Daddy clever? Impressed?
Great, you admire me.
Those who do are great. My fool of a boss doesn't.
Doggie.
It's taking a walk.
Does it hurt?
The doctor says it's all right.
Two teeth marks, bled a little, the doctor put medicine on it.
It's all right if the dog doesn't have rabies.
He said to check the dog. I had a hard time finding the owner.
It had shots, but he took it to a veterinarian. It's okay.
If you'd asked first, you needn't have searched.
But he apologized, and it wasn't a serious wound.
- I couldn't have acted like a cop! - I'd have asked!
I hate dog owners! Can't love people, so they love dogs!
I had a dog when I was a child.
Mother said rising children with dogs was a fine thing.
It gives children something to love.
Aren't we enough for him?
Let's take him to the ZOO next week! He'll love it!
''LOST CHILDREN'S ROOM''
A girl, three years old, wearing a red and white dress.
If you're looking for her, please come to our office.
I'm not lost! It's my father who got lost!
Something's wrong with parents who lose their children.
Was I abandoned? All right, I'll never go home!
I'm thirsty. Give me some tea.
What a noise! Such crying! My voice is the loudest!
- Are you the mother? - Yes. I'm very grateful.
So many lost children?!
Yes, it'd save us time if they had tags, like your child.
It's bets not to lose them.
Stop crying.
There he is!
You lost him as soon as I went to the bathroom!
It's too stupid! What kind of a mother are you?
I thought you had more sense!
- I'm going home. - Going home?
I'm silly, stupid and not fit to be a mother!
I'm going home.
Don't be silly!
Don't make a scene! Everyone's looking at us.
Look, I apologize. I'm sorry.
Here we are and he's only interested in the monkeys.
They seem like people. Isn't that why?
He's still too young.
In his picture book elephants are so small.
The real ones are too big.
The dog that bit him was small. He thought it was a friend.
- Dogs are big when they stand up. - Babies don't know that!
His temperature is low. Only about 97 degrees.
- But something's wrong... - I'm so worried.. What'll I do?
He hasn't eaten at all, he can't hold food No fever, but he sleeps.
- Children's dysentery? - D'you think so?!
Were you out yesterday? You must have fed him something bad!
- To the ZOO. We took our own food. - I'll call a doctor.
The apartment clinic, please!
Exceptions occur, but usually there's a fever with diarrhea.
- It's autointoxication. - What's that?
A children's nervous disorder,
It happens to highly-strung or pampered children.
If something new upsets them, they react this way.
- Do they ever die? - No. Never.
It usually happens to older children. He's precocious.
I had it often from age three to six.
How's our Taro?
He scared us. He seems better.
But he was limp when I phoned this morning. I was so worried...
- I'm glad he's well. - Careful! He'll start again!
Potty, Ta-chan ?
- Didn't you take him? - Yes, I did.
- I'm so groggy! - Is there an ant or a bee?
Bee?
Stop playing. Take it off.
Nothing...
None here.
Be still! Hurry, or you'll catch cold!
Let him be.
But, the neighbors...
Hungry? Feed him something.
He had tea and candy. He's begun to hold his food.
The doctor said to feed him.
He's only an assistant.
Don't call him if you don't trust him!
Give him milk.
You shouldn't trust everything he says.
Drink it slowly.
See? It's good for him. Give him a lot.
Foreigners drink a lot as children, so they're big.
Five or six bottles a day?
When you'll be paid as well as foreigners, I'll buy that many.
Go to sleep. Sleep tight and grow up big.
I am not sleepy. I was sick but now I'm fine,
and full of energy.
I slept in the daytime, I'm not sleepy now.
I want to play now.
My parents never catch on. Really!
It's not fair that you sleep!
Very good!
Surprised, the Daruma falls down.
He looks like my boss.
Down with him! Down with him!
Daddy left, saying he was sleepy.
How silly, it's raining. Where does he go each day?
Why doesn 't he work at home, like Mommy does?
Does he go to beat up the bad boss?
He's not big enough. He should drink more milk.
- A child fell! From the second floor! - Whose child?
I don't know! Next apartment! Girl with rampers on!
That's my apartment. It's Kazuko.
Is she dead? Was she taken to the hospital?
A milkman below caught her, not even a scratch!
Wow, wasn't that nice!
When I heard about it, I couldn 't help myself running over.
Ta-chan 's fine.
It wasn't that I don't trust you. I ran without thinking.
I'm sure it's God that caught Kazuko.
- The milkman?! - But, of courde, you can call it luck.
You're right, it's God.
- Wasn't it wonderful? - It really was
We need a nursery...
We have to keep babies in, or watch them all the time.
No freedom for parents; kids are so nervewracking!
Our office says nurseries are for the poor, not for apartment dwellers.
No help there, so we talked about opening one ourselves.
Ourselves?!
A couple of mothers with children. There'll be more now.
Count me in, too!
- He's so small, though... - He's not a baby anymore.
No, before we know it, they're not babies anymore, they're children.
My son has the measles!
He has played with Taro, so I came to tell you and apologize.
Any fever?
High. He won't eat. He'll get shots, so he'll be safe.
At the clinic?
We don't go there, but I think I will.
There, there, all through. Don't cry.
These shots just make it easier.
How light, doctor?
A rash after a few days of low fever.
- He needn't stay to bed. - Atsushi-chan has a 1 20 fever.
- It'll last about four days. - So long?!
- Poor boy! Taro's lucky. - Thank Atsushi.
- Yes, really. - That mother's a fine woman.
She needed courage to admit her son may have given a disease.
She behaved admirably.
Please, come in.
Her brother had the measles last week. Give her a shot, please.
It's of no use.
I'll pay, even if it's expensive.
No, it's too late. She's been exposed for a whole week.
Six days is the limit.
- She's got it. - No, it's only a cold.
Early simptoms are similar.
It's the measles.
Keep her in, so she doesn't spread it.
He's safe. Better catch it.
- On purpose?! - Sots are good for 3 weeks.
If he doesn't catch it, all his pain is for nothing.
Here, you're welcome to it!
Here!
I'm sorry to make you do it.
I'm not much help.
Taro-chan was a baby so recently, yet I can't handle one now.
After seven years, I had to look up things, too.
Toshikazu-chan is in 2nd grade, isn't he?
What cute little feet!
I first saw her through a glass partition
She's a fat little thing.
Just a sec, sis'.
Toshikazu asked me the other day if I used to bathe him too.
''Babies are bathed every day''; guess what he said?
''How hard for you, mother!''
I was really glad I had him when I heard that.
This child is a girl.
So she'll have the same hard times with her babies.
But boys will never know. Yet, Toshikazu understood.
- He must love Emi-chan. - Too much!
His grandmother spoils him, so I was worried.
But he's more reliable now.
Grandmother must be a problem... Excuse me!
My husband's the eldest. I'm resigned to it.
But she really amazes me.
I've bathed Emi alone since my return from hospital.
If the baby got hurt, she says she couldn't forgive herself.
She just doesn't want to be bothered with helping me.
- After-childbirth care is important. - But she doesn't care!
I'd like a garden like this for Taro.
- I'd gladly change with you. No!
- If she heard that... - She's late. Where did she go?
Buying her two grandchildren things to eat.
- Candy?! - I tried telling her to stop, but I've given up
Wet herself?
She's thirsty. She always want swater after her bath.
- Do you let her?! - A tiny cupf boiled water. She loves it.
It's a wonder you can live in such a vault-like place.
I'd have come for you if I'd have known.
We haven't married since I got married, have we?
I joined the Agricultural Union. We take trips twice a year.
It's easier now. My youngest child is in grade schol now.
Eight children?!
Our women used to be prolific, but I'm the only now.
A shame you only have one child.
I'd like to have another.
Stingy, have ten!
That's impossible for an office worker's family!
It's hard for farmers, too.
When all those kids cried, I felt like killing two or three.
But I can't tell you nice it is to see them grown up now.
I only bore them and fed them. But they've all become fine people.
- That's only natural! - It isn't.
It's a world of rockets and missiles now.
Man can do anything, it seems,
but can he invent a machine to have children?
Only women can bear children Only we can do that.
I never thought of that.
They're truly our treasures.
Three out of school, so it'll be easier soon.
By the way, Chiyo, can you lend me 5,000 yen ?
- 5,000 yen ?! - Life in the country's getting much easier.
I want a refrigerator, but the downpayment is 12,000 yen.
I have 7,000. It's off-season, so they'll make it cheap.
I want the children to have cold drinks.
Give up your trips and buy it.
That's a different story. Not my good times!
No wonder you bore eight children. It's big money!
Just until the end of the year.
I'll return it when the kids get their bonuses.
I don't have an extra 5,000 yen.
When you were a baby, I was like a mother to you!
So I love you the most. You're about the only one I write to.
Forget what I've just said, I'll find another way to buy it.
I didn't come to pick up a fight.
When parents die, sisters drift apart.
Let's try to keep close to each other.
- I must go now. - Stay until Goro returns.
No, I'm with a group.
- Coming again? - I'm not sure.
- Isn't he sweet? - Yes, he is.
- Kids really make us forget things. - Looking at him makes me smile.
Has anything happened at the office?
Let's talk.
My brother phoned and I met hm after work.
That's why I got back home late.
- He's been transfered to Osaka. - Osaka?! What about his family?
He'll have to stay for four or five years.
- Are they all moving? - That's the problem.
Mother hates strange places. She's remaining here.
All alone in the house?
He wants us to live with her.
Did you give him an answer?
Not right away.
The tea 's not cold.
The others have gone away. I'm her only son in Tokyo.
It's a demotion, so my brother's upset. I couldn't just refuse.
What do you intend to do? Do you want to move in?
It depends on you.
You're worried about the promise you made to me when we married.
It's all right with me.
- What is? - Living with your mother.
Really?!
Thank you. To tell you the truth, I was worried about leaving her alone.
I think I can do better than Setsuko.
She's some bother. She complained a lot to my brother.
I'll be more open.
Living together, I think it's most important...
.. that we understand each other and learn to give and to take.
My brother will pay for her board.
No rent, it's her house. That'll be a big help.
Handy with an old person around.
As it is, we can't be free until he goes to junior high school.
A house is a better place to raise a child than an apartment.
- This is too small for a larger family. - Larger?
Another baby.
No more babies for me.
- Even if I say I want another one? - More trouble?!
Have it, afterwards...
.. he won't drink milk, drinks too much, sick tummy, a cold,
vaccination, shots, cramps, eczema,
measles, bruises, polio,
earthquake, fire and thunder, all in one! No peace at all!
- What? - You're not at home. I'm the one who has no peace.
That's not so.
If you're upset, I feel it and become upset too.
- You really are selfish. - What if I am?
Afraid to leave your mother alone, you say.
But you want to make her baby-sit, so we can go out?!
You can't say that.
- You hate it here, you want to move out. - I don't!
- Wanting another baby! Stupid! - Yes, I'm stupid!
Potty? Let's get up.
- Good boy, Ta-chan. - Banana moon.
Where?
He's right. It's the moon.
Come here a minute, dear.
- He said: ''banana moon. '' - ''Banana moon''?
- So it is... - Why does he love it so?
Even in daytime, he can find it. It's hard to find then...
They say she's my grandmother.
She loves playing even the simplest games with me.
No, don't pick the flowers!
- They're grandmother's! - Never mind. There're lots of them.
- I'll do it. - You needn't, grandmother.
- Children like pretty things. - He'll throw them away.
Never mind.
He might pick other people's.
Flowers are to look at and they're alive.
It's the first lesson in social morality.
You only want pretty flowers, but Mommy's mad. Isn't it funny?
Tumbled again! Really!
Fall.
You didn't fall, you tumbled.
Can you get up alone? Good boy.
What happened?
Please, leave him alone, grandma. He's trying to get up.
Aren't you hurt?
He's dirtied his forehead. Poor thing! There, there.
He's not hurt. It happens all the time. He's used to it.
If he was hurt, he'd cry. We mustn't teaach him to be weak.
Mommy's mad again? Yes, yes, I'm sorry.
Does it hurt? Does it hurt?
Grandma asked me so many times, I began thinking it really hurt.
She used to give me a cracker when I cried.
I love grandma.
He's caught a cold. I'd hate to think I let it happen.
No one said that.
Thin clothes are good to the skin, but he'd wear more in the fall. It's cold
It's his constitution. When seasons change he'll get well. Don't worry.
Chiyo-san says so too, but we must be careful.
Toshikazu coughed like this at first, and then it tuned into asthma.
You fuss too much. He wrote he hasn't had an attack in Osaka.
Does it mean my fussing made him get attack?
That's plain silly!
Poor thing, he coughs, but he can't even see a dcotor.
He has no fever, but he coughs and wheezes.
He plays, but he threw up his milk.
Threw up?! Does he cough like this?
No, it's not that severe.
Not the whoopping cough.
Usually it's the whooping cough when they throw up.
Let me see.
Back.
Leave his shirt on. Just rollit up.
A clogged throat makes him wheeze, asthmatic bronchitis.
- Asthma? - Not an adult's athma.
- I see... - Excessive bronchial secretion.
Will it become asthma?
About one third of the children have the same constitution.
But only one in fifty get it.
It's a sort of nervous disorder. Too much fussing causes it.
Don't worry to much.
He'll be fine by the time he enters school.
Fool!
Don't force him. I'll trick him into taking it.
Don't if he doesn't like it.
A shot've been better. I'll take him tomorrow.
The medicine tastes bad, but it must be taken.
Mix it with sugar.
He drank some, didn't he?
It makes him cough all the more. Please, doctor, a shot.
It's his constitution. Shots won't cure him.
It may only help temporaily.
That's why. Please, make him stop coughing now.
- Shots won't help his cough. - Very well, we'll go elsewhere!
Do that! Shots are all some doctors are good at.
It won't be long now.
I'll buy you a red fire engine.
He coughs in the morning, at night at 2 a. m. and then...
He coughs?
A shot for bronchitis.
Add a glucose shot, too.
What do you mean ''add''? Can 't you hear I'm crying?
We babies put up with anything for a toy.
It's not fair, taking advantage of this.
My parents love and I love them.
But even they make me take nasty medicine.
I don 't trust grown ups.
Listen, I'm really trying...
As hard as I did for my junior high relay race...
I was the winner.
- Mother means well... - Don't tell me that!
A washing machine's faster but she uses the tub.
She says it's cheape and easier on the clothes.
- She hasn't enough to do. Let her. - Gladly, if that was all!
But she keeps saying her back aches! I get fed up!
I have to do everything, before she gets to it.
You never help me. Not even with the bedding.
Mother said to stop doing it.
- Mother did? Why?! - Ssh. Not so loud. She'll hear you.
Why?
A man shouldn't do housework.
I said it was a question of who was free, that was all.
True.
But she says not to, here. Someone might see me.
You see?!
She won't try to understand our ways!
Ta-chan won't mind us anymore.
It's her fault, always interfering. I can't bring him up properly.
Don't blame me if he doesn't turn out well.
Do something, dear, or I'll go out of my mind.
But, I can't get rid of Taro, or mother, can I?
Setsuko-san was lucky to run awy to Osaka.
Don't say that, she's my mother.
But those shots... How many days did she go...
He still coughed, so she gave up.
And then, his cough stopped.
She'll catch on in time.
Such a bother! She offended the doctor.
I had to apologize.
It's funny the way Ta-chan gets sick.
Does he take after you? I was never sick as a child.
- I was, a lot. - It's hereditary!
Stop saying that. Other kids get sick, too.
No, I know it's so.
Look at the way he sleeps. Just like you.
Think so?
Will you buy a TV?
- TV?! - For mother.
Then she won't be a b other anymore. Just the thing to kill time.
I'm not going broke to help her kill time.
- She is your mother, isn't she? - No way to get back at me.
I can't tear Ta-chan away from our neighbor's set.
Cartoons during supper time.
He likes cartoons already?
Stop it! You're making me cough.
I'm busy. Go and play by yourself.
Why're you so naughty?
We're home.
Welcome home.
Why do so any people go to department stores?
I'm so tired... Are you, Chiyo-san ?
Thanks for comng with me.
- A present. - What is it?
Cakes.
- Ta-chan ? - Isn't he here?
Ta-chan !
- Is he outside? - No, he was playing around here.
- Ta-chan ! - Ta-chan !
Ta-chan ! Hey, Ta-chan !
What're you doing?
He's limp. A doctor!
There's no time!
Water.
Won't drink much.
He's sleeping again.
I almost lost my life.
Then the trouble began again.
Grandma and mommy really gave it to daddy.
It doesn 't pay to be a man.
He has to go to work, even if he's scolded...
.. to bring home the bacon.
Goro, you die! How can you apologize to Chiyo-san ?
I said to be careful with plastic bags!
Yes!
The laundry came in it.
I thought I had put everything away.
- You shouldn't bother! - Always like that!
Dying to help, but you won't do anything properly! Look at the result!
Right! If you had put it away, it wouldn't have been on the floor!
Maybe it wasn't the laundry bag.
He may have pulled it out.
We aren't that careless.
All children his age ransack drawers and mess up clothes.
Dangerous things are out of their reach.
- How else d'you think we raise them? - You're right, mother!
You bought a TV set. Don't always watch sporrts. Study!
There're lots of good programs.
Plastic bags are deadly for babies.
A baby doctor said so last week on TV.
I can't watch TV during the day.
A high-brow before marriage!
Now you only read newspapers and magazines.
Papers have useful news.
Nowadays TV has cultural programs.
You'll become an idiot.
Say hello to Ichiro. Tell him I'm well.
- I will. - Take care.
Don't worry. it's only a three day trip.
In three days there can be a train wreck.
What present do you want?
A boat.
A boat? What kind of boat?
- Shin has a yacht. A wooden one - Water too?
That's a hard one.
- What? - Water.
That's right. Boats float on water.
For grandma too.
He says a present for grandma too.
You make me so happy, Ta-chan .
All right! All right! I'll buy presents for everyone.
Another death.
A speeding motocyclist crashed into a pole. Killed instantly.
Only 21.
No feelings at all for his parents who raised him.
Good riddance! Serves him right!
Boys who think they grew up alone can go ahead and die!
Japan's overpopulated, isn't it, Chiyo-san ?
You're right.
The fewer useless people, the better.
Were we too noisy for Taro to take his nap?
He is sound asleep.
Legs apart. Exactly like Goro when he was small.
- I'll clean up. - Yes, please.
Oh the tray, I forgot it.
Anything the matter?
Mother!
- What's the matter? - I thought it was her.
Mother?
You were with Ta-chan .
I thought no one was here. Don't scare me.
- Where'd you go? - To the bathroom.
- Oh, there... Here. - What?
It rolled.
- Why? - I don't know.
When I got up, I guess.
Even after a month, it seems strange without mother.
- It's lonely. Only 21 / 2 instead of 31 / 2. - Half?
- Ta-chan . - He's only half?
Anyway, mother went peacefully. That's a comfort.
She chatted, reached for a tray and that was the end.
- I feel so responsible. - Because I was away?
I was in the same house, but I didn't see her go.
When I came, she...
Never mind. Don't cry again.
Didn't you know she had high blood pressure?
Never knew it.
- She didn't, either? - She seemed well...
- We should've been careful. - But she's dead.
Don't talk that way!
What is it?
Potty?
Grandmother?
She's half asleep.
Come.
She went far away on a trip.
But she's watching to see if you're a good boy.
- Present. - Present?
When you're bigger, she'll return with lots of presents.
Where'd you come from?
Home.
Home's where you are. Before you were born?
- Silly. - But...
What was it like before you were born?
A pretty place with flowers.
- Dark? Scarry? - It wasn't, was it?
God was there?
Buddha?
I don't know.
- You go back when you die? - I wonder...
It'd be nice, if someone knew...
Everyone fogets when he's born. What a shame...
Potty.
The day before she died, she read about a motorcycle accident.
She was angry; she said: ''The more who died, the better. ''
She followed her own advice?
Nonsense!
- She'd improved lately. - True.
The TV said old people should have interesting things to do.
That day, she got her friends together to take up dyeing.
They were going to find a teacher.
She said she'd give me what she made first!
That she'd give it to me!
She wasn't bad at all! She was really nice.
I'm really glad to hear you say that.
Since we've moved here, I've been watching her and Ta-chan .
For the first time, I understood family ties.
From parents, to children, to grandchildren.
That's why they have meaning.
A sad world it'd be, if there were no children.
You've really become an adult.
Me? Have I?
Don't you feel you'd like another child?
If it happens...
Is it for a baby? Are we having another one?
Hardly... It's a sweater for Ta-chan .
Come here, Ta-chan . It's your cake.
Moon.
- Moon again. - It's not a banana moon.
- Grandmother. - Where?!
Remember? You said she went far away on a trip.
He might think she's there.
She went on a rocket? Would he know that!
He wouldn't know that...
You said she'd know, if he was a good boy.
He thinks she can see him from the moon.
How would he know that?! Silly woman!
Still, he might just know...
Turn off the light.
I'm 2 years old, so I have 2 candles on my cake.
Grandmother would have had lots.
They'd have been brighter than the moon.
Too many to put on this cake.
Blow them out.
I am two years old. My name is Taro.
This is my father.
This is my mother.
I used to be a baby.
I am big now!
I was born from my mother.
I am growing very fast.
I will become a man.
- THE END -