This year marks the 40th birthday of arguably the most popular character in Japanese cinema — Tora-san. To celebrate the occasion, Shochiku is releasing the complete set of its Tora-san films, remastered and subtitled in English.
Released under the umbrella title of "Otoko wa tsurai yo" ("It's Tough Being a Man"), these films focused on Torajiro Kuruma (Tora-san), a rough-edged, irresponsible yet sincere, enterprising and basically decent fellow, who works as an itinerant peddler, returning periodically to his hometown, Shibamata in Tokyo's Katsushika Ward, and to the long-suffering family of which he is the black sheep.
Played with impeccable comic timing and a well-judged blend of tough and tender by Kiyoshi Atsumi, Tora-san brought pleasure to Japanese audiences for over a quarter of a century.
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