is a 1982 Japanese comedy film directed by

Yoji Yamada is a Japanese film director best known for his ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series of films and his Samurai Trilogy ('' The Twilight Samurai'', '' The Hidden Blade'' and '' Love and Honor''). Biography Yamada was born in Osaka, but due to his father' ...

. It stars

Kiyoshi Atsumi , born , was a Japanese actor. He is best known for portraying Tora-san in the Japanese comedy film series Otoko wa Tsurai yo, a role he played 48 times over 26 years. Life and career Atsumi was born in Tokyo suffering from childhood malnutr ...

as Torajirō Kuruma (Tora-san), and

Yūko Tanaka is a Japanese actress from Osaka Prefecture, Japan. She has won several acting awards during a long career working in both film and television, after she graduated from Meiji University. Life and career Early career At the beginning of her care ...

as his love interest or "Madonna". ''Tora-san, the Expert'' is the thirtieth entry in the popular, long-running ''

Otoko wa Tsurai yo is a Japanese film series starring Kiyoshi Atsumi as Torajirō Kuruma, whose nickname is , a kind-hearted vagabond who is always unlucky in love. The series itself is often referred to as "''Tora-san''" by its fans. Spanning 48 installments rel ...

'' series. This became the first Tora-san film to be released on DVD with English subtitles in 16:9 ratio when the Hong Kong label Panorama did so in 2006.

Synopsis

Tora-san gets into an argument with his uncle and sets out on the road again. In Kyushu he meets a young woman named Keiko and the shy zoologist Saburō, and attempts to play matchmaker between the two when they all return to Tokyo.

Cast

as Torajirō *

Chieko Baisho is a Japanese actress and singer. In Japan, she is well known for her performance as Sakura in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series from 1969 until 1995. In addition, she has acted in many films directed by Yōji Yamada since the 1960s. She won t ...

as Sakura *

as Keiko *

Kenji Sawada is a Japanese singer, composer, lyricist and actor, best known for being the vocalist for the Japanese rock band The Tigers. Nicknamed because of his self-professed adoration of Julie Andrews, he was born in Tsunoi, Iwami (now part of Totto ...

as Saburō *

Masami Shimojō was a Japanese film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 100 films. Career Hoping to become a film director, Shimojō traveled to Tokyo in 1935 but ended up joining a theater troupe, debuting on stage in 1936. He made his film debut in 194 ...

as Kuruma Tatsuzō * Chieko Misaki as Tsune Kuruma (Torajiro's aunt) *

Gin Maeda (born February 21, 1944) is a Japanese actor. He had a regular role in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' films, beginning with the first in the series (1969), as Sakura's husband. Filmography Film *''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' series (1969–2019), Hiroshi S ...

as Hiroshi Suwa *

Hisao Dazai Hisao (written: 央生, 久生, 久雄, 寿雄, 寿夫, 尚雄, 尚久 or 尚勇) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, Japanese voice actor *, Japanese government official *, Japanese baseball player *, Japa ...

as Boss (Umetarō Katsura) * Gajirō Satō as Genkō *

Hidetaka Yoshioka is a Japanese actor known for his performance in several movies as a child and the TV drama ''Dr. Kotō Shinryōjo, Dr. Coto's Clinic''. He played the part of Tora-san's nephew in the ''Otoko wa Tsurai yo'' film series, and he appeared in Akira ...

as Mitsuo Suwa * Asao Utada as Katsuzō Muta * Miyuki Kojima as Yukari Nomura * Haruko Mabuchi as Kinuko

Critical appraisal

, the star of the ''

'' series won the Best Actor prize at the

Blue Ribbon Awards The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan, established in 1950 by , established under the name of the "Association of Tokyo Film Journalists Award", which was formed mainly by film reporters from th ...

for his role in ''Tora-san, the Expert''. Co-star

was nominated for Best Actress at the Japan Academy Prize. The casting of Kenji Sawada, then one of Japan's most flamboyant rock stars, as the painfully shy Saburo, also drew attention.

Stuart Galbraith IV Stuart Eugene Galbraith IV (born December 29, 1965) is an American film historian, film critic, essayist, and audio commentator. Early life and education Raised in Livonia, Michigan, Galbraith first worked professionally as a film reviewer and ...

judges this film to be one of the best in the series, helped by Tanaka's outstanding performance. The German-language site molodezhnaja gives ''Tora-san, the Expert'' three and a half out of five stars.

Availability

''Tora-san, the Expert'' was released theatrically on December 28, 1982. In Japan, the film was released on videotape in 1986 and 1996, and in DVD format in 2005 and 2008.

References

Bibliography

English

* * * *

German

Japanese

* * * *

External links

''Tora-san, the Expert''
at www.tora-san.jp (official site) {{Yoji Yamada 1982 films Films directed by Yoji Yamada 1982 comedy films 1980s Japanese-language films Otoko wa Tsurai yo films Shochiku films Films with screenplays by Yôji Yamada Japanese sequel films 1980s Japanese films