Tatsuo Takano (Tatsuya Fuji, In the Realm of the Senses) is a celebrated tofu craftsman in the small town of Onomichi, on the coast of the Seto Inland Sea. He runs a shop with his daughter Haru (Kumiko Aso), who has ideas about innovating, and sells his tofu to a local supermarket. When a health scare arises their differences dissipate as the father feels a sudden need to find his daughter a life partner and sets out to interview prospective suitors, while a chance encounter at a hospital leads Tatsuo to strike up a friendship of his own. Tender, nostalgic and empathetic—Takano Tofu is a heart-warming ode to a vanishing way of life.

Peaceful days in a bucolic Japanese small town, a father-daughter story and a portrait of friendship: Takano Tofu follows in the tradition of Yasujirō Ozu in more ways than just its Onomichi setting. This is director Mitsuhiro Mihara's third film with lead Tatsuya Fuji following Village Photobook and Flavour of Happiness, all focusing around a character who “has a profession that he continues to perfect” and devoted to the concept of ichigo ichie— the unrepeatable nature of a moment. The attention to detail and quiet rhythms, shown through the lovingly depicted preparation of tofu with traditional techniques, grounds this gentle melodrama in the pathos of life's daily routine and the inevitability of change.