General · EdgepediaOctober 3, 20265 min read

A Story of Yonosuke (横道世之介)

A Story of Yonosuke (横道世之介, Yokomichi Yonosuke) is a 2013 Japanese coming-of-age drama film directed by Shuichi Okita, adapted from Shuichi Yoshida's serialized newspaper novel of the same name. Set in 1987, it follows Yonosuke Yokomichi, an 18-year-old from the port city of Nagasaki who moves to Tokyo for university, and then jumps forward to show how the people who knew him remember him sixteen years later.¹^•²

Key fact	Detail
Japanese title / romaji	横道世之介 / Yokomichi Yonosuke³
Director and screenwriters	Shuichi Okita (director and co-writer) with Shiro Maeda as co-writer¹
Source	Novel by Shuichi Yoshida, serialized in the Mainichi Shimbun from April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009, published September 16, 2009³
Release	February 23, 2013 in Japan, distributed by Showgate; 160 minutes¹
Lead cast	Kengo Kora as Yonosuke, Yuriko Yoshitaka as Shoko Yosano, Sosuke Ikematsu as Ippei Kuramochi, Ayumi Ito as Chiharu Katase, Go Ayano as Yusuke Kato⁴
Theme song	"Ima wo Ikite" (今を生きて) by Asian Kung-Fu Generation⁵
Awards	Go Ayano won the New Actor Award at the 37th Japan Academy Prize (2014); Okita received the Blue Ribbon Award for Best Director for the film⁶^•⁷

Spoilers

Story and structure

The film opens in 1987, when Japan was at the peak of its economic boom. Yonosuke Yokomichi, born and raised in a port town in Nagasaki Prefecture, arrives in Tokyo to begin university life. He is described as good-natured and unable to refuse requests from others, with an unassuming boldness that draws people to him. Among those he meets are Ippei Kuramochi, whom he encounters at the entrance ceremony; Shoko Yosano, the sheltered daughter of a company president who takes a liking to him after they meet at a driving school; Chiharu Katase, a party girl; and his classmate Yusuke Kato.²^•¹

The narrative interweaves past and present. Sixteen years after Yonosuke's disappearance from their lives, the people who knew him recall the days they shared, and their memories paint a picture of his life and his whereabouts today. The Japan Foundation's synopsis notes that his friends know little of the selfless tragedy that befell their "ordinary" friend; the film's Japanese tagline states that in the middle of their memories, he is always smiling.²^•⁸

Production

The film adapts Yoshida Shuichi's novel, known for works such as Villain and Parade, which ran as a serial in the Mainichi Shimbun. Okita Shuichi, whose earlier features include The Chef of South Polar (2009) and The Woodsman and the Rain (2012), co-wrote the screenplay with Shiro Maeda, a playwright and novelist who leads the theater company Gotandadan. Cinematography was by Ryuto Kondo, art direction by Norifumi Ataka, and music by Ren Takada.¹^•⁵^•⁹

Nikkatsu served as planning and production coordinator, with production by the studio Kirishima 1945 and distribution by Showgate. The film was produced by a consortium including Nikkatsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Bandai Visual, Mainichi Newspapers, Amuse Soft Entertainment, Bungeishunju, Sony Music Entertainment, TV Tokyo, TV Osaka, BS Japan, and Yahoo! Japan.¹^•²

Filming took place on location in Nagasaki City (including Iojima, Kakinodori Benten Shirahama beach, and Kaminoshima-cho), Shinjuku in Tokyo (Hosei University and the Royal Park Hotel), Kawagoe in Saitama, Yokosuka in Kanagawa, and Shimoda in Shizuoka.² The protagonist attends Hosei University, which is also the novelist's real-life alma mater.¹⁰

Release and reception

The film premiered in Japan on February 23, 2013, opening at Shinjuku Piccadilly and 202 theaters nationwide.²^•¹¹ It screened in the Special Screenings section of the 2012 Tokyo International Film Festival and at the 2013 Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival, and made its North American premiere at the 12th New York Asian Film Festival on July 13, 2013 at Japan Society.¹^•¹² It later screened at festivals including Nippon Connection, the San Diego Asian Film Festival, and the Japanese Film Festival in Australia.¹³

Japanese home video came on August 7, 2013, with a Blu-ray special edition at 7,035 yen, a standard Blu-ray at 5,040 yen, and a DVD at 3,990 yen (all tax-inclusive). Third Window Films released the film on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom on April 14, 2014 with English subtitles; both editions later went out of print.¹¹^•¹⁴

Audience response in Japan has been sustained. On the review site Filmarks the film holds a 3.9 average from 59,830 user reviews, and on Kinenote it averages 80.6 points from 1,270 users.¹⁵^•¹⁶ On IMDb it rates 7.6 out of 10, and Rotten Tomatoes lists a Tomatometer of 86% from two critic reviews.¹⁷^•¹⁸

Critical view

Reviewers have noted the film's unhurried, low-conflict style. Time Out gave it three of five stars, calling it "sweet without becoming schmaltzy" and praising Kora's charming protagonist, while finding the modern-day scenes somewhat tacked on and the two-and-a-half-hour length longer than needed.¹⁹ The Japan Times' Mark Schilling, a veteran film critic for that paper, described it as an unconventional drama memorable for the fresh ways it answers "what will remain of us when we're gone?"²⁰ One review situates the film in the iyashi-kei (healing) tradition of Japanese media, noting its minimal camera movement, ambient sound design, and absence of a conventional climax, and reading its 1987 setting as nostalgia for a pre-1990s Japan of optimism and stability.²¹

A detail from the source novel's commentary: the name Yonosuke echoes the hero of Ihara Saikaku's Edo-period classic Koshoku ichidai otoko (The Life of an Amorous Man), and episodes about the name recur in the novel, though the film cuts them.⁶

References

Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026