A young girl searches for her long-lost brother in postwar Tokyo, clinging to hope and music amid the rubble of a broken Japan. Along the way, she touches the hearts of those around her with her resilience and song.
It chronicles the experiences of a neighbourhood doctor, whose taste for tonkatsu (a popular Japanese dish, similar to a pork schnitzel) earns him the nickname ‘the pork cutlet prince’ (‘Tonkatsu Taisho’, the film’s Japanese title) from the affectionate residents of the tenement in which he lives. When a local hospital, run by a female doctor, plans to expand, the future of the tenement is called into question.
