Donald Richie’s classic is, in the words of Yukio Mishima, an outrageous farce, and a pitiless indictment of all our false ‘human’ values. As an allegory of an ‘all-consuming’ Tokyo family cannibalizing each other in a Tokyo park, it attains the highest reaches of black humour.

A group of boys playing near the seashore in Tokyo find a goat, kill it in a tug of war for ownership, bury it with ceremony, and, except for one boy, run off in heedless laughter ready for more games.

A young man and a woman meet in the bath of a resort in Atami one evening. The young man then attempts to swoon the woman while in the meantime enjoying the city sights of the vacation town, all accompanied by a sensual jazz score.

A cat's inquisitive look interferes with the pleasurable sensations of a boy while masturbating.