Perfect Days: Wim Wenders’ reflection on ageing, told through the toilets of Tokyo

By Hyunseon Lee, Professorial Research Associate at Department of East Asian Languages and Cultures, and Centre for Creative Industries, Media and Screen Studies, SOAS, University of London

The hero of German filmmaker Wim Wenders’ new film, Perfect Days, spends his time cleaning toilets.

Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho) has opted for a simple and solitary life as a toilet cleaner in a park in Shibuya, one of the busiest districts in Tokyo. He seems content and happy with his life, which is self-determined and without any luxuries. His everyday routine is well organised, from watering the bonsai plants in his small apartment, to donning his work clothes, drinking canned coffee in front of his home and driving his big van to the park.

The only exotic place in the film…

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