Burden of Love (1955)

• 66%
• 1955
• Comedy
• Drama
• Yūzō Kawashima
• So Yamamura
• Tatsuya Mihashi
• Isuzu Yamada

Jozaburo Araki is the head of a famous family-owned wholesale pharmaceutical store with a well-established history. At present he is the Minister of Health and Welfare, and is considering submission of a Bill to hold population increase in check, in an attempt to easily deal with Opposition accusations regarding the population problem. However, just when he is in the Diet giving a major policy speech to the Welfare Ministry Committee about decreasing the population, Ranko, his 48-year-old wife, heads to a maternity clinic and discovers that she is pregnant. To make matters worse, he finds out that his eldest son, Jotaro, had been secretly having an affair with his own secretary, Saeko Godai, and it seems that she is also expecting a little 'Burden of Love.' Also, the Araki family's young daughter, Sakura, has become pregnant with her fiancé before their upcoming marriage, and even the retired patron of the family, Jozo, 2 presents yet another possibility of a pregnancy with his much younger mistress. Furthermore, Jozaburo visits Kyoto on an election campaign and is astounded to learn of the existence of his own love-child with his former lover, Some Kaida! As if that's not enough trouble, the Araki family finds that even their maid, Oteru, and their business manager, Yamaguchi, have somehow also ended up with their own 'Burden of Love.' And that is how the population explosion in the household of the Minister of Health and Welfare somehow becomes a factor in the future of Japan...