themes in the film include the break-up and westernization of the traditional japanese family after world war ii and the inevitability of children growing apart from their parents. the film takes place in 1953 post-war japan, a few years after the new civil code of 1948 stimulated the country's rapid re-growth and embraced western capitalist ideals while simultaneously destroying older traditions such as the japanese family and its values. ozu was very close to his own mother, living with her as a surrogate wife and never marrying. ozu called "tokyo story" "the film that tends most strongly to melodrama." it is considered a shomin-geki film for its depiction of working-class people.