hou's fifteenth feature film - "café lumière" (2003) (alternate title: "kôhî jikô") - was a self-acknowledged homage to the cinema of legendary japanese filmmaker yasujirō ozu, who hou considers a major influence on his own work. set in tokyo for the most part, the film starred japanese pop singer yo hitoto as yōko in her acting debut (who won the "newcomer of the year" award at the 2005 awards of the japanese academy for her performance) as well as renown japanese actor tadanobu asano as hajime takeuchi. the film won the golden tulip award at the 2005 istanbul international film festival, and was also nominated for the golden lion award at the 2004 venice film festival and a "best film not in the english language" award at the 2004 international cinephile society (ics) awards.