like noriko, her father has an ambiguous relation with modernity. shukichi is first seen in the film checking the correct spelling of the name of the german-american economist friedrich list—an important transitional figure during japan’s meiji era. (list’s theories helped stimulate the economic modernization of the country.) prof. somiya treats aya, the divorcee, with unfailing courtesy and respect, implying a tolerant, "modern" attitude—though one critic suspects that a man of shukichi's class and generation in the real-life japan of that period might have been considerably less tolerant.