sorensen has summed up the ambiguous position of both father and daughter in relation to tradition as follows: "noriko and [professor] somiya interpolate between the two extremes, between shortcake and nara-pickles, between ritually prepared green tea and tea with milk, between love marriage/divorce and arranged marriage, between tokyo and nara. and this interpolation is what makes them complex characters, wonderfully human in all their internal inconsistencies, very ozu-like and likable indeed."