Departures

Daigo Kobayashi loses his job as a cellist when his orchestra is disbanded. He and his wife Mika move from Tokyo to his hometown of Yamagata and return to his childhood home. He carries guilt for his mother's death and resentment toward his father, along with a stone-letter given by his father.

He sees an advertisement for 'assisting departures' and assumes it's a travel agency job. He is hired on the spot and receives a cash advance from his new boss. He keeps the true nature of the work secret from Mika.

His first assignment is to assist with the encoffinment of a woman who died at home and remained undiscovered for two weeks. He is beset with nausea and later humiliated when strangers on a bus detect an unsavoury scent on him. To cleanse himself, he visits a public bath.

While cleansing in the bath, Daigo reconnects with the community when Tsuyako Yamashita, mother of a former classmate, runs the bathhouse. The memory of his own childhood surfaces as he encounters the Yamashita family. The encounter foreshadows how the job will touch his life.

Daigo gradually becomes more comfortable with his profession as he completes assignments and earns the gratitude of grieving families. He endures social ostracism from some corners of society. Mika finds a training DVD showing him playing a corpse and leaves him to return to her parents' home in Tokyo.

After a few months Mika returns and announces she is pregnant, hoping Daigo will find a job their child can be proud of. She questions whether his current work will allow that future. Their argument marks a turning point in their marriage.

Daigo receives a call to prepare Mrs Yamashita's body, the mother of his former classmate, for cremation. He conducts the encoffinment in front of the Yamashita family and Mika, earning their reluctant respect. The moment underscores the social divides and the professional dignity of his work.

During the funeral, Yamashita is permitted to witness the burning of his mother's body through a peephole in the crematorium. He listens to a heartfelt anecdote about death told by the furnace operator. The scene deepens Daigo's sense that the living owe something to the dead.

Sometime later the news reaches the NK office that Daigo's father has passed away. He feels renewed anger and refuses to handle his father's body at first. Yuriko tries to persuade him to reconsider and take part in the ritual.

Daigo berates Yuriko and storms out of the office when pressed to deal with his father's body. He decides to go with Mika to another village to see the father’s body. The act signifies his wavering acceptance of the family duty.

In the village, Daigo is initially unable to recognize his father and is angered by careless funeral workers. He insists on dressing the body himself and searches the corpse's hands for the stone-letter. Upon finding it, a childhood memory of his father's face returns.

After finishing the ceremony, Daigo presses the stone-letter to Mika's pregnant belly, a tangible link between his father's past and their growing family. The moment marks a quiet reconciliation with his father and a hopeful note for their child's future.