Wife of a Spy (2020) Timeline Explained – Every Event in Order

Satoko's suspicions grow when Yūsaku takes an extended business trip to Manchuria and returns with a mysterious woman named Hiroko Kusakabe. Taiji, the military police officer and Satoko's childhood friend, hints that Hiroko's death may be connected to Yūsaku's travels, and she learns he has applied for passports for himself and Hiroko to leave Japan.

Foreshadowing: Earlier, the arrest of the British silk merchant and Taiji's warning about Yūsaku's Western connections established the dangerous climate that makes Satoko sensitive to her husband's secrets.

• Satoko
• Yūsaku
• suspicion
• Hiroko
• Manchuria
• passport

They uncovered documentation of biological experiments conducted on civilians involving contagious diseases at a covert facility in Manchuria. The evidence included notes translated into English by Fumio and a short film showing the facilities, corpses, vivisection, and burning of bodies.

Foreshadowing: The extended business trip beyond the planned two weeks signals that something significant occurred beyond ordinary commerce.

• Manchuria
• experiments
• evidence
• film
• Unit 731
• biological weapons

Hiroko Kusakabe was the woman Yūsaku brought back from Manchuria. A rumor circulates that she was murdered, though the circumstances of her death remain unclear. Taiji mentions her alleged murder to Satoko, suggesting it may be connected to Yūsaku's activities.

Foreshadowing: The mysterious woman arriving with Yūsaku from Manchuria immediately raises questions about his true business there.

• Hiroko Kusakabe
• murder
• Manchuria
• Yūsaku

Fumio was arrested for allegedly sharing national secrets with an enemy, specifically the evidence about the biological experiments in Manchuria. He was tortured during interrogation and reportedly confessed, though Taiji remains skeptical of forced confessions.

Foreshadowing: Fumio had left the company to write about his Manchuria experiences, signaling he had become entangled in the dangerous truth they uncovered.

• Fumio
• arrest
• torture
• military police
• confession
• secrets

The notebook contained critical notes from a doctor documenting the biological experiments conducted in Manchuria. When Satoko opened the safe using the combination she learned, she discovered the notebook was missing, a chess move had signaled to someone that the safe had been accessed.

Foreshadowing: The toppled chess piece was a visual signal that the safe had been opened, revealing the notebook's disappearance.

• notebook
• safe
• experiments
• evidence
• chess
• stolen

When Satoko was arrested and the police screened the film she was carrying, they discovered Yūsaku had replaced the incriminating footage of the biological experiments with an amateur film of Satoko and Fumio. This clever swap protected the evidence and allowed Satoko to be released, though it left her without proof.

Foreshadowing: Yūsaku had placed the package in the safe earlier, suggesting he was already planning how to protect the evidence while appearing to cooperate.

• film swap
• experiments
• Satoko
• Yūsaku
• evidence
• escape

Satoko was arrested for treason after the smuggler she hired betrayed her to the military police. She was interrogated with the same force used on Fumio. When she pleaded to Taiji for mercy, he struck her instead, declaring she had earned death for treason. She was only released after the swapped film revealed no evidence of espionage.

Foreshadowing: Satoko's decision to hide in the shipping crate and her possession of the film made her a target for the military police.

• Satoko
• arrest
• interrogation
• treason
• Taiji
• film

After her arrest and release, Satoko was confined to a mental hospital, likely as a result of the psychological trauma from her interrogation and the devastation of her circumstances. By March 1945, she remained institutionalized, awaiting release through the help of Dr. Nozaki.

Foreshadowing: The brutal interrogation and betrayal by Taiji, her childhood friend, would have caused severe psychological damage.

• Satoko
• mental hospital
• trauma
• Dr. Nozaki
• interrogation

Yūsaku escaped toward Shanghai in a fishing boat while Satoko was still being held. Later, a rumor emerged that he was seen in Bombay boarding a ship to Los Angeles, though that vessel was believed to have sunk. Officially, he was listed as dead in 1946, though the death certificate showed signs of forgery, leaving his true fate uncertain.

Foreshadowing: The film hints at a forged death certificate early, suggesting Yūsaku may have successfully evaded his official death.

• Yūsaku
• Shanghai
• Bombay
• Los Angeles
• death certificate
• survival

Yūsaku clarified that his goal was not espionage for any nation, he wanted to reveal the truth about the biological experiments in the name of justice. He intended to show the Americans the full, detailed film as evidence of war crimes.

Foreshadowing: The couple's earlier conversations about justice and truth set the foundation for Yūsaku's moral mission.

• Yūsaku
• experiments
• justice
• America
• expose
• truth

In March 1945, an air raid devastated Kobe while Satoko was in the mental hospital. She wandered barefoot through the burning city toward the sea, crying out in grief and fear as the hospital collapsed around her.

Foreshadowing: The escalating war and air raids had been foreshadowed throughout the film as the political situation deteriorated.

• Kobe
• air raid
• Satoko
• hospital
• 1945
• destruction

Yūsaku applied for passports for himself and Hiroko Kusakabe to exit Japan, suggesting he planned to flee the country with her. This application, discovered by Taiji and shared with Satoko, intensified her suspicion that her husband was involved in something dangerous and potentially treasonous.

Foreshadowing: The passport application reveals Yūsaku's urgency to leave Japan before the political situation worsened.

• passport
• Yūsaku
• Hiroko
• escape
• Japan
• exit