Early Spring Story

is a 1985 Japanese film directed by Shinichirō Sawai. Plot summary 17-year-old Hitomi Okino's mother died four years ago, and her father has remarried, causing Hitomi to worry that her father is throwing away all memory of her mother. During spring vacation, Hitomi is taking pictures for her school's photography club when she encounters a middle-aged man named Kajikawa, whose car is blocking the shot she was hoping to take. She later meets him again during a traffic jam while on her bicycle, and as they have dinner introduces herself as a 20-year-old college student. A few days later, she makes her way all the way to Tokyo and his workplace, and tags along with him to an evening party. On the anniversary of her mother's death, Hitomi discovers Kajikawa in an old photo of her mother's of a group hiking, and finds out that her mother and Kajikawa were once lovers, but that Kajikawa was the one who broke off the relationship. When Hitomi next encounters Kajikawa, she invites herself along for a drive to the location where that picture had been taken and tries to subtly question him about his memories of the place, to no avail. Later, over dinner, she drinks too much and tries to clumsily seduce him. Instead, he drives her back home, realizing that she's never kissed anyone before. Hitomi, determined to find out about her mother, slips the photo into his briefcase. She also finds out from her father that theirs was an arranged marriage.