The Girl I Abandoned

During the 1960s, Mitsu, an innocent country girl whom college student Yoshioka abandoned on a second date, was later diagnosed with leprosy and sent to a sanatorium in Gotemba. Her diagnosis turns out to be wrong, but she chooses to return to the sanatorium and serve the patients. Meanwhile, Yoshioka decides to marry Mariko, the president's niece. The contrast between the purity of Mitsu's soul, which chooses to serve others in accordance with her inner voice, and the loneliness of Yoshioka's heart, which continues to harbor regrets for the woman he once abandoned, even though he has achieved worldly happiness by winning the president's niece, is vivid in this original masterpiece by Shusaku Endo. The film version of "The Girl I Left Behind" was made in 1969, is the best work of director Kirio Urayama. Urayama's intention was to make "a unique drama depicting a fragment of love in which a modern person struggles in the midst of a crumbling world",but the production company Nikkatsu decided to keep the film because it would interfere with their commercial line. The actors, Choichiro Kawarazaki and Toshie Kobayashi, are excellent. Shusaku Endo, the author of the original story, makes a cameo appearance as a doctor. The film features an unforgettable scene in which young people sing and dance to "Tokyo Dodompa Musume" sung by Mari Watanabe. I never met a "Japanese" woman who possessed such sanctity as Mitsu in my life, but I did meet an "American" woman. I met Choichiro Kawarazaki, who played the lead role, by chance on three occasions, and I have fond memories of discussing this film with him.