Japan Synopsis
おくりびと
“The gift of last memories.”
Daigo, a cellist, is laid off from his orchestra and moves with his wife back to his small hometown where the living is cheaper. Thinking he’s applying for a job at a travel agency he finds he’s being interviewed for work with departures of a more permanent nature – as an undertaker’s assistant.
Audience Engagement
736 audience reviews — more than 96% of Japan films in our index.
Review volume (96th percentile) outruns trending popularity (65th) — a durable title with sustained audience attention.
Other Titles From TBS
The 2007–2009 Japan Window
Among 362 Japan films we catalog from this window, Departures places #38 — near the top of its class.
The 2000s Japan Landscape
Catalog density by release year across the 2000s in Japan, 1020 titles in total. Highlighted year (yellow) is when Departures premiered alongside 124 others.
Position in Catalog
Released alongside 124 other Japan films in 2008.
The 2106th Japan title from Japan we index (earliest catalogued entry: 1899).
Our Japan catalog contains 4,579 titles in total (2,908 films).
Thematic Fingerprint
Tags on Departures, grouped by how common each theme is across the full Asian catalog. Rare tags are more distinctive signals.
- coffin · 4
- octopus · 3
- cello · 3
- odd job · 1
- yamagata · 1
- dying and death · 10
- funeral · 8
- based on memoir or autobiography · 6
- musical · 71
Reception Benchmarks
Ranked #639 of 4,579 Japan films indexed here (86th percentile by TMDB audience score).
Rating is +1.0 points above the Japan average of 6.9/10.
Among Japan Drama productions specifically: #265 of 1,933 (top 14%).
Production Details
| Primary Country | Japan |
|---|---|
| Original Language | Japanese |
| Production Companies | TBS, Amuse Soft Entertainment, MBS, Sedic, Shogakukan |
| Runtime | 2h 10m |
| Release Date | September 13, 2008 |
| IMDb | tt1069238 |
| Official Site | www.departures-themovie.com |