The Blue Sky Maiden(Aozora Musume)

Collaborating for the first time with actress Wakao Ayako who later becomes his muse of two decades, Masumura breezes into a typical coming-of-age melodrama a hopeful innocence and an independent spirit. An illegitimate child, Yuko is sent to live in Tokyo with her father she barely knows. Despite being treated badly by her new “family”, she bears her circumstances with stoicism and good humour, resolving to find her real mother and her own happiness. From Ping-pong match to jazz band, Masumura shows how times were changing in post-war Japan, as American culture sneaks into family tradition, and the young seeks to look for their own blue sky.