Unlucky Woman’s Blues

Hidden away in central Tokyo is a labyrinth of alleys known as the Golden Gai, cluttered with approximately 200 tiny old bars. One of these bars is run by Kasumi. The bar's called ""Redemption"" and Kasumi lives upstairs with her lover, Gunji. One night, a woman named Toko visits the bar. Toko was Gunji's lover 7 years ago when she was imprisoned for killing a woman that Gunji slept with. On the day that Toko is released, she visits him at the bar and ends up hooking up with a mysterious barfly called Yamashina. They spend a few days together going from one bar to the next. Realizing that she won't get Gunji back, Toko decides to go to her parents' but she finds it hard to leave the Golden Gai. In the past Kasumi had a boyfriend whose lover stabbed her. In an attempt to escape the Golden Gai, she has a one-night stand with a regular. Having nowhere else to go she returns to the Golden Gai. This is a funny and poignant observation of men and women who hang around bars as they make sense of their lives.