The Yellow Handkerchief

is a 1977 Japanese film directed by Yoji Yamada. It was the winner of the first Best Picture award at the Japan Academy Prize. The film was inspired by the American song "Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree," itself based on a column series written by journalist Pete Hamill for the New York Post in 1971. Plot Kinya Hanada, who fell out of love with Nobuko, suddenly retired from the factory where he worked. With his retirement allowance, he bought a bright red Mazda Familia and took a ferry alone to Hokkaido for healing his broken heart. Kinya, who came to Abashiri from Kushiro, started talking to the woman in front of the station. Meanwhile, Yusaku Shima, a former coal miner who has finished his sentence, is released from Abashiri prison. He stops by the cafeteria and orders beer with soy sauce ramen and katsudon. Kinya, who was just in Abashiri, also picks up a woman, Kaori Momoi, who came to Tokyo after a difficult time with her colleagues at work, and had a meal with her. Yusaku, who finished his meal and stopped at the post office, wrote out a postcard and mailed it. Kinya starts driving with Akemi and Ukiuki, two people who came to the beach and had Yusaku, who was also there, take a picture. The two will ride with him and start the trip.