Order of the Salaryman (1973)

Release Date: 1973-05-12
Runtime: 1h 36min
Director: Kazuho Mitsuta

A salaryman promoted against his will skips his first morning meeting and slips into a spiral of small rebellions—cafés, nightclubs, and a fleeting romance—while rejecting the rigid “medals” of corporate success. Torn between family and freedom, he plots a staged disappearance to reclaim a late-coming youth, in a bittersweet drama underscored by the haunting refrain of “Akita Ondo.”