"[addressing his staff before his personal plane, the Bataan, lands in Japan] Gentlemen, we will take no weapons with us when we step off this airplane. Nothing will impress them more than a show of absolute fearlessness. If they don't know they're licked by now, they will get the picture today. Now let's show them some good old-fashioned American swagger."

"Toshiyuki Nishida - General Kajima"

"[typing a report after meeting Baron Kido] It is a fundamental American concept that the people of any nation have the inherent right to choose their own government. Were the Japanese given this opportunity, they would select the Emperor as their symbolic head of state. In effecting our bloodless occupation, we requisitioned the services of the Emperor. By his order, seven million soldiers laid down their arms. Through his act, hundreds of thousands of American casualties were avoided. His guilt or innocence in the prosecution of the war is unknowable, but his decisive role in ending the war is beyond dispute. If the Emperor were tried for war crimes, the governmental structure would collapse, and a general uprising would be inevitable. There would be chaos and bloodshed. It would take more than a million American servicemen to oversee the occupation for years to come. In conclusion, the people of Japan have suffered greatly, and it is in their interest beyond all other considerations that I strongly urge allowing the Emperor to continue on his throne as the leader of his people."

"Shōhei Hino - Former Japanese Prime Minister General Hideki Tojo"

"Colin Moy - Major General Richter"

"Matthew Fox - BG Bonner Fellers"

"Masayoshi Haneda - Takahashi"

"Eriko Hatsune - Aya Shimada"

"Isao Natsuyagi - Teizaburō Sekiya, member of the Privy Council"

"Chieko Higashiyama - Tomi Hirayama"

"Kyōko Kagawa - Kyōko Hirayama"

"Shirō Ōsaka - Keizō Hirayama"

"Hisao Toake - Osamu Hattori"

"Nobuo Nakamura - Kurazō Kaneko"

"Teruko Nagaoka - Yone Hattori"

"Setsuko Hara - Noriko Hirayama"

"Haruko Sugimura - Shige Kaneko"

"Eijirō Tōno - Sanpei Numata"

"So Yamamura - Kōichi Hirayama"

"Toyo Takahashi - Shūkichi Hirayama's neighbour"

"Toru Abe - a railway employee"

"Mutsuko Sakura - a patron of the Oden Restaurant"

"Kuniko Miyake - Fumiko Hirayama"

"Chishū Ryū - Shūkichi Hirayama"

"In the daily lives of ordinary people, a sense of deep affection wells up."

"Sometimes I feel I can't go on like this forever. Often I wonder, when I can't sleep, what will become of me if I stay this way. Day passes and night comes, yet nothing happens, and I feel a kind of loneliness. My heart seems to be waiting for something."

"Sanpei Numata: I'm afraid we expect too much of our children. They lack spirit. They lack ambition. I've told that to my son. He said that there are too many people in Tokyo. That it's hard to get ahead. What do you think? Young people today have no backbone. Where is there spirit? That's not how I raised him!"

"[to her grandson Isamu] What are you going to be when you grow up? A doctor like your father? [Isamu doesn't answer and continues to pick grass] By the time you become a doctor, I wonder if I'll still be here."

"But if I had known things would come to this, I'd have been kinder to her while she was alive."

"Masahiko Shimizu - Shinichi Aoki"

"What a treat to sleep in my dead son's bed."

"[at dinner table following Tomi's funeral] Kyoko, did mother still have her summer sash? I'd like it for a keepsake. Is that alright with you? And that linen kimono she used to wear in summer? I want that too. You know where it is? Can you get it out?"

"[to Tomi about leaving the hotel early] Anyway, this place is meant for the younger generation."

"As long as life goes on, relationships between parents and children will bring boundless joy and endless grief."

"Until I came up to Tokyo, I was under the impression that my son was doing better. But I've found that he is only a small neighborhood doctor. I know how you feel. I'm as dissatisfied as you are. But we can't expect too much from our children. Times have changed. We have to face it. That's what I think."

"Susumu Fujita - Manager of Investigations"

"Takashi Shimura - Chief of the Investigation Section"

"Yoshio Tsuchiya - Detective Murata"

"Yutaka Sada - Aoki"

"Takeshi Katō - Detective Nakao"

"Tsutomu Yamazaki - Ginjirô Takeuchi"

"Jun Tazaki - Kamiya, National Shoes Publicity Director"

"Tatsuya Mihashi - Kawanishi"

"Kenjiro Ishiyama - Chief Detective 'Bos'n' Taguchi|"