Takakura's Go-ichi Takata is a fisherman living in a village on the northwest coast of Japan who is summoned to Tokyo by his daughter-in-law when his long-estranged son Ken-ichi (Kiichi Nakai) falls ill and is soon diagnosed with terminal liver cancer. When Ken-ichi refuses to see his father, Takata, overcome with a sense of failure as a parent, decides that he must complete a mission for his dying son. A Tokyo University Asian folk arts specialist, Ken-ichi had recently travelled to a remote mountain village in southern China's Yunnan province to film the celebrated opera star Li Jiamin (who, in effect, plays himself). Since Li was too ill at that time to perform his famous "Riding Alone" role, Ken-ichi promised he would return to film him the following year. (Source: AsianWiki) ~~ Co-production with Japan.