When a Woman Ascends the Stairs (1960)

Hideko Takamine: Keiko Yashiro

Photos 

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Quotes 

• Keiko Yashiro : [an afternoon in late autumn: Keiko walks through the Ginza district on her way to The Lilac Bar]  Bars in the daytime are like women without makeup.

• Goda : How old are you, anyway?

  Keiko Yashiro : Don't ask. Old enough.

  Goda : Thirty? That's the turning point in a woman's life. The time to decide whether to marry... or open your own bar.

• Keiko Yashiro : [Narrating]  It had been a bleak ordeal, like a harsh winter. But the trees that line the streets can sprout new buds, no matter how cold the wind. I too must be just as strong as the winds that gust around me.

• Keiko Yashiro : I hate liquor, yet I drink my fill every night.

• Keiko Yashiro : [Narrating]  Between 11:30 and midnight, the Ginza's 16,000 hostesses head home in droves. The best go by cab... the second-rate take the train... and the worst go off with their customers.

• Keiko Yashiro : [Narrating]  Back home I felt tired, and a little drunk. My rent is 30,000 yen - a lot for one person. But for us Ginza hostesses, an apartment's a fashionable accessory... just like expensive clothes and perfume.

• Keiko Yashiro : A woman shouldn't be loose. That's one rule I've followed.

• Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : You've heard of Nobuko at Club 8? She wouldn't even give in to a Cabinet member. But then she fell in love with a down-and-out guitarist. Now she works as a maid in a love hotel. I started as a busboy in the Ginza ten years ago. I've seen a lot like her.

  Keiko Yashiro : What's your point?

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Just sharing my experience.

• Keiko Yashiro : Even tiny bars in the Ginza cost over a million.

• Yuri : Just between us, I'm deep in debt. It's taking its toll... I borrowed so much to get started, that now I'm in a pinch.

  [laughs] 

  Keiko Yashiro : Don't laugh. What'll you do?

  Yuri : I've decided to die. Isn't that a great idea? They say sleeping pills work quite well.

  Keiko Yashiro : [Looking dismayed]  Yuri!

  Yuri : Just kidding. It'll be a staged suicide. I won't actually die. I'll just fake it to hold off the creditors. Shocked?

  Keiko Yashiro : Not shocked... impressed.

• Keiko Yashiro : [Narrating]  Women in the Ginza fought desperately for survival. It was a battle I couldn't afford to lose.

• Matsukichi Sekine : What a nice fragrance. What's your perfume?

  Keiko Yashiro : Black Narcissus.

• Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : [Scolding Keiko]  Stop being so emotional. This is a bar. People pay to have a good time.

  Keiko Yashiro : So what?

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Listen to me! You get paid to show men a good time. If you don't like it, take off that kimono and work in an office... and starve!

• Keiko's mother : You keep a fancy apartment instead of living at home.

  Keiko Yashiro : That's not an extravagance.

  Keiko's mother : Then what is it? Tell me!

  Keiko Yashiro : Customers come to the Ginza for a taste of luxury. Satisfying that craving is what we're paid for. Apartments beyond our means, taxis, expensive perfumes - it all serves that purpose. Men wouldn't be interested if they knew I lived in a place like this.

• Keiko Yashiro : Mother, how many times must I tell you? Kimonos aren't a luxury for me!

  Keiko's mother : I know: it's business!

  Keiko Yashiro : That's right! Looking good means good customers. In the Ginza, appearance is everything. You wouldn't understand. I'm actually quite frugal. Flashy kimonos would get more attention, but I can't wear them in the daytime, so I buy plain ones instead. You have no right to call me extravagant!

• Keiko Yashiro : [Angrily, to her mother]  Who'd ever want to work in a bar? Drinking 'til I'm sick, being a plaything for men... I haven't enjoyed a single day since I started. Even lying here, thoughts of bills torment my dreams. I'm miserable! But how else could I send you 20,000 a month? If you can find me a better job, tell me and I'll quit!

• Keiko Yashiro : I never dreamed I'd become the wife of a factory owner.

• Keiko Yashiro : It just seems so dirty. It's not my way. If a woman does such things, her charm disappears.

  Junko Inchihashi : Aren't you lonely sometimes?

  Keiko Yashiro : Sure. But I have a brandy and go to sleep. That kind of fever soon passes.

  Junko Inchihashi : You really have some self-control!

  Keiko Yashiro : I clench my teeth so hard they hurt.

  Junko Inchihashi : Honest?

  Keiko Yashiro : You're so gullible!

• Minobe : But seriously, I've run a lot of companies. Any place headed downhill is always depressing like this.

  Keiko Yashiro : I see. Is Yuri's place lively?

  Minobe : You bet. Not like here. Want to see for yourself?

  Keiko Yashiro : Please. I could learn a lot.

• Minobe : I'm leaving for Izu tonight to go golfing. Come along.

  Keiko Yashiro : I can't golf. What would be the point?

  Minobe : I'll play the golf, okay?

• Kiyomi : Did you hear? Yuri did a terrible thing.

  Keiko Yashiro : I know.

  Kiyomi : You do? She committed suicide!

  Keiko Yashiro : No, she was just faking.

  Kiyomi : Can she fake being dead?

  Keiko Yashiro : Dead?

  Kiyomi : Yes. I just got back from paying my respects. She put sleeping pills in brandy. Not too many, but with that much alcohol...

• Keiko Yashiro : Mr. Minobe's here. Did you call him?

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : I said it was the Lilac Bar calling, not you.

  Keiko Yashiro : Same thing. He's my customer. Don't meddle.

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : It's business.

  Keiko Yashiro : Just don't.

• Keiko Yashiro : You'd lend it to me?

  Goda : Well... maybe even give it to you. I come to Tokyo several times a month. It's a waste staying all alone in a big room like this. Maybe we could... reach an understanding. I don't want to force you into anything. Think it over.

• Keiko Yashiro : I feel my youth fading by the day.

  Yoshizo Yashiro (Keiko's brother) : Sick people always say that.

• Junko Inchihashi : Mama... who's your favorite customer?

  Keiko Yashiro : I don't know.

  Junko Inchihashi : I do. Mr. Fujisaki?

  Keiko Yashiro : I don't dislike him. But in our business we have to treat every man like a lover. You can't love just one man.

  Junko Inchihashi : Too bad. I could love just one rich man.

• Keiko Yashiro : I hated climbing those stairs more than anything. But once I was up, I would take each day as it came.

• Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Don't be so nasty to Mr. Minobe.

  Keiko Yashiro : You want me to flatter him? Forget it.

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Customers pay for a good...

  Keiko Yashiro : I said forget it! I quit the Lilac because of him. Who is he anyway? He drives Yuri to desperation, then comes here like nothing's happened. I hate him! He makes me sick! Not tonight! I can still smell the incense from Yuri's funeral. Just being next to him is an insult to her memory! There are limits, even in business!

• Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Fujisaki finally paid, but Mr. Goda won't pay unless you ask him personally. He flashed the money but wouldn't hand it over.

  Keiko Yashiro : I'll go see him tomorrow. The usual inn at Tsukiji?

  Junko Inchihashi : Won't he try to seduce you?

  Keiko Yashiro : They try all the time, but it can only work if I let them.

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Famous last words.

• Keiko Yashiro : It was a strange dream. He called to say he was returning from a business trip. I went to the harbor to greet him. Strange that he'd be coming by ship, but that's how dreams are. He stood on deck, waving the presents he'd bought me. Guess what they were. Potatoes, onions, and radishes. We married just after the war, when food was scarce. He often brought vegetables back from his trips. Seeing those vegetables in the dream made me sad, so I started crying.

• Keiko Yashiro : When my husband died, I placed my picture and a letter in with his ashes. I vowed I'd never love another man. I wrote that down and asked the priest to put it in with him. I'm a strange woman, aren't I?

• Keiko Yashiro : Mr. Fujisaki... I've heard you've had a lot of women. But I love you. Women fall for your type. You know that?

• Keiko Yashiro : Sorry to disappoint you. But who told me to act like a pro? Who told me to flatter Minobe? You told me never to go halfway, to be a real pro! Well, now I'm a pro, and the customer's happy. What's wrong with that?

• Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : Marry me. I'm begging you. Let's open our own bar.

  Keiko Yashiro : Get out or I'll scream.

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : You hate me that much?

  Keiko Yashiro : I don't hate you or love you. That kind of marriage would never work. We know each other too well. Please just go. Go! Please let me be alone.

  Kenichi Komatsu, the manager : You really love Fujisaki, don't you? I understand. I'll never bother you again.