I Want to Be a Shellfish

I Want to Be a Shellfish (1958)

Television production of I Want to Be a Shellfish. On a post-war peaceful day in Japan, Toyomatsu Shimizu, a barber as well as a good father and husband, is suddenly arrested by the Prefectural Police as a war criminal and sued for murder. According to the accusation by GHQ, Toyomatsu "attemped to kill a US prisoner", which was nothing but an order by his superior and failed after all with hurting the prisoner by weak Toyomatsu. Also, Toyomatsu was driven to corner at the trial by the fact that he fed the US prisoner some burdock roots to nourish him. Toyomatsu believes nothing but being not guilty, but he is sentenced to death by hanging. Prior to the execution, Toyomatsu writes a long farewell letter to his family, the wife and the only son: "If I ever incarnate, I hate to be a human being any more.... Oh yes, I would like to be...a shellfish living on the rock-bottom of the sea."

Director: Yoshihiko Okamoto
Writer: Tetsutarō Katō

Casts

	Frankie Sakai as Shimizu Toyomatsu
	Mutsuko Sakura as Shimizu Fusae
	Toshie Takada as Toshiko
	Shin Saburi as Lieutenant-General Yano
	Yoshio Ōmori as Staff Officer
	Yasumi Hara as
	Kōji Nanbara as
	Koji Kiyomura as
	Kazuo Kumakura as
	Hōsei Komatsu as
	Taketoshi Naitō as
	Seijirô Onda as
	Shinjirō Asano as
	Junji Masuda as
	Takeshi Sakamoto as
	Hisao Toake as
	Gorō Tarumi as
	Akitake Kōno as
	Akio Tanaka as
	George Furness as
	Asao Sano as
	Tetsuya Kaji as
	Jerry Itō as
	Junkichi Orimoto as
	Munemaru Kôda as
	Masao Tsuruta as

Crew