Trudi (Hannelore Elsner) and Rudi (Elmar Wepper) Meieranger live in a small Bavarian village. Trudi learns from the family doctor that her husband Rudi is terminally ill. Trudi decides to keep the illness secret, and to follow the doctor's suggestion to have a final joint holiday, something the two have wanted for some time, but never did. She convinces Rudi to visit their children and grandchildren in Berlin. But when they arrive, they find that their children are too busy with their own lives to care for their parents.The Meieranger's continue their trip to the Baltic Sea when Trudi dies unexpectedly. In the fallout from this, Rudi learns about the life Trudi really wanted to live - and her secret obsession with Japan, and the modern Japanese dance "Butoh" - all of which she sacrificed out of love for him.Rudi decides that he would make up for the lost time in Trudi's life, and travels to visit his son in Tokyo. Due to the cramped conditions, and differences between them, the son soon wishes his father would leave.Rudi wanders through the parks during the Cherry Blossom festival, and meets a young Japanese woman named Yu (Aya Irizuki), who is dancing in the Butoh style. Rudi learns that Yu lives in a tent, having lost her mother only a year earlier. Despite the language, age, and cultural differences, the two soon became good friends.As Trudi always talked about how much she wanted to see Mount Fuji, Rudi persuades his new companion to help him travel there. When they arrive, the mountain is "shy" - constantly hidden behind clouds, so they retreat to a hotel room and wait for the weather to clear. Due to his deteriorating health, Rudi awakes one night and goes to the door, to see Mt Fuji clear in the bright moonlight. To honour his wife, Rudi puts on her clothes and paints his face like a Japanese dancer before walking to the edge of the lake, where he begins to imitate the slow movements of Butoh. Trudi appears to him in a vision, and takes him by the hand as they both dance before the majestic backdrop of the mountain and the lake.The following morning, Yu awakes to see Rudi's bed empty, then finds his body by the lake. In his luggage there is a package ("For You, Yu"), in which Rudi left her his entire life savings.Two contrasting scenes conclude the film: On the one hand, in a solemn cremation ceremony, his son and Yu are balancing the remaining ashes of Rudi's bones with chopsticks in a Japanese urn in the traditional manner. On the other hand, the children discuss their father their indignation at his grumpiness and his adventures with Yu; and what they see as his scandalous soft spot for Trudi's clothes, showing a complete lack of understanding.
Who does Rudi meet while wandering through the parks?
Young Japanese woman named Yu