"One of Ozu's better known but not less successful films, The Flavor of Green Tea Over Rice tells the story of a crisis in the marriage of a middle-aged, middle-class couple. The wife aspires to be socially upwardly mobile and thinks her husband, an even-tempered businessman, lacks drive. Feeling constrained by the husband's equanimity on one hand and by the wife's ambitions on the other, they drift apart. With no children to reaffirm their bond, their lives fall into a meaningless routine. This middle-class tragedy is interrupted when the couple's favorite niece arrives for a visit. Inspired by her youthful optimism, the couple attempts to mend their broken relationship. Their success is symbolized, at the film's end, by the sharing of
ochazuke
(""green rice over tea"")."