Japan Foundation: Tea Friends CTBA

A small, innocent-sounding newspaper advertisement leads callers to “Tea Friends”, which is in reality a call girl service founded by SASAKI Mana (OKAMOTO Rei). The service dispatches elderly “tea girls” to the lonely old men that respond to its adverts, bringing much-needed companionship to the lives of both call girl and client while also providing a second family to its younger staff.

Among the most popular of these “tea girls” is Matsuko (ISONISHI Maki), a former shoplifter whose depressingly solitary twilight years were turned around when Mana recruited her into the group. With business booming, she and many of her fellow “tea girls” have found a new sense of purpose, but hard times lie ahead – the bonds this makeshift family once thought were unbreakable are starting to collapse.

Inspired by a real-life prostitution club bust in 2013, Tea Friends is another of SOTOYAMA Bunji’s (Soiree, JFTFP21) excellent explorations of unconventional social issues in Japan, this time tackling loneliness among Japan’s growing elderly population and the rather taboo topic of sexuality within this group.

Tea Friends - ©2022 "Tea Friends" Film Partners