有りがたうさん (aka Mr. Thank You) (1936)

Traveling from rural Japan to Tokyo, a bus driver (Ken Uehara) is known as Mr. Thank You because of his politeness to pedestrians who move out of his way. Based on a short story by Yasunari Kawabata and directed by Hiroshi Shimizu (JAPANESE GIRLS AT THE HARBOR). This charming road movie is sweet and gentle without ever getting all icky. Nothing much happens but the lives of the ordinary bus passengers with their foibles and quirks take center stage during the journey to Tokyo. Lovely as the B&W movie is, one wishes color had been available to Shimizu at the time as the Japanese countryside looks lush and ripe for Technicolor but perhaps that would have been too distracting and taken away from the simple story and its characters. With Ryuji Ishiyama and Michiko Kuwano.