When a Woman Ascends the Stairs

As emergency workers wheel a stretcher into an ambulance, hostess Keiko discusses with another woman on the street that the hostess from the Bluebird Bar killed herself after the fortune teller she visited predicted misfortune. (0:06)

Deeply in debt after having left her job as a hostess to buy her own bar, Yuri tells Keiko, "I've decided to die." She explains that she plans to use sleeping pills, but she assures Keiko, "I'll just fake it to hold off creditors." (0:45)

Keiko learns that Yuri, regardless of her intentions, has in fact died from overdose of sleeping pills and brandy. (0:50)

At the wake Yuri's mother tells Keiko that although her daughter's death might have resulted from bad luck she would probably have eventually killed herself anyway. (0:52)

bereavement | suicide