Maybe it's my MAGA aroused, anti fascist antennae at work here or maybe I'm just naturally skeptical of benign old men being worshiped by youth but I don't buy all the heart warming, sweet, gentle perfume my IMDB colleagues have sprayed all over this obviously anti Imperial Japan allegory. I mean, you've got an emeritus Japanese professor of GERMAN, during and immediately after WW2, who holds birthday parties wherein democracy is excoriated as corrupt while not allowing visitors other than his acolytes to the "temple" where he lives and naming one of his pet cats Kurz (the cannibalistic, humanity hating German in "Heart Of Darkness"). Don't know about you but I suspect more than a bit of authoritarian vinegar in the delightful geezer's makeup.