Obasan Ayako Nakane Timeline and Summary

•  Back
• More 

• We meet Obasan right after the death of her husband. For a new widow, she seems fine.
• When Naomi comes to her home, she doesn't have much of a reaction. Naomi wants her to go to sleep, but Obasan has other plans.
• In the middle of the night Obasan goes into the attic looking for something. She doesn't find it and Naomi leads her back to her room.
• Sometime in between then and when Naomi wakes up, Obasan finds the parcel of Aunt Emily's letters. She's a tricky old lady.
• When Naomi reads the letters, she remembers some things about Obasan's past.
• Obasan basically became a mother to Naomi when her mother goes to Japan. She lives in their house and takes care of them.
• When the family has to leave Vancouver, Obasan argues that the children shouldn't be taken away from her, since she has been taking care of them. That is how the kids end up in Slocan without Aunt Emily.
• A while after the family moves, Uncle is released from internment camp and comes to live with them. You'd expect Obasan to be jumping for joy, but she just says welcome home.
• Eventually Naomi's father joins them, but just a little after that the family has to move again. This time to Granton. It sucks.
• Eventually the Japanese Canadians are allowed to leave, and the family moves into the town.
• Fast forward to present day, and Obasan is reading a very suspicious Japanese letter that Naomi cannot understand.
• When Nakayama-sensei leads the letter, it's almost like all of the emotions in Obasan overflow their gates.
• The last thing we see of Obasan is her mourning the death of Uncle Sam and staring at his ID card.