Which Kurosawa film is set in a garbage dump on the outskirts of Tokyo?

Which Kurosawa film is set in a garbage dump on the outskirts of Tokyo? The answer is Dodes'ka-den.

Released in 1970, Dodes'ka-den is an ensemble drama about poor and homeless residents living in a shantytown built around a rubbish dump near Tokyo. Rather than following one conventional protagonist, it interweaves several stories, including those of struggling families, troubled couples, and people trying to preserve dignity amid poverty.

The title comes from the sound of a streetcar. Roku-chan, one of the film's central figures, imagines himself driving a trolley through the dump and repeats “dodeska-den,” an imitation of its clickety-clack rhythm. That fantasy gives the film one of its most distinctive motifs.

The film is often remembered as Kurosawa's first color feature and as a sharp departure from better-known samurai and crime dramas such as Red Beard or Stray Dog. It was based on Shūgorō Yamamoto's 1962 novel A City Without Seasons and was made by Kurosawa's production group Yonki no Kai.