ime. The success of Mr. Watanabe's life can be seen after his death when the people he worked with gather together and hold a wake. The Deputy Mayor tries to take credit for the children's park, but Watanabe's colleagues know this is not so. They also begin to understand the man they worked beside and ignored for so long and also discover that he was dying and never told them. These same colleagues at first belittle the park and Watanabe's life, but their tone changes as they think about the man and what he has done in his final days.
Yet, Kurosawa is not presenting a simple tale of how a group of people learn a lesson. Indeed, it is Watanabe who is successful in a personal way because he has achieved the life always denied to him through the act of accomplishing something for others. His colleagues state that they have learned from him and that they will live their lives as he on
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