Common Sense Note

Parents need to know that Only Yesterday was originally released in 1991 and is being re-released in 2016 with a new English voice cast that includes Daisy Ridley and Dev Patel. The movie chronicles a single 27-year-old woman's nostalgia-filled vacation to the Japanese countryside. Since the movie takes place in 1966 and 1982, adult characters smoke cigarettes in several scenes. And in the flashback scenes that take place when the main character is in the fifth grade, there are several references to menstruation, some of which would now be considered outdated (a school nurse encourages female students to purchase special underpants, girls are excused from P.E. because of their periods, etc.) or inappropriate (boys go around making fun of girls because of their periods and try to sneak peeks at their special underwear to see if they're on their periods). There's also some teasing about crushes in the flashbacks and mild romance in the main plot line. In one surprising scene, young Taeko's father slaps her hard across the face for what, to many viewers, will seem like a confusingly minor offense but must be a more problematic act in Japanese culture.

Sexual Content

Boys try to look up girls' skirts to see if they have special "period" underwear; girls call boys "pervs" for doing so. Fifth graders tease one another about liking particular boys or girls. Crushes, romance.

Violence

Taeko's dad slaps her hard across the face.

Language

Boys tease girls about being on their periods, buying special underwear, and skipping P.E. because they may (or may not) have their periods. They yell "period girls!" to girls. Also use of insults like "slow-poke," "smelly," "goody-two-shoes," "pest," etc.

Social Behavior

You don't need to be married by a certain age to be happy, and a woman's sole role in society isn't to get married and to have babies by a certain age. Taeko's joy at helping at the farm is a lovely contrast with how sad her own mother seems doing all the household chores at Taeko's father's command. Demonstrates that what happens to you as a child influences you and can inform your decisions as an adult.

Consumerism

One reference to Puma sneakers.

Drugs / Tobacco / Alcohol

Adult men smoke cigarettes in several scenes.