Dec. 12, 1903: Yasujiro Ozu is born in Tokyo¡¯s Fukagawa district, the second of five siblings. His father is a prosperous fertilizer wholesaler from Matsusaka, Mie Prefecture. Ozu lives in Matsusaka with his brothers and sisters from 1913 to 1924.

Aug. 2, 1923: After failing university exams and working as a substitute teacher in Mie Prefecture, Ozu enters the Shochiku studio as an assistant cameraman.

September 1927: Ozu is promoted to director and makes his first film, the now-lost period drama ¡°Zange no Yaiba (Sword of Penitence).¡±

1936: Ozu directs his first sound film, ¡°Hitori Musuko (The Only Son),¡± nearly five years after the cinematic release of the country¡¯s first talkie, ¡°Madam to Nyobo (The Neighbor¡¯s Wife and Mine).¡±

Sept. 9, 1937: Ozu is conscripted into the army. He serves until July 16, 1939, which includes tours on the China front.

1943: Ozu is drafted again, but spends much of his time in Singapore, watching foreign films and working on a never-completed movie with Indian revolutionary Chandra Bose. He finally returns to Japan in February 1946.

1947: Ozu¡¯s first postwar film, ¡°Nagaya Shinshiroku (The Record of a Tenement Gentleman),¡± is released.

November 1953: ¡°Tokyo Monogatari (Tokyo Story),¡± Ozu¡¯s masterpiece, is released in Japan. It is ranked at No. 2 in the Kinema Junpo top 10 poll for the year.

1958: Ozu¡¯s first color film, ¡°Higanbana (Equinox Flower),¡± is released in Japan. Ozu shot it on Agfa film stock from Germany because he liked its reds.

1962: Ozu¡¯s last film, the family drama ¡°Sanma no Aji (An Autumn Afternoon),¡± is released in Japan. Among his longtime collaborators on this project are scriptwriter Kogo Noda, cameraman Yuharu Atsuta and actor Chishu Ryu. Setsuko Hara, the star of many Ozu classics, including ¡°Banshun (Late Spring)¡± and ¡°Tokyo Story,¡± made her last Ozu film appearance in the 1961 ¡°Kohayagawa-ke no Aki (The End of Summer).¡±

Dec. 12, 1963: Ozu dies of throat cancer on his 60th birthday. A film Ozu and Noda were working on at the time of his death, ¡°Daikon to Ninjin (The Radish and the Carrot),¡± is later directed by former Ozu assistant director Minoru Shibuya and released in 1965.