Yoriko Sasaki (佐々木 頼子, Sasaki Yoriko) is the wife of Mr. Sasaki and the adoptive mother of Anna Sasaki.
History[]
Yoriko and her husband (whose name is never revealed) adopted Anna from an orphanage when she was five years old.
According to Setsu Oiwa (Yoriko's older sister), Yoriko and Mr. Sasaki (the former especially) were so happy about finally being able to become parents and wanted to make up for the first five years that they had been unable to spend with Anna. This included Yoriko teaching Anna all sorts of skills, like how to cook and how to use a knife.
Yoriko's also a bit of a worrywart and, at least when Anna was younger, would often call her older sister (who already had children of her own by the time she and Mr. Sasaki had adopted Anna) for advice. The three lived a very happy life until sometime after Anna reached preadolescence and discovered that her adoptive parents receive money from the government to help take care of her -- but seeing and finding those checks makes Anna secretly worry that her adoptive don't truly love her and only pretend to care for her as a way to receive money from the government.
After that, Anna (who never let on that she knew about the government checks) becomes quieter/more introverted and also starts keeping the people around her, including her parents, at a distance (emotionally speaking). Yoriko, unaware that Anna found the checks that she and husband receive monthly, started worrying about her daughter's sudden change in attitude.
When Anna (who's asthmatic) suffers a bit of a health scare during a school field trip, Yoriko's in the room with her daughter as she's being examined by their family physician, Dr. Yamashita. While Anna's resting in her bedroom, Yoriko takes Dr. Yamashita into the living room and makes some tea for the two of them -- Yoriko expresses her worries about her daughter's health along with her recent change in attitude. It seems that Yoriko thinks that Anna's change in demeanor might be because of how her husband (Anna's adoptive father) has to travel a lot for work and is often away on business trips (which is why he isn't present during the movie) along with how Anna isn't biologically related to either her or her husband. Hearing all of this, Dr. Yamashita suggests that Yoriko send Anna to stay with Setsu and her husband, Kiyomasa, who live in Kissakibetsu (a rural seaside town out in the Kushiro wetlands), in the hopes that the clean country air will help Anna's asthma.
Since her mom can't come with her, Yoriko sees Anna off at the train station and gives her daughter various supplies (like postcards to mail so they can keep in touch over the summer) and makes Anna promise to let her know when she arrives at Setsu and Kiyomasa's house in Kissakibetsu.
While in Kissakibetsu for the summer, Anna meets a girl named Marnie (who's eventually revealed to have been her biological maternal grandmother) and they start spending time together whenever they can. During one of their outings, the girls tell each other about their home lives -- Anna reveals how she's a foster child and that her adoptive parents receive monthly checks from the government to help take care of her and admits her worries about Yoriko and Mr. Sasaki only pretending to love/care about her for the money. Marnie tries assuring Anna that she's certain Mr. and Mrs. Sasaki truly do love and care about her, with or without the money they receive -- Marnie also admits to Anna that, when it comes to their respective home lives, she feels Anna's a lot luckier than she is.
At the very end of the movie, when Yoriko arrives in Kissakibetsu to bring Anna back to their hometown of Sapporo, Yoriko finally reveals to her daughter about she and Anna's father receive money from the government to help take care of her but makes it clear that they love her no matter what. But Anna (having developed a much greater respect/appreciation for the people around her, including her adoptive parents) reveals that she had actually known about the checks for quite some time but doesn't care and makes it clear that she loves and care about her and Mr. Sasaki as her parents. After the two share a hug, Yoriko gives Anna an old photograph that she found back home in Sapporo -- according to Yoriko, it was something that Anna had carried around with her during her time at the orphanage from before she and Mr. Sasaki had adopted her as their daughter, explaining how the people at the orphanage told her that the photograph had apparently belonged to Anna's biological grandmother.
When Anna sees that the photograph is of the marsh house (the seemingly abandoned mansion that Marnie lived in) and sees "My Beloved Home - Marnie" written on the back of it, it makes her realize that Marnie was actually her grandmother. This ultimately helps Anna to finally come to terms with her identity and her past.
During the end credits, Yoriko and Anna are taken to the station by Setsu and Kiyomasa after making a brief stop so that Anna can apologize to Nobuko, a local girl she had insulted during the Tanabata Festival, and also so Anna can bid goodbye to the friends she made during her stay in town. During the process, they make a stop so Anna can say goodbye to Hisako, a painter who's also a longtime resident of Kissakibetsu -- Anna introduces Yoriko and Hisako to each other, during which she refers to Yoriko as her mother (probably for the first time in a long time), which causes Yoriko to visibly tear up (although she's smiling).
Personality[]
Yoriko, though a bit of a worrywart, is ultimately a very loving and protective mother towards Anna, expressing any normal concerns over her daughter's health and well-being (especially since Anna suffers from asthma). She can also be pretty emotional at times -- for example, when she's expressing her concerns about Anna to Dr. Yamashita at the beginning of the movie, she's visibly tearing up.
Relationships[]
- Unnamed husband
- Anna Sasaki (adoptive daughter)
- Setsu Oiwa (older sister)
- Kiyomasa Ōiwa (brother-in-law)
- Setsu Oiwa's children (nephew(s)/niece)
Etymology[]
- The name Yoriko means "rely" (頼) (yori) and "child" (子) (ko).
- Yoriko's surname Sasaki means "help, aid" (佐) (sa) and "tree, wood" (木) (ki).