[4] A co-production between Japan and Germany, the film follows the routine life of Hirayama (Kōji Yakusho), a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo.

[5] Perfect Days premiered on 23 May 2023 at the 76th Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the Best Actor Award for Kōji Yakusho.

[6] Hirayama works as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo's upscale Shibuya district, across town from his modest home in a middle class neighbourhood east of the Sumida River.

He dedicates his free time to his passion for music cassettes, which he listens to in his van to and from work, and to his books, which he reads every night before going to sleep.

One day, a young woman named Aya stops by the public toilet Takashi is cleaning, so he hurries to finish.

On his free day, Hirayama does his laundry, takes the film with his tree photos to be developed, cleans his flat, buys a new book, and dines out at a restaurant where the proprietor shares gossip with him.

Niko, Hirayama's niece, shows up unannounced, having run away from his wealthy estranged sister Keiko's home.

Keiko tells him that their father’s dementia has worsened and asks whether Hirayama will visit him in the nursing home where he lives.

Hirayama lightens the mood by offering him a drink and inviting him to play shadow tag, and they eventually part ways.

As he drives his van and listens to Nina Simone sing "Feeling Good", a range of powerful emotions washes over his face.

In an interview with The Progressive, Wenders revealed that, in his conception, Hirayama was a wealthy alcoholic businessman who, after ending up in a hotel room with no memory, contemplating suicide, and being struck by the beauty of sunlight falling through leaves, gave up his career and became a gardener and then a toilet cleaner.

The website's critics consensus reads, "An absorbing slice-of-life drama led by a remarkable Kôji Yakusho performance, Perfect Days adds a quietly soaring gem to director/co-writer Wim Wenders' estimable filmography.

"[30] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 80 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

Kōji Yakusho's performance drew acclaim for his ability to "convey an extraordinarily rich interior life, almost entirely without leaning on dialogue.

"[34] Following the theatrical release of Perfect Days in international markets, interest in Japanese public facilities, particularly those of the Tokyo Toilet Project in Shibuya, has surged.