It stars Rahul Bose, Raima Sen and Moushumi Chatterjee, and Japanese actress Chigusa Takaku in the title role.

The story revolves around a young Bengali village school teacher (Rahul Bose) marrying his Japanese pen friend (Chigusa Takaku) over letters and remaining true and loyal to her throughout his life, while actually never meeting her.

Snehamoy Chatterjee (Rahul Bose) and Miyage (Chigusa Takaku) are pen pals who develop a deep and emotional relationship.

This unusual relationship is tested when a young widow, Sandhya (Raima Sen), comes to stay with Snehamoy along with her eight-year-old son Poltu.

Snehamoy sets out one day during a storm to talk to the closest oncologist in Calcutta, but leaves upon realisation that without Miyage physically being there, the doctor can do little.

Due to the continuing storm, no villagers are able to travel to Gosaba by boat to obtain the antibiotics required to cure his infection, and he dies some days later.

After the sea calms down, Miyage, who is dressed in a white sari and has a shaved head (due to her chemotherapy, but not because she feels she is a widow since she did not know Snehamoy died) visits the house of her late husband.

[4] Aparna Sen had seen Rahul Bose's work in English, August and Split Wide Open and felt that he was a good, controlled and intelligent actor.

Rajeev Masand of CNN-IBN rated the film 3 out of 5 stars and gave a good review and praised the acting and direction, saying that, "Despite its leisurely pace and its wildly implausible premise, populated with believable, flesh-and-blood characters who have real fears and anxieties that you can connect with.

[11] In order to combat piracy, The Japanese Wife DVD was released in India only a month after the film's theatrical premiere.