In 2005, Wim Wenders traveled from Tokyo to Onomichi, taking the reverse journey undertaken by the protagonists of Wenders' favourite film: Tokyo Story by Yasujiro Ozu, 1953. In the movie, an old couple from Onomichi visit their children in Tokyo one last time, after which the wife dies upon their return home and the husband is left alone.

Onomichi Sunset is like a homage to Wenders' ultimate cinematographic inspiration. It is a conclusion to two stories: it symbolically represents the finite ending of Tokyo Story, and it concurrently can be considered the pictorial end to Wenders' own tale of inspiration: the artist finally arrives at the location of his most admired film and can see it through his own eyes for the very first time. Wenders thereupon makes Yasujiro Ozu's work his own by capturing on camera what he was only able to to see in the latter's films until then. Onomichi Sunset closes a circle of inspiration and creation that has encompassed Wim Wenders' film-making and photography for decades.