Did Ray meet Ozu in Aparna Sen's "The Japanese Wife"?

Aparna Sen, a protege of Satyajit Ray, made a trilingual film of Kunal Basu's short story of the same name. Snehamoy, a teacher in a small Bengal village becomes a pen friend of Miyage, a Japanese girl. 

They become so close through their letters that they decide to marry through Post. Snehamoy refuses the marrige arrangements made for him by his Maashi (aunt), who widowed & arthiritic, keeps house for him by telling her that he is already married to Miyage.

Meanwhile, two unsettling events occur. Sandhya, a widowed distant relative with an eight year old son, arrives to stay with them & Miyage is stricken with cancer. Despite this, this platonic marriage continues for 17 years, without the pair ever meeting. Trying to contact Bengali doctors for cancer cure, Snehamoy gets drenched in a torrential rain, falls ill & dies.

Getting this sad news, Miyage travels to Bengal for the first time, & arrives with a hairless head (double metaphor for chemotherapy & old fashioned Hindu widowhood) & wearing a white sari, to be welcomed by Sandhya.

The evocation of small town milieu in Bengal is reminiscent of Ray & the restraint & faithfulness exhibited by the couple for 17 long years is surely a throwback to the stable, loving couples in Ozu's films. The surprise package is yesteryears' star Moushumi Chatterjee as Maashi!