Yoshihiko Yatabe

A bittersweet, hilarious, enlightening and inspirational road trip through Japanese arthouse cinemas with a heartily independent filmmaker, who also struggles to release his own movies in real life.

Children living on the streets in the Republic of Kenya in East Africa collect garbage for a living. This documentary film features children who survive their severe conditions by helping each other out. A small city named Thika which is roughly an hour's drive from Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. The children referred to as "chokora" (meaning "to pick up" in Swahili), who make their living by picking up steel scraps and plastic pieces on the streets, sniff inhalant to escape from hunger and cold nights.

Ten years ago, the Kogures moved from Tokyo to a satoyama area (an area where traditional sustainable agriculture has been long practiced) in a snowy mountain village in Echigo-Tsumari where they repaired an old thatched farmhouse and began growing organic, pesticide-free rice. Their life may appear unrestrained and free of worldly cares but they cannot make it alone. All the work is done together with their cheerful neighbors. Then, in the spring of 2011, an earthquake strikes on the border of Nagano and Niigata prefectures. The Kogures’ house is destroyed, but they decide to rebuild. An adventure told in a fantastical tone that expresses the joy of living with a sometimes harsh natural world.