The Town of Whales

A 5th grade elementary school student meets a transfer student who has a mysterious charm about her. He then learns her big secret.

Keiko Tsuruoka’s film is at once traditional and contemporary: it gently mixes present-day gender and sexuality politics with the old-fashioned Japanese domestic drama. Traditional lacquerwork kitchenware is the Aoki family’s legacy, handed down to patriarch Seishiro (Kaoru Kobayashi) by his now-ailing father (Masayuki Suzuki). Seishiro expects to pass it in turn to his son Yu (Ryota Bando), but Yu has no interest in the craft—quite unlike daughter Miyako (Mayu Hotta), who loves it dearly. The stage is set for conflict, as established cultural traditions collide with modern mores…

Mado wakes up in the morning finding all the people disappeared. Hearing a strong typhoon might strike, everyone has escaped the disaster. She checks her school, but no one is there. She meets her classmate, Fujii, unexpectedly. Fujii asks Mado to find a shelter together. He doesn't want to leave her alone. Both start looking around to see if anyone's left behind: An empty theatre, a movie is still running on the screen. A young girl stands by a desolated pool. A strip show theater with a retired stripper. An old man brushes his shoe in a bowling center continuously. Both guys search everywhere. And finally in the heavy rain, they find shelter in a factory. This is a factory where Mado's father had died in.

A sensitive account of adolescent love, wherein a young man falls in love with a beautiful but older woman living next door, thereby plunging into a whirlwind of changing emotions that are heightened by her capriciousness, and leading to a truly heart-rending revelation.

A women challenges herself to do more and overcome various obstacles of life by taking inspiration from her soothing music.

Kazu, an actor visiting his hometown, where he will have to confess a sad secret to his family. Saikai is a seaside municipality in Nagasaki prefecture — a place with charm, nice scenery, and not much going on. For Kazu, it’s a nice contrast with Tokyo, where he has gone to make his living. His family and his old community welcome his return visit, and he is loath to disappoint them, but the truth about his upcoming marriage will have to be told…

One summer day, Tokiko, whose life in Tokyo is going nowhere fast, gets on an overnight bus to the countryside. When she arrives, she meets Yohei, a high school student struggling to deal with the sudden death of a young man who was like a big brother to him.

Four years ago, Manatsu, who wants to become a photographer, and Fuyuki, who wants to become a hairdresser, were boyfriends who attended the same technical school of beauty. The two of them had promised to marry but... After some misunderstandings, they ended up having a sad separation. After 4 years, the two meet again, and the last kiss of love that Manatsu came carrying in the heart is...