Symphony in August: Shibuya 2002-2003

At a young age, Nitaroh is stricken with an illness that leaves him blind. He inherits the shamisen guitar once used by his mother and is taught its basics by a blind travelling shamisen player. In time with the help of friends old and new, he walks the paths that leads to his ultimate fate - that of founder of the Tsugaru style of shamisen play.

The 31st year of the Showa Era (1956) marked the tenth year since Japan's defeat in World War II. It was when Japan took its first step out of post-war poverty to rejoin the international community. In old downtown Tokyo, a teacher and her students try to pass down Doyo (Japanese traditional children's songs) as the root of Japanese cultural identity to the future generations.

After Gonta is left behind reluctantly by its family in Namie, Fukushima during the evacuation due to the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami disaster, Gonta's family rallies a rescue team to save all the pets left behind.