Hiroki Kawata

Based on 16-year-old writer Sarie Hinakura’s award winning story Jellyfish is centered around two adolescent girls disconnected from their immediate environment of school and mates. They first get together while staring into a jellyfish tank at a local aquarium. The relationship that ensues eventually faces tension from the divergent personalities of the two protagonists, one of whom explores a heterosexual relationship with a fellow student. Jealousy and the wrath of a lover spurned are inevitable spillovers.

When Ozu’s older sister and her husband suddenly passed away after an accident, 32-year-old Ozu temporarily moved to Fukushima from Tokyo in order to look after his 12-year-old niece Mei during the summer vacation. He has a modern way of thinking but is lethargic about everything in his daily life. In Fukushima, he meets the local residents who have been living positively with the aim of recovering from the Great East Japan Earthquake, as well as the immigrants who have come from outside of the prefecture in order to realize their aspirations. As he resides alongside his artistic niece, their bond starts to deepen, and through his interactions with Mei and the many residents of Fukushima, he starts to change and grow as a person.