Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
Encyclopedia
is a one-volume manga
written and illustrated by Fumiyo Kōno
. The two connected stories were first published in Japan by Futabasha
in Weekly Manga Action
in 2003 and 2004, then collected in a single tankōbon
volume in 2004. The stories about a family of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
. The author based the characters on people who were in Hiroshima
or Nagasaki.
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms was adapted as a live-action film directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe released in 2007, called Yunagi City, Sakura Country in English. It has also been adapted as a novel by Kei Kunii and as a radio drama produced in 2006.
The manga has received international praise for its simple but beautiful artwork and its quiet but "humane" anti-war message. It received the Grand Prize for manga at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival
and the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Creative Award. Kumiko Aso won several acting awards for her portrayal of Minami Hirano, one of the two protagonists, in the film adaptation.
, "Town of Evening Calm" is the story of a young woman, Minami Hirano, who survived the bomb
when she was in her early teens. She lives with her mother, Fujimi, in a shanty-town near downtown, having lost her father and two sisters to the bomb; her younger brother, Asahi, was evacuated to Mito, Ibaraki
, where he was adopted by his aunt. Fujimi is a seamstress while Minami, who is "all thumbs" as her mother puts it, works as a clerk in an office, and together they are saving money for the trip to Mito to visit Asahi.
One of her co-workers, Yutaka Uchikoshi, cares for Minami and visits her shanty when she misses work because her mother is sick. He later gives her a pair of sandals made by his mother and a handkerchief, but when he tries to kiss her, she has a flashback
where she sees the victims of the bombing where they now stand and pushes him away. She runs off, still reliving the horrors of the attack, including finding her little sister's blackened body and watching her older sister die of radiation poisoning
two months later. The next day at the office, she apologizes to Uchikoshi, saying she wants to somehow put the past behind her. She spends the day exhausted, however, and the next day becomes bedridden from the long-term effects of radiation poisoning. As Minami condition worsens, she is visited by Uchikoshi and other co-workers, and dies just as her brother and aunt arrive.
), is a tomboy nicknamed "Goemon
" by her classmates, to her disgust. At baseball practice, she gets a bloody nose after being hit by a ball, after which she skips practice to visit her brother Nagio in the hospital, where he is being treated for asthma. On the way, she meets her best friend and next-door neighbor, a feminine girl named Toko Tone, who loans her subway fare and accompanies her. In Nagio's hospital room, they toss cherry blossom petals
that Nanami collected into the air, to give him the experience of spring
that he's missing. Nanami is scolded by her grandmother for visiting Nagio when she's not supposed to. That summer, her grandmother, Asahi's adoptive mother in Mito, dies, and that fall Nanami loses touch with Toko after her family moves closer to Nagio's hospital.
Part two takes place 17 years later, in 2004. Nanami, now working as a office lady
, lives with her recently retired father. One day Nagio, who recently graduated from medical school
, tells Nanami he ran into Toko as a nurse at the hospital where he is interning. Nanami tells him she's worried their father's going senile because he has started wandering off for a couple days at time without explanation. One evening, Nanami follows Asahi as he leaves the apartment, and while she tails him runs into Toko and together they follow him onto an overnight bus to Hiroshima. In the morning, they follow as he visits several people before Toko leaves to visit the Peace Park
. Asahi visits his family grave, then sits by the riverside, and while waiting Nanami discovers in the jacket of Toko's borrowed jacket a letter from Nagio to Toko, saying that her family asked him to stop seeing her as they believe his asthma is a result of the atomic bomb. In a flashback
, Asahi recalls the riverbank as a shantytown, then remembers meeting Kyoka Ota, a neighborhood girl his mother hired to help her after Minami died, when he returns to Hiroshima to start college. Asahi begins tutoring Kyoka because her teachers believe she is stupid due to the atomic bomb. When Toko finds Nanami by the river, Toko is upset to the point of illness by what she saw at the Peace Memorial Museum
, and Nanami finds them a hotel room and cares for her, even though she has flashbacks to seeing her mother's last illness when she was a young child. In another flashback, Asahi proposes to a grown Kyoka, against his mother's wishes, as Kyoka was exposed to the bomb. On the ride back to Tokyo, Nanami arranges for Nagio to meet her and Toko, then leaves them alone together. Asahi tells Nanami he visited Hiroshima for the 49th anniversary of Minami's death, and that Nanami resembles her.
, and growing up she found the subject upsetting and had tried to avoid it ever since. She decided to tackle the subject because she felt it was "unnatural and irresponsible for me to consciously try to avoid the issue." Living in Tokyo, she had come to realize that people outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn't know about the effects of the bomb, not because they were avoiding the subject but because it is never talked about, and so she attempted the story because "drawing something is better than drawing nothing at all."
Kōno described "Country of Cherry Blossoms" as "what I most needed to hear two years ago, when I still avoided anything to do with the atomic bomb."
in two parts in the seinen
(aimed at younger adult men) manga magazine Weekly Manga Action
in September 2003 and July 2004. The two serial numbers were collected in a tankōbon
edition published on 12 October 2004 (ISBN 4-575-29744-5). It was reprinted in a bunkoban edition on 8 April 2008 (ISBN 978-4-575-71343-5).
It has been published in English by Last Gasp
, in Korean by Munhak Segye Sa, in Traditional Chinese by Sharp Point Publishing, and in French by Kana
.
broadcast by NHK
on 5 August 2006. It won the 2006 Agency for Cultural Affairs
Art Festival Award in the Radio Division, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Prix Italia
.
The drama was directed by Kenji Shindo and produced by Shinya Aoki
, with the script adapted by Hirofumi Harada. Music was provided by Jun Nagao
, and sounds were provided by Ai Sato
. The three lead actors were Isao Natsuyagi, Tomoko Saito, and Kayu Suzuki. Kenji Anan was a supporting cast member.
Cast
on 3 July 2007 (ISBN 978-4-575-23582-1).
, including a recreation of part of the Hiroshima's shantytown circa 1958. The story of "Country of Cherry Blossoms", filmed in every place in Hiroshima. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
in May 2007, then released in theaters in Japan on 28 July 2007. It was released on DVD in Japan on 28 March 2008. A soundtrack was also released.
Key items
Cast
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film was released on July 16, 2007. It is composed by Takatsugu Muramatsu, played harp by Naori Uchida and played harmonica by Masami Ohishi.
for its brevity and its "depiction of 'the dark shadow of war'". According to Izumi Evers, one of the editors of the English edition, the Japanese edition created a sensation despite being little-promoted because it made readers want to talk about the bombing of Hiroshima, which is a controversial topic. The manga sold over 180,000 copies in Japan.
The simple artwork and story's "light, ephemeral touch" was praised by Dirk Deppey
in The Comics Journal
, and PopCultureShock called the character designs "slightly rough, clumsy", which they consider makes the characters "more human and more believable" because they are "more vulnerable, more imperfect, more fragil". PopCultureShock also praised the background art, which "bring[s] the streets of Hiroshima to vivid life". Manga News described the apparently simplistic art as beautiful, which emphasizes the story's depth without ever going over-the-top or into excess morality. Comic World News called the story "humane" and "profoundly moral", and praised the characterization as being "real". Otaku USA
described the scenes of daily life as "welcoming" and the art "lovely", saying the "antiwar message is unspoken, and comes naturally from the desire not to see the characters die." A review at About.com
described it as a "deeply moving story" that's "told in whispers rather than screams," and praised Kōno for resisting "the urge to pile on the melodrama" and so conveying "a deeply moving story." Manga: The Complete Guide
called the work "a beautiful manga and an understated antiwar statement", praising its "dreamlike and evocative" stories and its artwork, especially the "lovely" backgrounds.
Publishers Weekly
named the English translation one of best ten manga of 2007, calling it "too important to pass up" and comparing it to Barefoot Gen
, and New York Magazine named it one of the top five comics in English of 2007. The American Library Association
placed the manga on its list of "Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2008". It was nominated for an Eisner Award
in two categories, Best Short Story for "Town of Evening Calm" and Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan, but lost to "Mr. Wonderful" by Dan Clowes and Tekkonkinkreet respectively.
According to Patrick Macias
, an English editor of the manga, the film was "kind of ignored" at Cannes because of competition from other high-profile Japanese films. According to a review in Asia Pacific Arts, during the sequence when the father returns to Hiroshima, the film shows "an interaction" of the past, present, and future, which is indicative of "the slipperiness of memory", a technique that "makes more visible and effective the ongoing resonance of the past in the present" but that "rejects the politics of the bombing" of the first part of the film. Kumiko Aso won several acting awards in Japan for her role as Minami Hirano.
's Grand Prize for manga and the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Creative Award.
The film won several awards, including the 17th Japanese Film Critics Award for Best Picture, placing sixth in the top ten films list of the 3rd Osaka Cinema Festival, and placing ninth in the top ten domestic films list of 2007 by Kinema Junpo
. The Blue Ribbon Awards
also named the film one of the top ten films of the year. Kumiko Aso won several "Best Actress" awards for her portrayal of Minami Hirano in the film, including that of the 32nd Hochi Film Award
s, the 62nd Mainichi Film Awards
, and the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards
.
Manga
Manga is the Japanese word for "comics" and consists of comics and print cartoons . In the West, the term "manga" has been appropriated to refer specifically to comics created in Japan, or by Japanese authors, in the Japanese language and conforming to the style developed in Japan in the late 19th...
written and illustrated by Fumiyo Kōno
Fumiyo Kōno
is a Japanese manga artist from Nishi-ku, Hiroshima, known for her Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms. She was born in Hiroshima in 1968 and began drawing manga when she was in junior high school. She states that she began drawing manga because her parents would not often buy her manga...
. The two connected stories were first published in Japan by Futabasha
Futabasha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.-List of magazines published by Futabasha:*Bravo Ski*Comic Seed!*Futabasha Web Magazine*Manga Action ZERO*Tōji Rō*Getter Robot Saga...
in Weekly Manga Action
Weekly Manga Action
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine pushlished on a weekly basis by Futabasha since 7 July 1967.-Currently serialized:Listed alphabetically.*Bar Lemon Heart...
in 2003 and 2004, then collected in a single tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
volume in 2004. The stories about a family of survivors of the atomic bombing of Hiroshima
Atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
. The author based the characters on people who were in Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
or Nagasaki.
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms was adapted as a live-action film directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe released in 2007, called Yunagi City, Sakura Country in English. It has also been adapted as a novel by Kei Kunii and as a radio drama produced in 2006.
The manga has received international praise for its simple but beautiful artwork and its quiet but "humane" anti-war message. It received the Grand Prize for manga at the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
and the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize Creative Award. Kumiko Aso won several acting awards for her portrayal of Minami Hirano, one of the two protagonists, in the film adaptation.
Plot
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms comprises two stories, "Town of Evening Calm" and "Country of Cherry Blossoms".Town of Evening Calm (Yūnagi no Machi)
Set in Hiroshima in 1955, ten years after the atomic bomb was droppedAtomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan, the first on August 6, 1945, and the second on August 9, 1945. These two events are the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date.For six months...
, "Town of Evening Calm" is the story of a young woman, Minami Hirano, who survived the bomb
Hibakusha
The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
when she was in her early teens. She lives with her mother, Fujimi, in a shanty-town near downtown, having lost her father and two sisters to the bomb; her younger brother, Asahi, was evacuated to Mito, Ibaraki
Mito, Ibaraki
is the capital of Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan and has a central location, moderately offset towards the coast in that prefecture. As of 2005, the city has an estimated population of 263,748 and a total area is 217.45 km², giving a population density of 1,212.91 persons per km²...
, where he was adopted by his aunt. Fujimi is a seamstress while Minami, who is "all thumbs" as her mother puts it, works as a clerk in an office, and together they are saving money for the trip to Mito to visit Asahi.
One of her co-workers, Yutaka Uchikoshi, cares for Minami and visits her shanty when she misses work because her mother is sick. He later gives her a pair of sandals made by his mother and a handkerchief, but when he tries to kiss her, she has a flashback
Flashback (psychological phenomenon)
A flashback, or involuntary recurrent memory, is a psychological phenomenon in which an individual has a sudden, usually powerful, re-experiencing of a past experience or elements of a past experience. These experiences can be happy, sad, exciting, or any other emotion one can consider...
where she sees the victims of the bombing where they now stand and pushes him away. She runs off, still reliving the horrors of the attack, including finding her little sister's blackened body and watching her older sister die of radiation poisoning
Radiation poisoning
Acute radiation syndrome also known as radiation poisoning, radiation sickness or radiation toxicity, is a constellation of health effects which occur within several months of exposure to high amounts of ionizing radiation...
two months later. The next day at the office, she apologizes to Uchikoshi, saying she wants to somehow put the past behind her. She spends the day exhausted, however, and the next day becomes bedridden from the long-term effects of radiation poisoning. As Minami condition worsens, she is visited by Uchikoshi and other co-workers, and dies just as her brother and aunt arrive.
Country of Cherry Blossoms (Sakura no Kuni)
"Country of Cherry Blossoms" is a story in two parts. Part one is set in 1987 in Tokyo. At the start of fifth grade, Nanami Ishikawa, the daughter of Minami's brother Asahi (and thus second-generation atomic bomb victimHibakusha
The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
), is a tomboy nicknamed "Goemon
Ishikawa Goemon
was a semi-legendary Japanese outlaw hero who stole gold and valuables and gave them to the poor. Goemon is notable for being boiled alive along with his son in public after a failed assassination attempt on the civil war-era warlord Toyotomi Hideyoshi. A large iron kettle-shaped bathtub is now...
" by her classmates, to her disgust. At baseball practice, she gets a bloody nose after being hit by a ball, after which she skips practice to visit her brother Nagio in the hospital, where he is being treated for asthma. On the way, she meets her best friend and next-door neighbor, a feminine girl named Toko Tone, who loans her subway fare and accompanies her. In Nagio's hospital room, they toss cherry blossom petals
Sakura
A cherry blossom is the flower of any of several trees of genus Prunus, particularly the Japanese Cherry, Prunus serrulata, which is sometimes called sakura after the Japanese . Many of the varieties that have been cultivated for ornamental use do not produce fruit...
that Nanami collected into the air, to give him the experience of spring
Hanami
is the Japanese traditional custom of enjoying the beauty of flowers, "flower" in this case almost always meaning cherry blossoms or ume blossoms. From the end of March to early May, sakura bloom all over Japan, and around the first of February on the island of Okinawa...
that he's missing. Nanami is scolded by her grandmother for visiting Nagio when she's not supposed to. That summer, her grandmother, Asahi's adoptive mother in Mito, dies, and that fall Nanami loses touch with Toko after her family moves closer to Nagio's hospital.
Part two takes place 17 years later, in 2004. Nanami, now working as a office lady
Office lady
An office lady, often abbreviated OL , is a female office worker in Japan who performs generally pink collar tasks such as serving tea and secretarial or clerical work. Like many unmarried Japanese, OLs often live with their parents well into early adulthood...
, lives with her recently retired father. One day Nagio, who recently graduated from medical school
Medical school
A medical school is a tertiary educational institution—or part of such an institution—that teaches medicine. Degree programs offered at medical schools often include Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, Bachelor/Doctor of Medicine, Doctor of Philosophy, master's degree, or other post-secondary...
, tells Nanami he ran into Toko as a nurse at the hospital where he is interning. Nanami tells him she's worried their father's going senile because he has started wandering off for a couple days at time without explanation. One evening, Nanami follows Asahi as he leaves the apartment, and while she tails him runs into Toko and together they follow him onto an overnight bus to Hiroshima. In the morning, they follow as he visits several people before Toko leaves to visit the Peace Park
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park
is a memorial park in the center of Hiroshima, Japan. It is dedicated to the legacy of Hiroshima as the first city in the world to suffer a nuclear attack, and to the memories of the bomb's direct and indirect victims ....
. Asahi visits his family grave, then sits by the riverside, and while waiting Nanami discovers in the jacket of Toko's borrowed jacket a letter from Nagio to Toko, saying that her family asked him to stop seeing her as they believe his asthma is a result of the atomic bomb. In a flashback
Flashback (narrative)
Flashback is an interjected scene that takes the narrative back in time from the current point the story has reached. Flashbacks are often used to recount events that happened before the story’s primary sequence of events or to fill in crucial backstory...
, Asahi recalls the riverbank as a shantytown, then remembers meeting Kyoka Ota, a neighborhood girl his mother hired to help her after Minami died, when he returns to Hiroshima to start college. Asahi begins tutoring Kyoka because her teachers believe she is stupid due to the atomic bomb. When Toko finds Nanami by the river, Toko is upset to the point of illness by what she saw at the Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum
Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum is located in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park, in central Hiroshima, Japan.It was established in August 1955 with the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Hall ....
, and Nanami finds them a hotel room and cares for her, even though she has flashbacks to seeing her mother's last illness when she was a young child. In another flashback, Asahi proposes to a grown Kyoka, against his mother's wishes, as Kyoka was exposed to the bomb. On the ride back to Tokyo, Nanami arranges for Nagio to meet her and Toko, then leaves them alone together. Asahi tells Nanami he visited Hiroshima for the 49th anniversary of Minami's death, and that Nanami resembles her.
Development
According to Fumiyo Kōno's afterword, she was prompted to write Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms when her editor asked her for a Hiroshima story. She was initially reluctant because, while she was born in Hiroshima neither she nor anyone in her family was a survivor of the atomic bombHibakusha
The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
, and growing up she found the subject upsetting and had tried to avoid it ever since. She decided to tackle the subject because she felt it was "unnatural and irresponsible for me to consciously try to avoid the issue." Living in Tokyo, she had come to realize that people outside of Hiroshima and Nagasaki didn't know about the effects of the bomb, not because they were avoiding the subject but because it is never talked about, and so she attempted the story because "drawing something is better than drawing nothing at all."
Kōno described "Country of Cherry Blossoms" as "what I most needed to hear two years ago, when I still avoided anything to do with the atomic bomb."
Manga
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms was serialized in Japan by FutabashaFutabasha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.-List of magazines published by Futabasha:*Bravo Ski*Comic Seed!*Futabasha Web Magazine*Manga Action ZERO*Tōji Rō*Getter Robot Saga...
in two parts in the seinen
Seinen
is a subset of manga that is generally targeted at a 20–30 year old male audience, but the audience can be older with some manga aimed at businessmen well into their 40s. In Japanese, the word Seinen means "young man" or "young men" and is not suggestive of sexual matters...
(aimed at younger adult men) manga magazine Weekly Manga Action
Weekly Manga Action
is a Japanese seinen manga magazine pushlished on a weekly basis by Futabasha since 7 July 1967.-Currently serialized:Listed alphabetically.*Bar Lemon Heart...
in September 2003 and July 2004. The two serial numbers were collected in a tankōbon
Tankobon
, with a literal meaning close to "independently appearing book", is the Japanese term for a book that is complete in itself and is not part of a series , though the manga industry uses it for volumes which may be in a series...
edition published on 12 October 2004 (ISBN 4-575-29744-5). It was reprinted in a bunkoban edition on 8 April 2008 (ISBN 978-4-575-71343-5).
It has been published in English by Last Gasp
Last Gasp
Last Gasp is a book and underground comix publisher and distributor based in San Francisco, California.- History :Founded in 1970 by Ron Turner to publish the ecologically-themed comics magazine Slow Death Funnies, followed by the all-female anthology It Ain't Me Babe, Last Gasp soon became a major...
, in Korean by Munhak Segye Sa, in Traditional Chinese by Sharp Point Publishing, and in French by Kana
Kana (publisher)
Kana is a French publisher affiliated with Les Éditions Dargaud. Kana was founded in 1996 by Yves Schlirf. The company publishes manga in French and Dutch. Its headquarters are in the Dargaud offices in the 18th arrondissement of Paris.-External links:*...
.
Radio drama
The story was adapted as a 50-minute radio dramaRadio drama in Japan
Radio drama in Japan has a history as long as that of radio broadcasting in that country, which began in 1925. Some consider the first Japanese radio drama to have been "" which was a radio broadcast of a stage play. Others consider the Japanese translation of Richard Hughes's "Danger" or to be...
broadcast by NHK
NHK
NHK is Japan's national public broadcasting organization. NHK, which has always identified itself to its audiences by the English pronunciation of its initials, is a publicly owned corporation funded by viewers' payments of a television license fee....
on 5 August 2006. It won the 2006 Agency for Cultural Affairs
Agency for Cultural Affairs
The is a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education . It was set up in 1968 to promote Japanese arts and culture. As of April 2007, it is led by the Commissioner for Cultural Affairs, Tamotsu Aoki....
Art Festival Award in the Radio Division, and was shortlisted for the 2007 Prix Italia
Prix Italia
The Prix Italia is an international Italian television, radio-broadcasting and Website award. It was established in 1948 by RAI - Radiotelevisione Italiana in Capri...
.
The drama was directed by Kenji Shindo and produced by Shinya Aoki
Shinya Aoki
is a Japanese mixed martial artist, grappler, and former police trainee who is noted for being the DREAM Lightweight Champion and former Shooto Middleweight Champion. Aoki holds a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Yuki Nakai, as well as a black belt in judo. He is one of the most prominent...
, with the script adapted by Hirofumi Harada. Music was provided by Jun Nagao
Jun Nagao
Jun Nagao is a Japanese composer.Nagao began his career as an arranger for orchestras and wind ensembles. Today he is known for his many original compositions including several works for video games and films...
, and sounds were provided by Ai Sato
Ai Sato
is a Japanese actress and voice actress working with Ken Production.-Anime:* Darker than Black * Death Note * Fafner of the Azure * Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood is a Japanese actress and voice actress working with Ken Production.-Anime:* Darker than Black (Bertha)* Death Note (Sachiko Yagami)*...
. The three lead actors were Isao Natsuyagi, Tomoko Saito, and Kayu Suzuki. Kenji Anan was a supporting cast member.
Cast
- Isao Natsuyagi as Asahi Ishikawa
- Kayu Suzuki as Nanami Ishikawa
- Tomoko Saito as Minami Hirano
- Kenji Anan as Yutaka Uchikoshi
- Toshie Kobayashi as Fujimi Hirano
- Shin Yazawa as Toko Tone
- Kenta Chabana as younger Asahi Ishikawa
- Yuna Mimura as younger Kyoka Ota
- Yukie Ito as Kyoka Ota
- Kanako Obayashi as Sachiko Furuta
Novel
A novelization by , released in conjunction with the film adaption with a cover featuring the film's actors, was published by FutabashaFutabasha
is a Japanese publishing company headquartered in Higashigokenchō, Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan.-List of magazines published by Futabasha:*Bravo Ski*Comic Seed!*Futabasha Web Magazine*Manga Action ZERO*Tōji Rō*Getter Robot Saga...
on 3 July 2007 (ISBN 978-4-575-23582-1).
Film
Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms has been adapted into a live-action film directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe, which is called Yunagi City, Sakura Country in English. The outdoor sets were filmed in Kawaguchi, SaitamaKawaguchi, Saitama
is a city located in Saitama Prefecture, Japan. The city was founded on April 1, 1933.As of January 1, 2011, the city has an estimated population of 517,171, the second largest in Saitama Prefecture after Saitama, and a population density of 9,276.61 persons per km². The total area is 55.75 km²...
, including a recreation of part of the Hiroshima's shantytown circa 1958. The story of "Country of Cherry Blossoms", filmed in every place in Hiroshima. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes International Film Festival , is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films of all genres including documentaries from around the world. Founded in 1946, it is among the world's most prestigious and publicized film festivals...
in May 2007, then released in theaters in Japan on 28 July 2007. It was released on DVD in Japan on 28 March 2008. A soundtrack was also released.
Key items
- An attractive handmade short-sleeved dress: there is the reason that Minami can't wear the short-sleeves.
- The white barretteBarretteA barrette is a clasp or pin for holding hair in place....
(hair clip): Minami's father gave white one to Minami's sister Midori and red one to Minami, and soon Midori liked red one so Minami keep the white one. And the barrette will be kept by her sister in law Kyoka and her niece Nanami. - The river and an old water tank for fire fighting on the street: People at the time wanted water.
- A white handkerchief with two red goldfish: The family used live in a house with a pond in the yard. Asahi tried to catch the goldfish and was scolded by father.
- A family picture: Only one Minami's family picture is left with Asahi in Mito, but all pictures were burn out with Minami's house.
- An acaciaAcaciaAcacia is a genus of shrubs and trees belonging to the subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described in Africa by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in 1773. Many non-Australian species tend to be thorny, whereas the majority of Australian acacias are not...
-tree on the river side: Asahi and Yutaka will meet under the acacia-tree. People in Hiroshima, they take care left standing a-bombed trees now, because Hiroshima was called "the city where no plants can be grown for seventy-five years". - The name of the characters: Their names come from the name of the towns in Hiroshima. (Nagio from Yūnagi(Evening Calm)).
- Dialects: Minami, Fujimi, Kyoka and Yutaka speaks Hiroshima dialect. Asahi speaks Mito dialect. Nanami, Nagio and Toko speaks Tokyo dialect.
Cast
- Kumiko Aso as Minami Hirano, The heroine of the story "Town of Evening Calm". Minami lives in Hiroshima with her mother Fujimi. Minami speaks charming Hiroshima dialect and wears the white barrette with the memory of her father and sister. Minami will dead cause by atomic bomb sickness.
- Rena TanakaRena Tanakais a Japanese actress and TV personality. In 1999, she won the Japanese Academy Award for 'Best Newcomer' for her performance in Give It All; in 2001 she received a 'Best Actress' nomination for Hatsukoi.-Selected filmography:* Give It All...
as Nanami Ishikawa: Minami's niece and the heroine of the story "Country of Cherry Blossoms". Nanami grew up in Tokyo, speaks Tokyo dialect. Nanami will find out the story about her family in Hiroshima. - Mitsunori Isaki as younger Asahi Ishikawa: Minami's younger brother. Asahi lived with his aunt in Mito, speaks Mito dialect. He will come back to see Minami when her sickness became serious. After Minami's death he will decide to live with his mother Fujimi in Hiroshima and go to Hiroshima UniversityHiroshima University, located in the Japanese cities of Higashihiroshima and Hiroshima, was established 1949 by the merger of a number of national educational institutions.-History:Under the National School Establishment Law, Hiroshima University was established on May 31, 1949...
. - Masaaki SakaiMasaaki Sakaiis a popular Japanese performer from Tokyo. He is best known to English-speaking audiences as the title star of the TV show Monkey.- Biography :...
as Asahi Ishikawa: Minami's brother and Nanami's father. He will go back Hiroshima for the fifteenth anniversary of Minami's death. - Yû Yoshizawa as younger Yutaka Uchikoshi: Minami's colleague. He will fall in love with Minami.
- Ryosei Tayama as Yutaka Uchikoshi: Yutaka will meet with Asahi under the acacia tree when Asahi came back Hiroshima for Minami's anniversary.
- Shiho FujimuraShiho FujimuraShiho Fujimura is a Japanese actress. She was given a Special Prize for her career at the 2008 Yokohama Film Festival.-External links:** -References:...
as Fujimi Hirano: Minami's mother, and Nanami's grandmother, appears in both stories. - Yuta KanaiYuta Kanaiis a Japanese actor.Kanai starred as Tamotsu Yoshizawa in L: Change the WorLd. He has also starred in Ikigami: The Ultimate Limit.-External links:*...
as Nagio Ishikawa: Nanami's younger brother, works as an intern in a hospital. And he likes Toko. - Noriko NakagoshiNoriko Nakagoshiis a Japanese actress.-Biography:Nakagoshi, first debuted as a model for ViVi magazine in 1999. She began acting the same year, making her acting debut as Midori Sato in the show Tengoku no Kiss. Her acting attracted her great attention and from there, she moved onto bigger roles...
as Toko Tone: Nanami's childhood friend, works as a nurse in the same hospital as Nagio's. - Rina KoikeRina Koikeis a Japanese actress and idol affiliated with Very Berry Production.Koike started a junior Idol career with the DVD Big Brother at age 10, when she was in 4th grade. Koike also works for Very Berry Production as a model. Koike Rina had a role on the live-action version of Sailor Moon, Pretty...
as younger Kyoka Ota: Minami's neighborhood school girl, comes Minami's house to help Fujimi sometimes. She will meet Asahi. - Urara Awata as Kyoka Ota: Nanami's mother. She will become Asahi's wife move from Hiroshima to Tokyo with Asahi.
- Asami Katsura as Sachiko Furuta, Minami's colleague. Minami will help to make her dress.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack of the film was released on July 16, 2007. It is composed by Takatsugu Muramatsu, played harp by Naori Uchida and played harmonica by Masami Ohishi.
Reception
The story was praised by the award jury of the Japan Media Arts FestivalJapan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
for its brevity and its "depiction of 'the dark shadow of war'". According to Izumi Evers, one of the editors of the English edition, the Japanese edition created a sensation despite being little-promoted because it made readers want to talk about the bombing of Hiroshima, which is a controversial topic. The manga sold over 180,000 copies in Japan.
The simple artwork and story's "light, ephemeral touch" was praised by Dirk Deppey
Dirk Deppey
Dirk Deppey is a comics journalist and critic. He is best known as the writer of The Comics Journal's news blog Journalista!. He was managing editor of The Comics Journal from 2004 to 2006.He currently resides in Tucson, Arizona.-External links:...
in The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal
The Comics Journal, often abbreviated TCJ, is an American magazine of news and criticism pertaining to comic books, comic strips and graphic novels...
, and PopCultureShock called the character designs "slightly rough, clumsy", which they consider makes the characters "more human and more believable" because they are "more vulnerable, more imperfect, more fragil". PopCultureShock also praised the background art, which "bring[s] the streets of Hiroshima to vivid life". Manga News described the apparently simplistic art as beautiful, which emphasizes the story's depth without ever going over-the-top or into excess morality. Comic World News called the story "humane" and "profoundly moral", and praised the characterization as being "real". Otaku USA
Otaku USA
Otaku USA is a bimonthly magazine, published by Sovereign Media, which covers various elements of the "otaku" lifestyle from an American perspective...
described the scenes of daily life as "welcoming" and the art "lovely", saying the "antiwar message is unspoken, and comes naturally from the desire not to see the characters die." A review at About.com
About.com
About.com is an online source for original information and advice. It is written in English, and is aimed primarily at North Americans. It is owned by The New York Times Company....
described it as a "deeply moving story" that's "told in whispers rather than screams," and praised Kōno for resisting "the urge to pile on the melodrama" and so conveying "a deeply moving story." Manga: The Complete Guide
Manga: The Complete Guide
Manga: The Complete Guide is a 2007 encyclopedia written by Jason Thompson and published by Del Rey which provides basic details and short reviews of over 1000 Japanese manga titles that have been translated and released in English in North America...
called the work "a beautiful manga and an understated antiwar statement", praising its "dreamlike and evocative" stories and its artwork, especially the "lovely" backgrounds.
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
named the English translation one of best ten manga of 2007, calling it "too important to pass up" and comparing it to Barefoot Gen
Barefoot Gen
is a Japanese manga series by Keiji Nakazawa. Loosely based on Nakazawa's own experiences as a Hiroshima survivor, the series begins in 1945 in and around Hiroshima, Japan, where the six-year-old boy Gen lives with his family...
, and New York Magazine named it one of the top five comics in English of 2007. The American Library Association
American Library Association
The American Library Association is a non-profit organization based in the United States that promotes libraries and library education internationally. It is the oldest and largest library association in the world, with more than 62,000 members....
placed the manga on its list of "Great Graphic Novels for Teens 2008". It was nominated for an Eisner Award
Eisner Award
The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, and sometimes referred to as the Oscar Awards of the Comics Industry, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books. The Eisner Awards were first conferred in 1988, created in response to the...
in two categories, Best Short Story for "Town of Evening Calm" and Best U.S. Edition of International Material—Japan, but lost to "Mr. Wonderful" by Dan Clowes and Tekkonkinkreet respectively.
According to Patrick Macias
Patrick Macias
Patrick Macias is an author and co-author of several titles on pop culture fandom, specifically relating to Japanese culture and otaku culture in America...
, an English editor of the manga, the film was "kind of ignored" at Cannes because of competition from other high-profile Japanese films. According to a review in Asia Pacific Arts, during the sequence when the father returns to Hiroshima, the film shows "an interaction" of the past, present, and future, which is indicative of "the slipperiness of memory", a technique that "makes more visible and effective the ongoing resonance of the past in the present" but that "rejects the politics of the bombing" of the first part of the film. Kumiko Aso won several acting awards in Japan for her role as Minami Hirano.
Awards
The manga has won two awards, the 2004 Japan Media Arts FestivalJapan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival is an annual festival held by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs since 1997. The festival for a nominal year was usually held during February or March next year, rather than at the end of the nominal year. For instance, the 2010 Japan Media Arts Festival, where...
's Grand Prize for manga and the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Creative Award.
The film won several awards, including the 17th Japanese Film Critics Award for Best Picture, placing sixth in the top ten films list of the 3rd Osaka Cinema Festival, and placing ninth in the top ten domestic films list of 2007 by Kinema Junpo
Kinema Junpo
, commonly called , is a Japanese film magazine which began publication in July 1919. The magazine was founded by a group of four students, including Saburō Tanaka, at the Tokyo Institute of Technology . In that first month, it was published three times on days with a "1" in them. These first three...
. The Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
also named the film one of the top ten films of the year. Kumiko Aso won several "Best Actress" awards for her portrayal of Minami Hirano in the film, including that of the 32nd Hochi Film Award
Hochi Film Award
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by the Hochi Shimbun.- Categories :*Best Picture*Best International Picture*Best Actor*Best Actress*Best Supporting Actor*Best Supporting Actress*Best New Artist*Special Award*Best Director- Winner :...
s, the 62nd Mainichi Film Awards
Mainichi Film Awards
The Mainichi Film Awards are a series of annual film awards, sponsored by Mainichi Shinbun , one of the largest newspaper companies in Japan, since 1946.-Animation awards:...
, and the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards
Blue Ribbon Awards
The are film-specific prizes awarded solely by movie critics and writers in Tokyo, Japan.The awards were established in 1950 by which is composed of film correspondents from seven Tokyo-based sports newspapers...
.