Minako is a quiet junior high school student being raised by her overworked single father. She's at the age where he's more like an alien to her than a person. The situation is exacerbated when he comes home drunk one night and tries to climb on top of her. Minako's mother deserted them for another man when Minako was a child. Now working as a hostess, she has little time for her own six year-old daughter, Yu, Minako's half sister. Both girls are yearning for their mother's love. Minako runs into Yu at a game center in the mall and proposes they take a trip. She changes out of her school uniform and into adult clothes and the pair hops on an overnight bus out of the city, headed for their grandparents' home by the sea. It gets dark and both parents start to panic.

Berlin International Film Festival 2006

About the director: Born in Tokyo, 1981, he took an interest in making films during high school. He was part of a filmmaking circle at the prestigious Waseda University where he began making short films. His short video, BIRDCAGE (2002), which depicted a boy's emotional journey to find his mother, won both the Runner-up Prize and Audience Award at Pia Film Festival 2003; the film was also highly praised by one of the jurors, Kawase Naomi.

Programmer Notes: Sensitive film made more brilliant as it's the director's first feature. In working with non-professional child actors, this film's pace is assured and knows when is enough.