Mitsutoshi Saijo

Snack bar owner and her regular patron tell 11 different stories about the worst day in the lives of people in their neighborhood of Shimokitazawa, Tokyo. One of those instances involve a Tokyo politician being kidnapped during an S&M session. ~~ 11 screenwriters contribute 11 different stories with different casts under the theme of “The worst day of their life.”

Mifune Shinobu is a chef for a French restaurant. He learned French cooking at restaurants in the countryside of France more than 10 years ago. Shinobu doesn’t talk much and he is calm, but he has a warm heart and he is considerate of other people. He isn't interested in achieving success as a chef and he only cares about healing people with his food. He also has an excellent memory and remembers the smallest of details. Shinobu is also a great private detective, who solves customers' problems or worries.

Six months ago, life went dark for the underworld negotiator Kida when his lifelong friend and fellow former outcast Makoto became embroiled in a deadly plot. Makoto had risen to become the head of a powerful trading firm, but the events that unfolded on Christmas Eve put an end to all that. Since then, Kida has continued to drift through life without a single bright spark to light up his life. Nobody cares if he lives or dies except his underworld boss, who values Kida’s inimitable skills.

A timid salesman is introduced to a secret club where cosplaying Weekly Shonen Jump superfans awaken their inner-heroes to overcome life’s challenges.

Thirteen years after abandoning his wife and two sons by stepping out for a pack of cigarettes and never returning, deadbeat gambler Masato dies of stomach cancer. At his funeral, a motley crew of fellow mahjong players, pachinko parlor employees and former drinking buddies gather to pay their respects and tell stories, revealing aspects of Masato’s life that complicate his sons’ resentment towards him.

The Japanese 38th South Pole research expedition team are at the Dome base. Located 1,000 km away from the main Showa base at an altitude of 3,800 m, it is called the most inhospitable place on earth with an average temperature of -54 deg Celsius. No living thing or even a virus can survive in such an environment. Three of the seven-member expedition team are researchers and the remaining four are support personnel. However, they are common men who have to live together in the confined space of the Dome base for one year.

Kida and Makoto grew up together because they have it in common that they don't have parents. And a transfer student, Yotchi, also gets along with them because she has a similar background, which is that they come from not such a good home environment. They spent their school life supporting each other. But, at the age of 20, Yotchi disappeared. Then Lisa, the daughter of a politician and a top model, appears in front of the two men. Makoto takes an unusual romantic interest in Lisa, who lives in a different world from them, and asked her out to dinner, but she does not take him up on it at all. Kida warns Makoto to give up on her because they live in different worlds, but Makoto quits his job and vanishes without a trace.

Small miracles take place within three families. These different stories revolve around a false kidnapping, a pious child and a forsaken dream. Based on a stage production by Saijo Mitsutoshi.

japanese movie