2014 / Japan Foundation / JAPANEMA series / Director Makoto Shinkai’s Double Feature/ March 26
JAPANEMA: Japan Foundation Los Angeles provides high quality Japanese films for free the second and fourth Wednesdays at 7:00pm at JFLA Auditorium (5700 Wilshire Blvd, #100, Los Angeles, CA 90036)
Reservation is not required.
Street Parking is available. http://www.jflalc.org/about-us.html#parking
*All movies are in Japanese with English subtitles.
Wednesday, March 26
Director Makoto Shinkai’s Double feature!!
“5 Centimeters Per Second” (63 mins, 2007)
7PM-8:15PM
Tono Takaki (voice by Mizuhashi Kenji) and Sinohara Akari (Kondo Yoshimi) have been apart since they left elementary school, however, they kept in touch because of their feelings for each other.
One day in winter, Takaki left Tokyo and set off for Tochigi where Akari lives. The train is delayed by heavy snow and he is alone in his carriage as the time ticks away.
Long after the agreed meeting time, the two are finally reunited in a waiting room at a small station.
“5 Centimeters per Second”, which focuses on the roving souls of Takaki and Akari in their adulthood, forms the last part of a three-part animation series that revolves around Takaki from the 1990s to the present day.
The previous parts are “Oukasho” that shows the day when Takaki and Akari meet again, and “Cosmonaut” which portrays Takaki in high school on the island of Tanegashima from the viewpoint of a girl who fancies him.
+
“The Garden of Words” (46 mins, 2013)
8:15PM-9pm
Takao Akizuki is a 15 year old student who yearns to be a shoemaker, though his immediate friends and family think little will come from his goal.
One morning commuting to school during the rainy season, Takao opts to skip his first class and head to the Garden to sketch shoe designs, and encounters Yukari Yukino, a well-dressed young woman drinking beer in the early morning drizzle.
The two continue to encounter each other in the park on rainy mornings and grow closer in each other’s company, but never formally introduce themselves to one another.
When Yukari expresses an interest in Takao’s shoemaking, he decides to make a pair of shoes in her size. The rainy season ends, and whilst Takao and Yukari tell themselves that it’s better for the other to go back to their normal lives, both sincerely wish that it would rain so that they could meet again.
