Kaze no uta o kike (1980) - full transcript
DISTRIBUTED BY ART THEATRE GUILD
COPRODUCED BY
CINEMA HOUSE & ART THEATRE GUILD
"That well you came from was built
along a distortion in spacetime.
To put it another way,
we wander about through time."
FROM THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSE 'TIL ITS DEATH.
AND SO WE NEVER LIVE, AND WE NEVER DIE.
WE, THE WINDS.
"THE WELLS OF MARS" BY DEREK HARTFIELD
"We, the winds."
A reservation for tonight's
dream bus, right?
What destination?
Huh? To Kobe?
HEAR THE WIND SING
Original Novel by
MURAKAMI Haruki
Written & Directed by
OMORI Kazuki
Welcome back!
Someone's waiting for you.
I just arrived this morning.
I'm not expecting to see anyone.
He's waiting for you every day.
I've been waiting since the day
you went back to Tokyo.
You're still awake?
Still enough to say cheers.
I met Rat during our first year
at the university.
That night, we were sloppy drunk.
You okay?
Are you dead?
THANK YOU FOR COMING
Mm, but I might've drank too much.
I threw up.
The car's busted.
Don't worry.
I can always buy another car,
but luck I cannot buy.
- Got the money to replace it?
- Yes.
What are you, rich or somethin'?
Something like that.
Good for you.
It's better to be lucky
than to be rich.
Money won't save you from
hurting yourself, but luck does.
Still, we're very lucky.
Say, how about the two of us
become a team?
Together, we could do
just about anything.
You can call me Rat.
What should we do first?
Let's drink a beer.
THE BEGINNING OF OUR NEW FRIENDSHIP
The good thing about beer is
that you can piss it all out.
Like a double play with one out to go,
there's nothing left over.
Rich people draw a bases-loaded walk
with none out.
They just keep going round and round
in the same place.
Sure you need a little brainpower
to get rich.
But to stay rich you don't need
any at all.
The way satellites in space
don't need gasoline.
They just keep going round and round
in the same place.
Right.
But me, I'm not like that,
and neither are you.
We have to keep thinking,
if we want to survive.
From the weather tomorrow to the size
of the stopper in the bathtub.
Don't you think?
Yes, indeed.
Still, in the end, we all
die just the same.
Yeah.
Everybody's gotta die sometime.
But until then we've still got
fifty-some odd years to go.
And we have a lot to think about
while we're living those fifty years.
That's even more tiring than living five
thousand years thinking about nothing.
Don't you think so?
Rich people really piss me off.
I really don't know whether
Rat's family is rich or not.
When we met, Rat was always
away from home,
so that I never saw
his family's place.
Only rich people can build such
a stupidly wide restaurant.
If it happened to close,
you can't use it any other way.
They built it without thinking.
Still you can live here.
Thanks to this,
we can drink beer.
I moved in here and started
to make a film.
8 mm.
What kind?
A good one, in my opinion.
Not that I think I've got
talent or anything.
But then again I figure,
there's no point in doing something
where I can't improve myself.
Right?
Sure.
- Do you need the car?
- No.
Seeing people makes me
want to watch the sea.
Watching the sea...
...makes me want to
see people.
If you want to see people,
you should go to another bar.
It's useless to visit
a deserted bar like this.
What does watching the sea and
visiting a bar have in common?
You get drunk if you stay too long.
And then?
I lifted you up.
I asked if anyone knew you.
But nobody did.
I patched up your cut.
I had no chance to find
your address,
so I searched your bag.
And then I brought you here opening
the door with your key,
and tucked you in bed.
Why did you stay?
Why didn't you just split once
you'd dropped me off?
I had a friend who died from
alcoholic poisoning.
We drank a lot of whiskey,
said goodnight and parted.
He went home by himself,
brushed his teeth,
put on his pajamas
and fell asleep.
The next morning he was dead.
So you stayed up all night
to see if I was all right?
How noble of you.
But I want to remind you
about something.
Granted, I had too much to drink
and made a fool of myself.
But no matter how much of a scene I made,
it's still my own responsibility.
Right?
I guess.
Still...
A guy who sleeps with a girl
who's passed out...
...is awful!
But I didn't do anything.
Then why am I naked?
You undressed yourself.
I don't believe you.
I have to go.
- Where?
- To work.
Where's that?
Near the harbor. Why?
I'll give you a lift.
So you won't be late.
Tell me,
can you prove you really
didn't do anything?
- You can check yourself.
- How?
I swear.
- I don't believe you.
- You have no choice.
With civilization comes communication.
Whatever can't be expressed
might as well not exist.
Got it? It's nil.
Good evening!
My name is Kai, your host on
Radio NEB's Pop Music Requests!
Are you listening to the radio?
- The radio?
- Right-o, radio.
Best machine ever
produced by civilization.
More advanced than a vacuum cleaner,
smaller than a refrigerator,
cheaper than a television.
What were you doing?
I was reading.
That's no good!
You've gotta listen to the radio.
Reading just makes you lonely,
don't you think?
Yeah.
Books, those are things you read with one hand
to kill time while your spaghetti's boiling.
- You got that?
- Yeah.
Great.
Now that that's straightened out,
we can talk.
You ever talked to a radio announcer
who can't stop hiccupping?
- No.
- Well, we're breaking new ground.
It's a first for our listeners
at home as well.
Anyway, do you have any idea why
I called you during a live broadcast?
No.
Well, to tell you the truth, there's this
girl who requested a song for you.
Know who that could be?
- No.
She requested the Beach
Boys song California Girls.
We remember that one, no?
Got a guess who she might be?
Well, that's a problem, then.
If you can guess who she is, you'll get
a special edition T-shirt sent to you.
So think hard!
When you put it that way, there was this girl in my
class five years ago who let me borrow that record.
A girl?
We were on a field trip and this girl's contact
lens fell out and I helped her look for it.
So, as a reward, she let me
borrow that record.
A contact lens, huh?
- You gave the record back to her, right?
- No, I lost it.
That's no good. Even if you had to buy
a new one, you should've returned it.
A girl lends you something,
you return it, understand?
- Yes.
- Great!
So the girl from five years ago,
who lost her contact lens on a field trip,
she's definitely listening, yeah?
Well, it looks like he'll buy a copy of
that record and return it to you. Great!
You're a student?
- Yes.
- What's your major?
Biology.
So you like animals?
- Yes.
- What do you like about them?
- That they don't laugh.
- Really? Animals don't laugh?
- Dogs and horses laugh a little.
- When?
- When they're happy.
- Well,
maybe we'll start seeing
more canine comedians.
You're not one of those?
I'd like California Girls by...
How'd you find out I work here?
Just a coincidence.
I came to buy a record.
Which one?
The Beach Boys album with
California Girls on it.
This one?
I also want
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.
Glenn Gould or Backhaus,
which one do you want?
Glenn Gould.
What else?
The Miles Davis album
with Gal in Calico.
And?
Hashida Norihiko and Schubert?
What's all this?
It's a birthday present,
except the one by the Beach Boys.
But my birthday is in two months.
I thought you could use
them for your film.
Frankly speaking, I'm really happy, though
I think you're mistaken about my film.
To tell the truth, I think you're mistaken
about cinema in general.
I called up a few of
my former classmates.
I asked them if they knew anything
about the girl I borrowed the record from.
Nobody knew her whereabouts.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRL
THE FORGOTTEN GIRL
Most of them only vaguely
recalled her existence.
The last person I asked, for some reason
I don't understand, said
"I don't have a damn thing to say to you"
and hung up on me.
The next day,
I went back to the high school
and got the name of the college
she'd gone on to attend.
It was the English department
of a second rate girl's school.
I called their office.
I told them I was a quality control manager
from McCormick's Salad Dressing.
And that I had to ask her something
from a survey she'd filled out,
and that I needed to
get in touch with her.
I apologized and told them that it was
very important that I speak to her.
The clerk asked if I couldn't call back in
15 min so they'd have time to look it up.
I called a few minutes ago.
She dropped out?
When did she quit?
Why?
The seat next to mine is empty.
AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE,
I SLEPT WITH 3 GIRLS.
The first girl was a classmate
in high school.
When we were 17 years old,
we believed that we loved each other.
At dusk at the water purification plant
she stepped out her brown slip-on shoes,
took off her white cotton socks,
her pale green seersucker dress,
her weird underwear
she obviously knew didn't fit her,
and then after a brief hesitation
took off her wristwatch.
After that, we embraced each other atop
the Sunday edition of the Asahi Shimbun.
THE TWO FLOATING PEACEFULLY
Just a few months after we graduated from
high school, we suddenly broke up.
I forgot why.
Some totally forgettable reason, for sure.
I never saw her again.
I think of her every now and then,
during those nights when I can't sleep.
That's it.
The second one was a hippie
that I met at Shibuya's station.
She was sixteen, flat broke,
and had nowhere to sleep.
She also had flat breasts.
That night, the most violent protest rally
ever held swept through Shibuya.
She was at the station,
which was shut down,
reading a sports magazine
she'd found in a bin.
You hang around here and
you'll get hauled off.
But the police will feed me.
That's a terrible way to live.
I'm used to it.
Hey, let me get you something to eat.
Anyway, we should get out of here.
Why do you want to get me
something to eat?
I didn't really know myself.
I pulled her out of the ticket-taker,
and we walked the empty streets
all the way to Shimokitazawa.
That incredibly quiet girl's stay at my
apartment lasted for all of one week.
One day, when I came back from the supermarket
clutching a grocery bag, she was gone.
There was a note on the table.
JERK
It's possible that meant me.
The third girl was a French Lit major
I'd met at our university's library.
She wasn't what anyone would call
a beautiful girl.
But saying she wasn't a beauty
probably isn't a fair way to put it.
She wasn't as beautiful as she could've been,
would be an accurate description I think.
I only have one picture of her.
The date written on the back reads
August 1963, which was the year
Kennedy got his brains blown out.
She's standing at a beach I used to go to,
smiling slightly uncomfortably.
She was 12.
This must've been the happiest moment
in her twenty-one-year lifetime.
But then she disappeared so suddenly
that I still don't understand why.
Tell me, do you love me?
Sure.
You want to get married?
Now, right away?
Sometime, someday.
Of course I'd like to marry you.
But until I asked you about it,
you've never breathed a word about it.
I forgot to tell you.
How many kids do you want?
Three.
Boys? Girls?
Two girls and a boy.
Liar.
HOWEVER, SHE WAS MISTAKEN.
HOWEVER, SHE WAS MISTAKEN.
I only lied once.
Tell me, do you love me?
Sure.
You want to get married?
Now, right away?
Sometime, someday.
Of course I'd like to marry you.
But until I asked you about it,
you've never breathed a word about it.
I forgot to tell you.
Liar.
Hello?
Yes?
Is that you?
You remember me?
How's the record business?
Not so well.
Nobody buys as many records
as you do.
It was hard work
getting your phone number.
Really?
I asked around at Jay's Bar.
I see.
Are you mad at me?
Why?
For saying all those
terrible things to you.
I wanted to apologize for that.
Are you always working in this store
all by yourself?
There's another girl.
She's out to lunch.
And you?
When she comes back,
we switch off.
Say, if it's okay, how about we
go out to lunch together?
I like to eat lunch alone.
Me too.
Really?
Why would you invite me, then?
Just want to shake things up
once in a while.
Shake 'em up by yourself.
I think I said it once already...
You're awful.
At least, I shouldn't have
talked to you like that.
You're pretty hard on yourself.
I wish I was.
Where is it now?
Where's what?
Your pinky.
At the limits of space.
You're the first one
to ever ask me that.
Doesn't it bug you,
not having a pinky?
Sure, when I put on gloves.
But there's something good about it.
What?
I have a sister.
I know.
Your insurance card said that
you're a second child.
But you don't know
that we are twins.
No.
The same face.
The same IQ.
The same size bra.
I was sick of it.
But since I lost my pinky, at least
nobody would mistake us anymore.
Are you saying that you found yourself
by losing your pinky?
RAISON D'ÊTRE
This is your raison d'être.
My sister got herself
arrested by the cops.
What for?
Don't know.
A protest, I think.
We had a bakery in a small village
in the countryside.
It wasn't a bad business.
The town's people used to drop by
to have a chat.
But then, out of the blue,
police came by.
Several times.
And people stopped coming.
It's hard to believe that it was
that kind of village.
It's not the village's fault.
You're right.
It wasn't the reason why my dad
got those headaches.
Neurosis?
No, a brain tumor.
He suffered for a year and died.
We poured all our money into that.
Our family finally broke apart.
And your mother?
She's still alive, somewhere.
Sends me New Year's cards.
Sounds like you're not too keen on her.
I guess.
All of a sudden
nothing worked out for me.
Nothing but bad news.
It felt as if... a bad wind was
blowing over my head.
The wind changes.
You really think so?
And you?
Sooner or later.
The third girl,
hanged herself in a scruffy patch of woods
past the edge of the tennis courts.
Her corpse hung there unnoticed until
past the beginning of spring semester.
For an entire two weeks it dangled there,
blown around by the wind.
Even now, nobody goes in those woods
after the sun goes down.
Nobody knows why she killed herself.
I have a suspicion that maybe
she herself may not have known.
Here.
I don't want it.
Keep it.
Become God's substitute.
Shoot me!
It's the only way to
deliver me from my misery.
Okay. When?
Whenever.
- Where?
- Here, shoot me in the temple.
- Right now?
- Right now!
- Why did you kill her?
- She asked me to.
How nice of you!
Is that the only reason?
They shoot horses don't they?
Everyone started to live
according to his own system.
That's why what's too different upsets me,
and what's too similar makes me sad.
That's all.
I had a heavenly revelation
about entering university.
Huh? What kind of?
How should I know?
Maybe something like angels' feathers
falling from the sky.
THE WIND WILL CHANGE DIRECTION
EVENTUALLY
THE WIND WILL CHANGE DIRECTION
EVENTUALLY?
Won't you get back at him?
Oh, c'mon.
Why not?
If I were you, I'd find him and knock out
a few of his teeth with a hammer.
Well, it's the past now.
More importantly, all those guys
looked the same.
So there's no way
I'd ever find him.
So there was no reason?
Reason?
To go so far as to get
your tooth knocked in.
None.
Liar.
I believe you.
What?
That you didn't do anything
to me that night.
What makes you think so?
You want to hear it?
No.
That's what I thought you'd say.
Thank you.
It would've taken me an entire week
to eat all that stew.
Thanks to this,
my broken tooth hurts.
Are you all right?
It's not because of the stew.
Say...
Am I getting in your way?
I'm fine.
This time.
Bye.
I'm going on a trip tomorrow.
Where?
I don't know yet.
I want to go somewhere quiet
and cool, for about a week.
I'll call you when I get back.
Civilization means communication.
Whatever can't be expressed
might as well not exist.
Got it? It's zero.
Suppose you're hungry.
You say, "I'm hungry", and even
that short phrase will suffice.
I'll give you a cookie.
Go ahead, help yourself.
If you say nothing,
there's no cookie.
Nothing. You get it?
You don't want to speak.
But you're hungry.
So try to express yourself
without using words.
Try it!
No, that's indigestion.
Didn't Rat tell you anything?
That's weird.
Is it?
He really seemed like he wanted
to talk to you about it.
So why didn't he?
It's hard for him. He feels like
you'll give him a hard time.
I wouldn't do that.
It just seems that way.
He's felt that way
for a long time.
You're... a nice guy.
But I'm a lot older than you.
You're probably right.
I'm not saying anything bad
about you.
Anyway, it's simply that I've got
twenty years on you.
And in that time I've seen quite a bit.
because of that,
well, it's just...
...wisdom of age.
Right.
How about if try and talk to Rat?
I think that'd be good.
How's your film?
I finished shooting,
now it's developed.
I see.
Looking forward to watch it.
You're not going back to university?
I dropped out.
No way to go back.
Why'd you quit?
I don't know,
because I was bored?
Still, in my own way, I tried my best.
More than even I could believe.
I thought about other people
just as much as myself,
and thanks to that I got
punched by a cop.
But, when the time comes,
everybody goes back to their own routine.
I just had nowhere to go back to.
Like a game of musical chairs.
Hey! Are you okay?
Hey! Cheer on!
What the hell did you do?
Where were you looking?
He suddenly appeared.
- Suddenly? You idiot!
- Wait, wait a moment.
She's apologizing,
so forgive her.
Don't touch him!
Take my card.
I saw it all.
It hurts!
What's that?
Are you okay? Hey!
- What will you do?
- Take him to the hospital with this.
- Be more careful!
- I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
- They work together.
- How do you know?
I saw them practicing on the University's
training ground yesterday.
INJURED YOUTH
To pick up a single girl, three guys
risk their lives and practice.
A girl?
What the hell do you think
girls eat to survive?
The soles of their shoes.
No way.
- I have a favor to ask.
- What?
- I want you to meet someone.
- A girl?
- Where is she?
- It's off.
It's off?
It's off.
So where should we go now?
To the zoo.
Hey, what's wrong with Rat?
Well, you know as much as I do.
Summer's coming to an end.
He probably feels like
he's being left behind.
You know how that feels.
Everyone's leaving.
Going back to school, going back to work.
Aren't you heading back yourself?
Yeah, I guess so.
Where have you been?
I went to kill my father.
With an iron bat?
No way.
I don't believe you.
I can't smell the gun powder.
Did you forget that I'm left-handed?
If I'd caught it with my left hand,
would you believe me?
That beer would've been on the house.
But you messed up.
So I'll charge you for it.
RAT'S FATHER
As for Rat's father,
I know very little about him.
I never met him.
When I'd ask about him,
"He's a guy, and he's much older than me"
was Rat's answer.
According to rumor, Rat's father
used to be incredibly poor.
That was before the war.
Then just before the war started,
he managed to acquire a chemical plant
and sold insect-repelling ointment.
There was some question
as to its effectiveness,
but as the front lines expanded southward,
it practically flew off the shelves.
When the war ended,
he put the ointment in a warehouse.
Shortly after that, he sold
a dubious vitamin powder,
which, after the Korean War ended,
he repackaged as household detergent.
Everyone seems to agree
on this point.
It seems quite possible.
During the war,
in the jungles of New Guinea,
the ointment-slathered bodies of
Japanese soldiers piled up like mountains
Now toilet cleaners stamped
with the same insignia,
piles up in the bathrooms
of houses all over Japan.
Thanks to that,
Rat's father became rich.
The great thing about this dish is
it's food and drink rolled into one.
Sometimes I can't stand the fact
that I'm rich.
I'd like to run away.
Know what I mean?
How could I?
But it's okay to run away,
if you really feel that way.
Go to some town I don't know,
start all over again.
Wouldn't be too bad.
But all the cities are the same.
That's true.
And I can't leave this city.
What happened with the girl?
Honestly, I didn't intend to tell you.
It's nothing important.
But didn't you feel like talking
about it eventually?
It's a huge and fancy apartment.
She had lots of money.
Trapped by a rich guy a bit over fifty,
which occurs frequently.
A jerk.
He lured her with money
to make her his toy.
The bed was here.
I used to lay here with her,
watching the scenery
in the early afternoon.
I see.
What happened to the girl?
She went away.
For some reason
she couldn't live here anymore.
But I didn't leave.
Did you hear about Kobe festival?
Yes. They talked about it in
the newspaper in Tokyo.
RISING FIRE, CROWD PANICS
Someone died there.
I see.
Someone you knew?
That disgustingly rich guy.
It feels as if we had killed him.
That night, I asked her to call him
and tell him to come.
To come at once.
As we thought, he called a taxi
and took to the street.
We were both dead drunk.
We only wanted to scare the hell
out of him and make him run away.
The gang surrounded him and
pulled him out of the car.
A perfect prank.
Right.
But it was too perfect.
Because if it's too perfect,
it's not funny anymore.
They set the taxi on fire.
Then they dragged him out...
The poor guy was trampled
to death by the crowd.
DECEASED
I killed my dad.
RAT'S FATHER
Did you talk to him?
A lot.
That's good.
But...
What?
I didn't hear anything important.
You're always like that.
You open the peanut very carefully,
only to throw away the content.
Always.
If you don't fix that bad habit,
it'll end up costing you.
Like this.
Once upon a time, everybody was
preoccupied with being cool.
When I finished high school, I resolved to
say only half of what I was really thinking.
I don't know why, but over the course of a
few years, I was able to stick to this.
Then one day,
I discovered that I'd become someone who could
express only half of what he was really feeling.
I don't know what that
had to do with being cool.
However, if you could call an old refrigerator in
desperate need of defrosting cool, that was me.
Everyday!
I'll stop.
Every...
THE PERSON WHO CAN EXPRESS
ONLY HALF OF HIS FEELINGS
You're always like that.
You open the peanut very carefully,
only to throw away the content.
No, that's indigestion.
Hi, how are you?
This is Kai, your host at Radio NEB's
Pop Music Requests.
Saturday night has
come around once again.
For the next two hours, we've got
lots of great music for you to listen to.
By the way, this summer's
coming to an end now.
Did you have a good summer?
Do you remember?
Before kicking off today's record session,
I'd like to read you a letter I received.
I'll read.
"How are you?
I enjoy listening
to your program every week.
Time goes by quickly, this fall will mark
my third year of living in this hospital.
Time really does go by
before you know it.
Of course, gazing at
a little bit of the scenery
from the window of my
air-conditioned hospital room,
the change of the seasons holds
little meaning for me.
But still, when one season ends,
another comes calling, and that really
does make my heart dance.
I'm 21 now.
For the last three years I've been unable
to read a book or watch television.
I even had to quit university.
I'm unable to rise from bed,
and it's gotten to the point
where I can't even shift
the positions in my sleep.
What I've learned during my
three years of lying in this bed is
that you can learn something even from the
most miserable experience you might have.
It's because of this that I can find
the will to keep on living.
My illness appears to be related to
nerve damage in my spinal cord.
It's a terribly debilitating disease but there's,
of course, a chance of recovery.
It might only be three percent...
But my doctor, a wonderful person,
gave me an example illustrating the
rate of recovery from my illness.
The way he explained it,
the odds are higher than a rookie pitcher throwing
a no-hit, no-run game against the Giants.
But not quite as unlikely
as a complete shutout."
Enatsu, Hanshin's pitcher,
throws his fourth ball!
He got a hit.
It goes deep!
The right fielder gives up.
He got a come-from-behind three run homer
landing in the middle of the right-field seats.
3 to 2 for the Giants.
It's a reversal.
Enatsu is disappointed.
He finally gives up on a home run.
Enatsu droops his head.
"...spend my whole life like this,
lying on my back staring at the ceiling."
You like that letter?
"...unable to walk in the wind,
unable to be loved by anyone..."
No, I'm fan of the Tigers.
"...until I quietly die.
I just can't stand it
and I get so sad.
When I wake up at 3 o'clock
in the middle of the night,
I sometimes feel like I can hear
the bones in my spine dissolving.
In reality, that's probably
what's happening.
Enough about that unpleasant business.
From my hospital window,
I can see the harbor.
Every morning, I get out of bed
and walk to the harbor
and take deep breaths
of the ocean air...
At least, I imagine that I do.
If I could do this just once,
just one time,
I think I could understand
what the world is all about.
I believe that.
And if I could comprehend
just that little bit,
I think I'd even be able to endure
spending the rest of my life in this bed."
You know her?
A little.
Why she quit university?
Well, she had to seek treatment
for her illness.
Illness? B-b-but she
can still eat salad?
That's all I know about it.
Do you want to hear the truth?
I'm back.
I want to meet you.
- Can you step out now?
- Sure.
Five o'clock in front of
the Roko Church.
- What are you doing there?
- French lessons.
- French lessons?
- Oui.
- You got wet?
- A little.
Thank you.
How was your trip?
I didn't go on a trip.
I lied to you.
You want to know the truth?
Last year I dissected a cow.
When I ripped open its stomach,
all I found was a handful of grass inside.
I put that grass in a plastic bag
and took it home.
I put it on my desk.
When I'm feeling bad about something,
I stare at that lump of grass
and think about this:
Why do cows take this disgusting,
miserable-looking food
and reverently ruminate it
over and over again?
I understand.
I won't say a word.
I hate everybody.
Me too?
No.
I don't hate you.
Not for the moment.
Keeping myself all alone,
I can hear lots of people
talking to me...
People I know,
people I don't know.
My father,
my mother,
my high school teachers.
Lots of people.
Usually, they say nothing but
terrible things.
Like, "Die, you stupid."
Or other filthy things
I don't want to say.
Do you think I'm sick?
I know the way the wind blows.
It blows from where it is dry.
But you told me that winds
can change directions.
You're the first one...
...who's ever told me that.
I really...
...didn't want to lie to you.
When are you
going back to Tokyo?
Next week. I've got a test.
Don't worry.
I'll be back this winter.
Once you're gone...
I'm feeling like I'll get lonely.
We'll see each other again.
The girl with only four fingers,
I never saw her again.
When I came back to town,
she had quit her job at the record shop,
and given up her apartment.
Then, in a flood of people and in the flow
of time, she vanished without a trace.
NIGHT TRIP .... IN SEARCH OF DREAMS
A reservation for tonight's dream bus?
What destination?
What? To Kobe?
The dream bus only goes
to Kyoto and Osaka.
A TICKET TO A DREAM
Your car's still parked down there?
I'll get it later.
Would you mind waiting
until tomorrow?
I don't mind.
I don't want to be alone tonight.
I'M COLD
COLD?
IT'S 30°C
I DON'T KNOW
BUT I'M COLD
DO YOU FEEL SICK?
YOU WANT TO MAKE LOVE?
I'M SORRY, BUT I CAN'T TODAY
I JUST HAD AN OPERATION
A BABY?
IT'S STRANGE
I DON'T REMEMBER A THING
ABOUT THE OPERATION?
THE MAN
I'VE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN HIM
I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER HIS FACE
I FELT LIKE I COULD REALLY FALL FOR HIM
FOR JUST A SHORT INSTANT
YOU EVER FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE?
CAN YOU REMEMBER HER FACE?
STRANGE
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
PROBABLY BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE
TOO EASY
YOU KNOW, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO
DO IT, WE CAN DO SOMETHING ELSE
NO, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT
HONESTLY?
Can you remember her face?
JERK
RAT'S FILM
RAT'S FILM
I got Rat's film during autumn.
I kept it by my side
for the last ten years.
The film is called The Hole.
It's about digging.
HOLE
DIGGING
Keep on digging
the soil of everyday life!
One day, his character suddenly
received a heavenly revelation.
Keep on digging the soil
of everyday life.
So he bravely set out with his shovel,
to dig the soil here and there.
However, he became desperate about
the amount of soil he had to dig.
But thanks to his despair,
his consciousness reached a new level.
The soil I have to dig,
is the one under my feet.
Can I dig the soil
under my feet?
CAN I DIG THE SOIL
UNDER MY FEET?
I was born 21 years ago.
How much soil did I dig?
I ask myself, can I dig the soil
under my feet now?
That's where the film ends.
After that, we don't know where he goes
or what will become of him.
This has a strange feeling.
As if it never really happened.
It really happened.
It's only faded.
Would you like to go back there?
No, I don't.
Because it's a splinter of time
that died long ago.
But isn't it a comforting memory?
It is indeed.
Like an old light.
An old light?
I always wanted to be your
pinball bonus light.
Take these with you.
Thank you so much.
Well, it's nothing much.
But don't throw them
out of the bus.
Finally, Rat didn't come.
He must be busy with his film.
Too bad I couldn't see it.
I'm sure he was afraid
to say goodbye to you.
You all grow up so fast.
In some way,
I'm the only one
who doesn't change.
I... haven't left this town even once,
since the Tokyo Olympics.
You like this town so much?
Everywhere is the same.
Still, after a few years go by,
I'd like to go back to China one time.
I've never been there even once.
I always think about it when I go down
to the harbor and look at the ships.
My grandfather died in China.
Lots of people died there.
Still, we're all brothers.
Some day,
this bar will fade away as well.
Some day, yes.
That day...
...can I have the pinball machine?
Sure.
Thank you.
See you next winter.
Do you enjoy yourself in Tokyo?
Everywhere is the same, isn't it?
There's no more dream bus to Kobe.
COPRODUCED BY
CINEMA HOUSE & ART THEATRE GUILD
"That well you came from was built
along a distortion in spacetime.
To put it another way,
we wander about through time."
FROM THE BIRTH OF THE UNIVERSE 'TIL ITS DEATH.
AND SO WE NEVER LIVE, AND WE NEVER DIE.
WE, THE WINDS.
"THE WELLS OF MARS" BY DEREK HARTFIELD
"We, the winds."
A reservation for tonight's
dream bus, right?
What destination?
Huh? To Kobe?
HEAR THE WIND SING
Original Novel by
MURAKAMI Haruki
Written & Directed by
OMORI Kazuki
Welcome back!
Someone's waiting for you.
I just arrived this morning.
I'm not expecting to see anyone.
He's waiting for you every day.
I've been waiting since the day
you went back to Tokyo.
You're still awake?
Still enough to say cheers.
I met Rat during our first year
at the university.
That night, we were sloppy drunk.
You okay?
Are you dead?
THANK YOU FOR COMING
Mm, but I might've drank too much.
I threw up.
The car's busted.
Don't worry.
I can always buy another car,
but luck I cannot buy.
- Got the money to replace it?
- Yes.
What are you, rich or somethin'?
Something like that.
Good for you.
It's better to be lucky
than to be rich.
Money won't save you from
hurting yourself, but luck does.
Still, we're very lucky.
Say, how about the two of us
become a team?
Together, we could do
just about anything.
You can call me Rat.
What should we do first?
Let's drink a beer.
THE BEGINNING OF OUR NEW FRIENDSHIP
The good thing about beer is
that you can piss it all out.
Like a double play with one out to go,
there's nothing left over.
Rich people draw a bases-loaded walk
with none out.
They just keep going round and round
in the same place.
Sure you need a little brainpower
to get rich.
But to stay rich you don't need
any at all.
The way satellites in space
don't need gasoline.
They just keep going round and round
in the same place.
Right.
But me, I'm not like that,
and neither are you.
We have to keep thinking,
if we want to survive.
From the weather tomorrow to the size
of the stopper in the bathtub.
Don't you think?
Yes, indeed.
Still, in the end, we all
die just the same.
Yeah.
Everybody's gotta die sometime.
But until then we've still got
fifty-some odd years to go.
And we have a lot to think about
while we're living those fifty years.
That's even more tiring than living five
thousand years thinking about nothing.
Don't you think so?
Rich people really piss me off.
I really don't know whether
Rat's family is rich or not.
When we met, Rat was always
away from home,
so that I never saw
his family's place.
Only rich people can build such
a stupidly wide restaurant.
If it happened to close,
you can't use it any other way.
They built it without thinking.
Still you can live here.
Thanks to this,
we can drink beer.
I moved in here and started
to make a film.
8 mm.
What kind?
A good one, in my opinion.
Not that I think I've got
talent or anything.
But then again I figure,
there's no point in doing something
where I can't improve myself.
Right?
Sure.
- Do you need the car?
- No.
Seeing people makes me
want to watch the sea.
Watching the sea...
...makes me want to
see people.
If you want to see people,
you should go to another bar.
It's useless to visit
a deserted bar like this.
What does watching the sea and
visiting a bar have in common?
You get drunk if you stay too long.
And then?
I lifted you up.
I asked if anyone knew you.
But nobody did.
I patched up your cut.
I had no chance to find
your address,
so I searched your bag.
And then I brought you here opening
the door with your key,
and tucked you in bed.
Why did you stay?
Why didn't you just split once
you'd dropped me off?
I had a friend who died from
alcoholic poisoning.
We drank a lot of whiskey,
said goodnight and parted.
He went home by himself,
brushed his teeth,
put on his pajamas
and fell asleep.
The next morning he was dead.
So you stayed up all night
to see if I was all right?
How noble of you.
But I want to remind you
about something.
Granted, I had too much to drink
and made a fool of myself.
But no matter how much of a scene I made,
it's still my own responsibility.
Right?
I guess.
Still...
A guy who sleeps with a girl
who's passed out...
...is awful!
But I didn't do anything.
Then why am I naked?
You undressed yourself.
I don't believe you.
I have to go.
- Where?
- To work.
Where's that?
Near the harbor. Why?
I'll give you a lift.
So you won't be late.
Tell me,
can you prove you really
didn't do anything?
- You can check yourself.
- How?
I swear.
- I don't believe you.
- You have no choice.
With civilization comes communication.
Whatever can't be expressed
might as well not exist.
Got it? It's nil.
Good evening!
My name is Kai, your host on
Radio NEB's Pop Music Requests!
Are you listening to the radio?
- The radio?
- Right-o, radio.
Best machine ever
produced by civilization.
More advanced than a vacuum cleaner,
smaller than a refrigerator,
cheaper than a television.
What were you doing?
I was reading.
That's no good!
You've gotta listen to the radio.
Reading just makes you lonely,
don't you think?
Yeah.
Books, those are things you read with one hand
to kill time while your spaghetti's boiling.
- You got that?
- Yeah.
Great.
Now that that's straightened out,
we can talk.
You ever talked to a radio announcer
who can't stop hiccupping?
- No.
- Well, we're breaking new ground.
It's a first for our listeners
at home as well.
Anyway, do you have any idea why
I called you during a live broadcast?
No.
Well, to tell you the truth, there's this
girl who requested a song for you.
Know who that could be?
- No.
She requested the Beach
Boys song California Girls.
We remember that one, no?
Got a guess who she might be?
Well, that's a problem, then.
If you can guess who she is, you'll get
a special edition T-shirt sent to you.
So think hard!
When you put it that way, there was this girl in my
class five years ago who let me borrow that record.
A girl?
We were on a field trip and this girl's contact
lens fell out and I helped her look for it.
So, as a reward, she let me
borrow that record.
A contact lens, huh?
- You gave the record back to her, right?
- No, I lost it.
That's no good. Even if you had to buy
a new one, you should've returned it.
A girl lends you something,
you return it, understand?
- Yes.
- Great!
So the girl from five years ago,
who lost her contact lens on a field trip,
she's definitely listening, yeah?
Well, it looks like he'll buy a copy of
that record and return it to you. Great!
You're a student?
- Yes.
- What's your major?
Biology.
So you like animals?
- Yes.
- What do you like about them?
- That they don't laugh.
- Really? Animals don't laugh?
- Dogs and horses laugh a little.
- When?
- When they're happy.
- Well,
maybe we'll start seeing
more canine comedians.
You're not one of those?
I'd like California Girls by...
How'd you find out I work here?
Just a coincidence.
I came to buy a record.
Which one?
The Beach Boys album with
California Girls on it.
This one?
I also want
Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 3.
Glenn Gould or Backhaus,
which one do you want?
Glenn Gould.
What else?
The Miles Davis album
with Gal in Calico.
And?
Hashida Norihiko and Schubert?
What's all this?
It's a birthday present,
except the one by the Beach Boys.
But my birthday is in two months.
I thought you could use
them for your film.
Frankly speaking, I'm really happy, though
I think you're mistaken about my film.
To tell the truth, I think you're mistaken
about cinema in general.
I called up a few of
my former classmates.
I asked them if they knew anything
about the girl I borrowed the record from.
Nobody knew her whereabouts.
THE FORGOTTEN GIRL
THE FORGOTTEN GIRL
Most of them only vaguely
recalled her existence.
The last person I asked, for some reason
I don't understand, said
"I don't have a damn thing to say to you"
and hung up on me.
The next day,
I went back to the high school
and got the name of the college
she'd gone on to attend.
It was the English department
of a second rate girl's school.
I called their office.
I told them I was a quality control manager
from McCormick's Salad Dressing.
And that I had to ask her something
from a survey she'd filled out,
and that I needed to
get in touch with her.
I apologized and told them that it was
very important that I speak to her.
The clerk asked if I couldn't call back in
15 min so they'd have time to look it up.
I called a few minutes ago.
She dropped out?
When did she quit?
Why?
The seat next to mine is empty.
AT THIS POINT IN MY LIFE,
I SLEPT WITH 3 GIRLS.
The first girl was a classmate
in high school.
When we were 17 years old,
we believed that we loved each other.
At dusk at the water purification plant
she stepped out her brown slip-on shoes,
took off her white cotton socks,
her pale green seersucker dress,
her weird underwear
she obviously knew didn't fit her,
and then after a brief hesitation
took off her wristwatch.
After that, we embraced each other atop
the Sunday edition of the Asahi Shimbun.
THE TWO FLOATING PEACEFULLY
Just a few months after we graduated from
high school, we suddenly broke up.
I forgot why.
Some totally forgettable reason, for sure.
I never saw her again.
I think of her every now and then,
during those nights when I can't sleep.
That's it.
The second one was a hippie
that I met at Shibuya's station.
She was sixteen, flat broke,
and had nowhere to sleep.
She also had flat breasts.
That night, the most violent protest rally
ever held swept through Shibuya.
She was at the station,
which was shut down,
reading a sports magazine
she'd found in a bin.
You hang around here and
you'll get hauled off.
But the police will feed me.
That's a terrible way to live.
I'm used to it.
Hey, let me get you something to eat.
Anyway, we should get out of here.
Why do you want to get me
something to eat?
I didn't really know myself.
I pulled her out of the ticket-taker,
and we walked the empty streets
all the way to Shimokitazawa.
That incredibly quiet girl's stay at my
apartment lasted for all of one week.
One day, when I came back from the supermarket
clutching a grocery bag, she was gone.
There was a note on the table.
JERK
It's possible that meant me.
The third girl was a French Lit major
I'd met at our university's library.
She wasn't what anyone would call
a beautiful girl.
But saying she wasn't a beauty
probably isn't a fair way to put it.
She wasn't as beautiful as she could've been,
would be an accurate description I think.
I only have one picture of her.
The date written on the back reads
August 1963, which was the year
Kennedy got his brains blown out.
She's standing at a beach I used to go to,
smiling slightly uncomfortably.
She was 12.
This must've been the happiest moment
in her twenty-one-year lifetime.
But then she disappeared so suddenly
that I still don't understand why.
Tell me, do you love me?
Sure.
You want to get married?
Now, right away?
Sometime, someday.
Of course I'd like to marry you.
But until I asked you about it,
you've never breathed a word about it.
I forgot to tell you.
How many kids do you want?
Three.
Boys? Girls?
Two girls and a boy.
Liar.
HOWEVER, SHE WAS MISTAKEN.
HOWEVER, SHE WAS MISTAKEN.
I only lied once.
Tell me, do you love me?
Sure.
You want to get married?
Now, right away?
Sometime, someday.
Of course I'd like to marry you.
But until I asked you about it,
you've never breathed a word about it.
I forgot to tell you.
Liar.
Hello?
Yes?
Is that you?
You remember me?
How's the record business?
Not so well.
Nobody buys as many records
as you do.
It was hard work
getting your phone number.
Really?
I asked around at Jay's Bar.
I see.
Are you mad at me?
Why?
For saying all those
terrible things to you.
I wanted to apologize for that.
Are you always working in this store
all by yourself?
There's another girl.
She's out to lunch.
And you?
When she comes back,
we switch off.
Say, if it's okay, how about we
go out to lunch together?
I like to eat lunch alone.
Me too.
Really?
Why would you invite me, then?
Just want to shake things up
once in a while.
Shake 'em up by yourself.
I think I said it once already...
You're awful.
At least, I shouldn't have
talked to you like that.
You're pretty hard on yourself.
I wish I was.
Where is it now?
Where's what?
Your pinky.
At the limits of space.
You're the first one
to ever ask me that.
Doesn't it bug you,
not having a pinky?
Sure, when I put on gloves.
But there's something good about it.
What?
I have a sister.
I know.
Your insurance card said that
you're a second child.
But you don't know
that we are twins.
No.
The same face.
The same IQ.
The same size bra.
I was sick of it.
But since I lost my pinky, at least
nobody would mistake us anymore.
Are you saying that you found yourself
by losing your pinky?
RAISON D'ÊTRE
This is your raison d'être.
My sister got herself
arrested by the cops.
What for?
Don't know.
A protest, I think.
We had a bakery in a small village
in the countryside.
It wasn't a bad business.
The town's people used to drop by
to have a chat.
But then, out of the blue,
police came by.
Several times.
And people stopped coming.
It's hard to believe that it was
that kind of village.
It's not the village's fault.
You're right.
It wasn't the reason why my dad
got those headaches.
Neurosis?
No, a brain tumor.
He suffered for a year and died.
We poured all our money into that.
Our family finally broke apart.
And your mother?
She's still alive, somewhere.
Sends me New Year's cards.
Sounds like you're not too keen on her.
I guess.
All of a sudden
nothing worked out for me.
Nothing but bad news.
It felt as if... a bad wind was
blowing over my head.
The wind changes.
You really think so?
And you?
Sooner or later.
The third girl,
hanged herself in a scruffy patch of woods
past the edge of the tennis courts.
Her corpse hung there unnoticed until
past the beginning of spring semester.
For an entire two weeks it dangled there,
blown around by the wind.
Even now, nobody goes in those woods
after the sun goes down.
Nobody knows why she killed herself.
I have a suspicion that maybe
she herself may not have known.
Here.
I don't want it.
Keep it.
Become God's substitute.
Shoot me!
It's the only way to
deliver me from my misery.
Okay. When?
Whenever.
- Where?
- Here, shoot me in the temple.
- Right now?
- Right now!
- Why did you kill her?
- She asked me to.
How nice of you!
Is that the only reason?
They shoot horses don't they?
Everyone started to live
according to his own system.
That's why what's too different upsets me,
and what's too similar makes me sad.
That's all.
I had a heavenly revelation
about entering university.
Huh? What kind of?
How should I know?
Maybe something like angels' feathers
falling from the sky.
THE WIND WILL CHANGE DIRECTION
EVENTUALLY
THE WIND WILL CHANGE DIRECTION
EVENTUALLY?
Won't you get back at him?
Oh, c'mon.
Why not?
If I were you, I'd find him and knock out
a few of his teeth with a hammer.
Well, it's the past now.
More importantly, all those guys
looked the same.
So there's no way
I'd ever find him.
So there was no reason?
Reason?
To go so far as to get
your tooth knocked in.
None.
Liar.
I believe you.
What?
That you didn't do anything
to me that night.
What makes you think so?
You want to hear it?
No.
That's what I thought you'd say.
Thank you.
It would've taken me an entire week
to eat all that stew.
Thanks to this,
my broken tooth hurts.
Are you all right?
It's not because of the stew.
Say...
Am I getting in your way?
I'm fine.
This time.
Bye.
I'm going on a trip tomorrow.
Where?
I don't know yet.
I want to go somewhere quiet
and cool, for about a week.
I'll call you when I get back.
Civilization means communication.
Whatever can't be expressed
might as well not exist.
Got it? It's zero.
Suppose you're hungry.
You say, "I'm hungry", and even
that short phrase will suffice.
I'll give you a cookie.
Go ahead, help yourself.
If you say nothing,
there's no cookie.
Nothing. You get it?
You don't want to speak.
But you're hungry.
So try to express yourself
without using words.
Try it!
No, that's indigestion.
Didn't Rat tell you anything?
That's weird.
Is it?
He really seemed like he wanted
to talk to you about it.
So why didn't he?
It's hard for him. He feels like
you'll give him a hard time.
I wouldn't do that.
It just seems that way.
He's felt that way
for a long time.
You're... a nice guy.
But I'm a lot older than you.
You're probably right.
I'm not saying anything bad
about you.
Anyway, it's simply that I've got
twenty years on you.
And in that time I've seen quite a bit.
because of that,
well, it's just...
...wisdom of age.
Right.
How about if try and talk to Rat?
I think that'd be good.
How's your film?
I finished shooting,
now it's developed.
I see.
Looking forward to watch it.
You're not going back to university?
I dropped out.
No way to go back.
Why'd you quit?
I don't know,
because I was bored?
Still, in my own way, I tried my best.
More than even I could believe.
I thought about other people
just as much as myself,
and thanks to that I got
punched by a cop.
But, when the time comes,
everybody goes back to their own routine.
I just had nowhere to go back to.
Like a game of musical chairs.
Hey! Are you okay?
Hey! Cheer on!
What the hell did you do?
Where were you looking?
He suddenly appeared.
- Suddenly? You idiot!
- Wait, wait a moment.
She's apologizing,
so forgive her.
Don't touch him!
Take my card.
I saw it all.
It hurts!
What's that?
Are you okay? Hey!
- What will you do?
- Take him to the hospital with this.
- Be more careful!
- I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
- They work together.
- How do you know?
I saw them practicing on the University's
training ground yesterday.
INJURED YOUTH
To pick up a single girl, three guys
risk their lives and practice.
A girl?
What the hell do you think
girls eat to survive?
The soles of their shoes.
No way.
- I have a favor to ask.
- What?
- I want you to meet someone.
- A girl?
- Where is she?
- It's off.
It's off?
It's off.
So where should we go now?
To the zoo.
Hey, what's wrong with Rat?
Well, you know as much as I do.
Summer's coming to an end.
He probably feels like
he's being left behind.
You know how that feels.
Everyone's leaving.
Going back to school, going back to work.
Aren't you heading back yourself?
Yeah, I guess so.
Where have you been?
I went to kill my father.
With an iron bat?
No way.
I don't believe you.
I can't smell the gun powder.
Did you forget that I'm left-handed?
If I'd caught it with my left hand,
would you believe me?
That beer would've been on the house.
But you messed up.
So I'll charge you for it.
RAT'S FATHER
As for Rat's father,
I know very little about him.
I never met him.
When I'd ask about him,
"He's a guy, and he's much older than me"
was Rat's answer.
According to rumor, Rat's father
used to be incredibly poor.
That was before the war.
Then just before the war started,
he managed to acquire a chemical plant
and sold insect-repelling ointment.
There was some question
as to its effectiveness,
but as the front lines expanded southward,
it practically flew off the shelves.
When the war ended,
he put the ointment in a warehouse.
Shortly after that, he sold
a dubious vitamin powder,
which, after the Korean War ended,
he repackaged as household detergent.
Everyone seems to agree
on this point.
It seems quite possible.
During the war,
in the jungles of New Guinea,
the ointment-slathered bodies of
Japanese soldiers piled up like mountains
Now toilet cleaners stamped
with the same insignia,
piles up in the bathrooms
of houses all over Japan.
Thanks to that,
Rat's father became rich.
The great thing about this dish is
it's food and drink rolled into one.
Sometimes I can't stand the fact
that I'm rich.
I'd like to run away.
Know what I mean?
How could I?
But it's okay to run away,
if you really feel that way.
Go to some town I don't know,
start all over again.
Wouldn't be too bad.
But all the cities are the same.
That's true.
And I can't leave this city.
What happened with the girl?
Honestly, I didn't intend to tell you.
It's nothing important.
But didn't you feel like talking
about it eventually?
It's a huge and fancy apartment.
She had lots of money.
Trapped by a rich guy a bit over fifty,
which occurs frequently.
A jerk.
He lured her with money
to make her his toy.
The bed was here.
I used to lay here with her,
watching the scenery
in the early afternoon.
I see.
What happened to the girl?
She went away.
For some reason
she couldn't live here anymore.
But I didn't leave.
Did you hear about Kobe festival?
Yes. They talked about it in
the newspaper in Tokyo.
RISING FIRE, CROWD PANICS
Someone died there.
I see.
Someone you knew?
That disgustingly rich guy.
It feels as if we had killed him.
That night, I asked her to call him
and tell him to come.
To come at once.
As we thought, he called a taxi
and took to the street.
We were both dead drunk.
We only wanted to scare the hell
out of him and make him run away.
The gang surrounded him and
pulled him out of the car.
A perfect prank.
Right.
But it was too perfect.
Because if it's too perfect,
it's not funny anymore.
They set the taxi on fire.
Then they dragged him out...
The poor guy was trampled
to death by the crowd.
DECEASED
I killed my dad.
RAT'S FATHER
Did you talk to him?
A lot.
That's good.
But...
What?
I didn't hear anything important.
You're always like that.
You open the peanut very carefully,
only to throw away the content.
Always.
If you don't fix that bad habit,
it'll end up costing you.
Like this.
Once upon a time, everybody was
preoccupied with being cool.
When I finished high school, I resolved to
say only half of what I was really thinking.
I don't know why, but over the course of a
few years, I was able to stick to this.
Then one day,
I discovered that I'd become someone who could
express only half of what he was really feeling.
I don't know what that
had to do with being cool.
However, if you could call an old refrigerator in
desperate need of defrosting cool, that was me.
Everyday!
I'll stop.
Every...
THE PERSON WHO CAN EXPRESS
ONLY HALF OF HIS FEELINGS
You're always like that.
You open the peanut very carefully,
only to throw away the content.
No, that's indigestion.
Hi, how are you?
This is Kai, your host at Radio NEB's
Pop Music Requests.
Saturday night has
come around once again.
For the next two hours, we've got
lots of great music for you to listen to.
By the way, this summer's
coming to an end now.
Did you have a good summer?
Do you remember?
Before kicking off today's record session,
I'd like to read you a letter I received.
I'll read.
"How are you?
I enjoy listening
to your program every week.
Time goes by quickly, this fall will mark
my third year of living in this hospital.
Time really does go by
before you know it.
Of course, gazing at
a little bit of the scenery
from the window of my
air-conditioned hospital room,
the change of the seasons holds
little meaning for me.
But still, when one season ends,
another comes calling, and that really
does make my heart dance.
I'm 21 now.
For the last three years I've been unable
to read a book or watch television.
I even had to quit university.
I'm unable to rise from bed,
and it's gotten to the point
where I can't even shift
the positions in my sleep.
What I've learned during my
three years of lying in this bed is
that you can learn something even from the
most miserable experience you might have.
It's because of this that I can find
the will to keep on living.
My illness appears to be related to
nerve damage in my spinal cord.
It's a terribly debilitating disease but there's,
of course, a chance of recovery.
It might only be three percent...
But my doctor, a wonderful person,
gave me an example illustrating the
rate of recovery from my illness.
The way he explained it,
the odds are higher than a rookie pitcher throwing
a no-hit, no-run game against the Giants.
But not quite as unlikely
as a complete shutout."
Enatsu, Hanshin's pitcher,
throws his fourth ball!
He got a hit.
It goes deep!
The right fielder gives up.
He got a come-from-behind three run homer
landing in the middle of the right-field seats.
3 to 2 for the Giants.
It's a reversal.
Enatsu is disappointed.
He finally gives up on a home run.
Enatsu droops his head.
"...spend my whole life like this,
lying on my back staring at the ceiling."
You like that letter?
"...unable to walk in the wind,
unable to be loved by anyone..."
No, I'm fan of the Tigers.
"...until I quietly die.
I just can't stand it
and I get so sad.
When I wake up at 3 o'clock
in the middle of the night,
I sometimes feel like I can hear
the bones in my spine dissolving.
In reality, that's probably
what's happening.
Enough about that unpleasant business.
From my hospital window,
I can see the harbor.
Every morning, I get out of bed
and walk to the harbor
and take deep breaths
of the ocean air...
At least, I imagine that I do.
If I could do this just once,
just one time,
I think I could understand
what the world is all about.
I believe that.
And if I could comprehend
just that little bit,
I think I'd even be able to endure
spending the rest of my life in this bed."
You know her?
A little.
Why she quit university?
Well, she had to seek treatment
for her illness.
Illness? B-b-but she
can still eat salad?
That's all I know about it.
Do you want to hear the truth?
I'm back.
I want to meet you.
- Can you step out now?
- Sure.
Five o'clock in front of
the Roko Church.
- What are you doing there?
- French lessons.
- French lessons?
- Oui.
- You got wet?
- A little.
Thank you.
How was your trip?
I didn't go on a trip.
I lied to you.
You want to know the truth?
Last year I dissected a cow.
When I ripped open its stomach,
all I found was a handful of grass inside.
I put that grass in a plastic bag
and took it home.
I put it on my desk.
When I'm feeling bad about something,
I stare at that lump of grass
and think about this:
Why do cows take this disgusting,
miserable-looking food
and reverently ruminate it
over and over again?
I understand.
I won't say a word.
I hate everybody.
Me too?
No.
I don't hate you.
Not for the moment.
Keeping myself all alone,
I can hear lots of people
talking to me...
People I know,
people I don't know.
My father,
my mother,
my high school teachers.
Lots of people.
Usually, they say nothing but
terrible things.
Like, "Die, you stupid."
Or other filthy things
I don't want to say.
Do you think I'm sick?
I know the way the wind blows.
It blows from where it is dry.
But you told me that winds
can change directions.
You're the first one...
...who's ever told me that.
I really...
...didn't want to lie to you.
When are you
going back to Tokyo?
Next week. I've got a test.
Don't worry.
I'll be back this winter.
Once you're gone...
I'm feeling like I'll get lonely.
We'll see each other again.
The girl with only four fingers,
I never saw her again.
When I came back to town,
she had quit her job at the record shop,
and given up her apartment.
Then, in a flood of people and in the flow
of time, she vanished without a trace.
NIGHT TRIP .... IN SEARCH OF DREAMS
A reservation for tonight's dream bus?
What destination?
What? To Kobe?
The dream bus only goes
to Kyoto and Osaka.
A TICKET TO A DREAM
Your car's still parked down there?
I'll get it later.
Would you mind waiting
until tomorrow?
I don't mind.
I don't want to be alone tonight.
I'M COLD
COLD?
IT'S 30°C
I DON'T KNOW
BUT I'M COLD
DO YOU FEEL SICK?
YOU WANT TO MAKE LOVE?
I'M SORRY, BUT I CAN'T TODAY
I JUST HAD AN OPERATION
A BABY?
IT'S STRANGE
I DON'T REMEMBER A THING
ABOUT THE OPERATION?
THE MAN
I'VE COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN HIM
I CAN'T EVEN REMEMBER HIS FACE
I FELT LIKE I COULD REALLY FALL FOR HIM
FOR JUST A SHORT INSTANT
YOU EVER FALL IN LOVE WITH SOMEONE?
CAN YOU REMEMBER HER FACE?
STRANGE
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT IS?
PROBABLY BECAUSE THAT WOULD BE
TOO EASY
YOU KNOW, IF YOU REALLY WANT TO
DO IT, WE CAN DO SOMETHING ELSE
NO, DON'T WORRY ABOUT IT
HONESTLY?
Can you remember her face?
JERK
RAT'S FILM
RAT'S FILM
I got Rat's film during autumn.
I kept it by my side
for the last ten years.
The film is called The Hole.
It's about digging.
HOLE
DIGGING
Keep on digging
the soil of everyday life!
One day, his character suddenly
received a heavenly revelation.
Keep on digging the soil
of everyday life.
So he bravely set out with his shovel,
to dig the soil here and there.
However, he became desperate about
the amount of soil he had to dig.
But thanks to his despair,
his consciousness reached a new level.
The soil I have to dig,
is the one under my feet.
Can I dig the soil
under my feet?
CAN I DIG THE SOIL
UNDER MY FEET?
I was born 21 years ago.
How much soil did I dig?
I ask myself, can I dig the soil
under my feet now?
That's where the film ends.
After that, we don't know where he goes
or what will become of him.
This has a strange feeling.
As if it never really happened.
It really happened.
It's only faded.
Would you like to go back there?
No, I don't.
Because it's a splinter of time
that died long ago.
But isn't it a comforting memory?
It is indeed.
Like an old light.
An old light?
I always wanted to be your
pinball bonus light.
Take these with you.
Thank you so much.
Well, it's nothing much.
But don't throw them
out of the bus.
Finally, Rat didn't come.
He must be busy with his film.
Too bad I couldn't see it.
I'm sure he was afraid
to say goodbye to you.
You all grow up so fast.
In some way,
I'm the only one
who doesn't change.
I... haven't left this town even once,
since the Tokyo Olympics.
You like this town so much?
Everywhere is the same.
Still, after a few years go by,
I'd like to go back to China one time.
I've never been there even once.
I always think about it when I go down
to the harbor and look at the ships.
My grandfather died in China.
Lots of people died there.
Still, we're all brothers.
Some day,
this bar will fade away as well.
Some day, yes.
That day...
...can I have the pinball machine?
Sure.
Thank you.
See you next winter.
Do you enjoy yourself in Tokyo?
Everywhere is the same, isn't it?
There's no more dream bus to Kobe.