Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms
Cover of the first tankōbon edition of the manga, published by Futabasha
夕凪の街 桜の国 (Yūnagi no machi, Sakura no kuni)
Genre	Historical, Drama
Manga
Written by	Weekly Manga Action
Demographic	Seinen
Original run	September 2003 – July 2004
Volumes	1
Audio drama
Directed by	Kenji Shindo
Produced by	Shinya Aoki
Written by	Hirofumi Harada
Music by	Jun Nagao
Station	NHK
Released	5 August 2006
Novel
Written by	Kei Kunii
Published by	Futabasha
Published	3 July 2007
Novel
Written by	Yohei Makita
Published by	Futabasha
Published	22 July 2007
Live-action film
Yunagi City, Sakura Country
Directed by	Kiyoshi Sasabe
Produced by	Junichi Matsushita
Written by	Kiyoshi Sasabe Katsura Kunii
Music by	Takatsugu Muramatsu
Released	28 July 2007
Runtime	118 minutes
Live-action television film
Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni 2018
Directed by	Ritsutoki Kumano
Produced by	Yoshisumi Tanaka Akihisa Koike
Written by	Nao Morishita
Music by	Yohei Kobayashi
Studio	NHK Hiroshima Broadcasting Station
Original network	NHK General TV
Released	6 August 2018
Runtime	73 minutes

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (

.

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms was adapted as a

film directed by Kiyoshi Sasabe released in 2007, called Yunagi City, Sakura Country in English. It has also been adapted as a 2006 radio drama, as 2007 novels by Kei Kunii and Yohei Makita, as a 2017 stage play and as a 2018 television special.

The manga has received international praise for its simple but beautiful artwork and its quiet but "humane" anti-war message.

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".

Family tree

^{[7] [8]}

Town of Evening Calm (Yūnagi no Machi)

Set in Hiroshima in 1955, ten years after the atomic bomb was dropped, "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

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's 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

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 mother, Fujimi, 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 an

senile

because he has started wandering off for a couple days at a 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.

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 bomb, 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."^[9]

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."^[9]

Media

Manga

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms was serialized in Japan by

It has been published in English by

Radio drama

The story was adapted as a 50-minute

The drama was directed by

Cast[24]

• 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

Novels

Two novelizations were released in conjunction with the film adaptation in 2007. A novelization of the film by Kei Kunii (国井 桂, Kunii Kei), with a cover featuring the film's actors, was published by

).

Film

Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms has been adapted into a

Key items

• An attractive handmade short-sleeved dress: there is the reason that Minami can't wear the short-sleeves.
• The white
  barrette
  (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 acacia-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 Asō
  as Minami Hirano, the heroine of "Town of Evening Calm". Minami lives in Hiroshima with her mother Fujimi. She wears a white barrette, a memento of her father and sister. Minami eventually dies as a result of radiation sickness.
• Rena Tanaka as Nanami Ishikawa, Minami's niece and the heroine of "Country of Cherry Blossoms". Nanami grew up in Tokyo and speaks the Tokyo dialect, unlike the Hiroshima-dwelling characters of Town of Evening Calm who speak in the local dialect. Throughout the story, Nanami learns the family history of her relatives in Hiroshima.
• Mitsunori Isaki as the younger Asahi Ishikawa, Minami's little brother. Asahi lives with his aunt in Mito, where he was raised, and thus speaks in the Mito dialect. He and his aunt lives far away from Minami and her mother, only arriving in Hiroshima to visit as her illness finally claims her life. After Minami's death, he decides to stay with his mother Fujimi in Hiroshima and attends Hiroshima University.
• Masaaki Sakai as the adult Asahi Ishikawa, Minami's brother and Nanami's father. When Nanami follows him, she discovers he has returned to Hiroshima for the fiftieth anniversary of Minami's death.
• Yû Yoshizawa as the younger Yutaka Uchikoshi, Minami's coworker who falls in love with her. She refuses his affections, but he stays by her side as she dies of radiation sickness.
• Ryosei Tayama as the adult Yutaka Uchikoshi. Yutaka and Asahi meet under the acacia tree when Asahi returns to Hiroshima.
• Shiho Fujimura as Fujimi Hirano, Minami's mother and Nanami's grandmother, who appears in both stories.
• Yuta Kanai as Nagio Ishikawa, Nanami's younger brother, who works as an intern at a hospital. He has feelings for Toko.
• Noriko Nakagoshi as Toko Tone, Nanami's childhood friend who works as a nurse in the same hospital as Nagio.
• Rina Koike as the young Kyoka Ota, a girl from Minami's neighborhood who sometimes visits to help out around the house.
• Urara Awata as Kyoka Ota, Nanami's mother. She and Asahi move from Hiroshima to Tokyo after their marriage.
• Asami Katsura as Sachiko Furuta, Minami's coworker who helps her make a copy of the dress in the shop window.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack of the film was released^[32] on 16 July 2007. It is composed by Takatsugu Muramatsu, with performances on the harp by Naori Uchida and harmonica by Masami Ohishi.

Stage

A stage adaptation by Stray Dog Promotion, written and directed by Toshiyuki Morioka, was performed from August to September 2017. It was re-performed in Augusts of 2019 and 2021.

TV special

NHK Hiroshima's 90th anniversary drama Yunagi no Machi, Sakura no Kuni 2018 was produced as a regional drama by NHK Hiroshima Broadcasting Station, and was released as a "special drama" on NHK General TV on 6 August 2018 and rebroadcast on 14 October. It was directed by Ritsutoki Kumano and written by Nao Morishita.

While keeping the setting of "Town of Evening Calm" as is, the 2004 setting of "Country of Cherry Blossoms II" was moved to 2018, and the characters were also aged by 14 years. The role of accompanying Nanami to Hiroshima in pursuit of Asahi was replaced by Fuko, Nagio and Toko's daughter, and Toko does not appear in this work because "Country of Cherry Blossoms I" was cut.

Cast

Heisei

• Nanami Ishikawa - Takako Tokiwa
• Asahi Ishikawa - Isao Hashizume
• Fuko Ishikawa - Yuna Taira
• Nagio Ishikawa - Satoshi Kashiwabara
• Yuji Daimon -
  Shosuke Tanihara
• Sachiko Furuta - Tayo Iwamoto
• Akira Uchikoshi - Mitsuo Sagawa

Showa

• Minami Hirano - Rina Kawaei
• Hirano Fujimi - Midoriko Kimura
• Sachiko Furuta - Masa Murasaki
• Akira Uchikoshi - Asuka Kudo
• Kyoka Ota - Fuka Koshiba (childhood - Shinyo Nemoto)
• Asahi Ishikawa - Yosuke Asari

Reception

The story was praised by the award jury of the Japan Media Arts Festival for its brevity and its "depiction of 'the dark shadow of war'".^[33] 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.^[34] The manga sold over 180,000 copies in Japan.^[30]

The simple artwork and story's "light, ephemeral touch" was praised by

According to

Kumiko Asō won several acting awards in Japan for her role as Minami Hirano.^[43][44][45]

Awards

The manga has won two awards, the 2004 Japan Media Arts Festival's Grand Prize for manga^[33] and the 2005 Tezuka Osamu Cultural Prize's Creative Award.^[46]

The film won several awards, including the 17th

Japanese Film Critics Award for Best Picture,^[47] placing sixth in the top ten films list of the 3rd Osaka Cinema Festival,^[48] and placing ninth in the top ten domestic films list of 2007 by Kinema Junpo.^[49] The Blue Ribbon Awards also named the film one of the top ten films of the year.^[44] Kumiko Asō won several "Best Actress" awards for her portrayal of Minami Hirano in the film, including that of the 32nd Hochi Film Awards,^[43] the 62nd Mainichi Film Awards,^[45] and the 50th Blue Ribbon Awards.^[44]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Deppey, Dirk (13 March 2007). "The Comics Journal — Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms". The Comics Journal. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
2. ^ ^{a b} Dacey-Tsuei, Katherine (23 March 2007). "Manga Review: Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms". PopCultureShock. Archived from the original on 11 January 2012. Retrieved 17 March 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
3. ^ ^{a b} Shinob. "Pays des cerisiers (le) ( KONO Fumiyo KONO Fumiyo ) Kana - 夕凪の街 桜の国 - Manga news" (in French). Manga News. Retrieved 18 March 2009. The drawings, at first simplistic, appear particularly beautiful and characteristic of the author's particular style. They serve and emphasize the depth of a story that seeks to show us the daily life of a survivor, without ever going over-the-top or into excess morality, which would be particularly indigestible. (Les dessins, de prime abord simplistes, se révèlent particulièrement beaux et caractéristiques du style particulier de l'auteur. Ils servent et mettent en valeur la profondeur d'un récit qui s'attache à nous montrer le quotidien d'une survivante, sans jamais tomber dans une surenchère ou un excès de morale qui se reléverait particulièrement indigeste.)
4. ^ ^{a b} Welsh, David. "Buy this Book: Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms". Comic World News. Archived from the original on 13 January 2008. Retrieved 17 March 2009. But Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is a profoundly moral work and, even better, a singularly humane one.
5. ^ ^{a b c} Thompson, Jason (30 October 2007). "Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms". Otaku USA. Retrieved 17 March 2009.
6. ^
   About.com. Archived from the original
   on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 17 March 2009. Compared to its thematic predecessor Barefoot Gen, Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms is an atom bomb story that's told in whispers rather than screams.
7. ISBN 978-0867196658
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External links

• Official film site (in Japanese)
• Official film blog Archived 27 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
• Last Gasp manga website
• Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms (manga) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
• Interview with Kumiko Asō (in Japanese)
• Interview with Rena Tanaka Archived 12 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese)
• Japanese review of the manga and film (in Japanese)
• Film review (in Japanese)
• Snap photos by Hiroshima Film Commission
• Manga review
• Town of Evening Calm, Country of Cherry Blossoms at
  IMDb