Synopsis
Shunsuke Ozaki (Naoto Ogata) is 47. A department head at a large electronics manufacturer, he is a capable man trusted by his subordinates. At home are Akiko (Kaho Minami), his beautiful wife, their son and daughter Daisuke (Masato Yano) and Sakiko (Karen Miyama), and his father Shuntaro (Tatsuya Fuji). Wanting for nothing, the family should be happy, but Shunsuke is absorbed in his work and has long left everything at home to Akiko. Their relationship has cooled since she discovered a now-ended affair, and he doesn’t talk to Daisuke, who rather than going on to university is working at a series of part-time jobs. He talks to Sakiko, but she usually responds with little more than her trademark ‘whatever’. The possibility of a major promotion makes him ignore his family even more. But now something significant happens. A frantic telephone call from Akiko brings him home to a shocking sight. Shuntaro kneels in the hall, trembling, in a pool of his own filth. Akiko has left him there, making no move to clean him up, and Shunsuke shouts angrily at her. Later Shuntaro recovers himself and apologizes to Akiko. ‘Am I going senile?’ he asks. Realizing at last that there is something wrong with Shuntaro, he talks to his father, who says that he has been incontinent for some time, and that he wears adult diapers bought for him by Daisuke. Daisuke is also disposing of the soiled diapers so that no one else in the family will find out. But from this time on, Shuntaro’s condition grows rapidly worse. With the meeting that will decide his promotion coming the following week, Shunsuke makes the bold decision to take the family on a trip. Practically shoving his bewildered family members into their van, he sets out for Shuntaro’s childhood home in distant Fukui Prefecture. Leaving the urban wilderness of Tokyo for the beautiful scenery of Nagano and Fukui, the family members begin to relax with one another. Daisuke, it turns out, understands Shuntaro better than anyone else, while Sakiko has been convinced for years that Shunsuke has absolutely no time for her. The more of these secrets he learns, the happier Shunsuke becomes. It is like a couple of taps have been turned on in his dry soul. But while the children gradually begin to enjoy this strange impromptu family trip, Akiko remains shut away in herself. Finally she reaches the end of her patience, and announces she is going back home. She and Shunsuke have their first serious conversation in years. The one-time affair is not the problem; it’s his attitude, and the way he has left the house and family entirely to her. This collision, their first in a long time, leaves Akiko in tears, and Shunsuke is deeply moved. ‘That’s what Dad meant when he said I wasn’t innocent, either.’ Now the tap squeezed most tightly shut comes open. Now comes another surprise. Shuntaro, off in another world for most of the trip, suddenly comes back to reality. ‘What are you all doing? Where are we?’ The other four burst out laughing. But learning that this is a trip back to where he spent his childhood, Shuntaro starts to look anxious. Knowing that he suffers from dementia, he no longer trusts his own memory. Where will this family trip lead them? There is a miracle awaiting them at its end.