Do you have a teacher you will never forget?
An ordinary looking school and a typical classroom. So many students have passed through it over the years; as have many battle-scarred teachers. A message on the blackboard embodies three dramatic periods in Japan’s postmodern history. There was the time just after World War II, the economic miracle that followed, and the recent devastating earthquake and tsunami. Viewed from three fascinating and iconoclastic teachers living through these three revolutionary milestones moments, here is a story that drives at the heart of education. What did these children learn? What were the adults able to impart to them? What does it mean to be Japanese? And what are the hopes and dreams of people of all ages?

It is the Showa 30s - the mid-1950s to mid-1960s - and a full decade has passed since Japan’s devastating defeat in World War II. The people are hard at work rebuilding their tattered lives and country seeking to regain their confidence in the process. Meanwhile, and the victor nations from the war are all eager to explore the planet’s last frontier - Antarctica; with teams of scientists from the U.S. Soviet Union and other countries racing to divvy up the vast frozen continent of Antarctica. Japan is the only Asian nation eager to declare a desire to take part, despite global skepticism about what Japan as could possibly contribute in its current state. As a result, Japan is allotted a virtually “inaccessible region” of Antarctica to study, where temperatures plunge to minus 50 degrees centigrade and blizzard winds whip up to 100 meters an hour. Nobody expects them contingent to succeed.
“Now is precisely the time when we must show the world our true mettle and determination,” says the Japanese Antarctic exploration team. “We have to prove that we can stand on our own two feet.”
The mission soon becomes synonymous with Japan’s return to the global community. But the unforgiving continent is not about to yield its pristine, never-before-touched-by-man territory easily. With such seemingly insurmountable challenges, the wintering team draws inspiration, hope and motivation from none other than its 19 Karafuto dogs. This is a story about one young scientist who risks his life in Antarctica for his loved ones, his country’s honor and for his “comrades in arms”, the dogs with whom he forges true bonds of kinship and shared destiny.

Kozue Ogawa is a housewife and has been married to Hideo for seven years. They don’t have any children but as they live with her parents at their flower shop, everyday is still lively. She is happy with her life and her husband but she wonders if it is enough. From time to time she is gripped by this doubt that she cannot raise with anyone. One rainy day, Kozue meets a young man named Takuma Fukazawa who is a high school student and a dance instructor at the dance studio where she is taking lessons. He seems somehow shrouded in sadness. One day, when it is just the two of them, Takuma curls his hands around Kozue’s body and his dance instruction begins. Their unexpected closeness causes Kozue to hesitate. With her heart pounding, she pushes Takuma’s hands away and runs home. But the throbbing in her chest continues. It can’t be. But what is this feeling?

29-year old Hara Akari, who is currently in a relationship with a man who doesn’t take their relationship seriously, finds herself reminiscing about her old college boyfriend before a class reunion. She is disappointed to discover he is married, but when he makes an unexpected appearance at the reunion, she finds herself torn between the present and the past.

Left at the alter after quitting her job to marry, Kaoru travels to the countryside to work at the Japanese inn and hot spring resort that her mother manages. With her daughter back, Kaoru’s mother decides to groom her to become the next manager, but this causes the woman previously in line for that position to become a jealous rival. On top of that, the rest of the staff don’t respect her and refuse to cooperate at every turn. Fighting to thwart the efforts of her rival, earning the respect of her co-workers, learning a new job and hopefully finding love along the way may be tough, but she is determined to make this her new home!