Director
Middle-aged Riichi Takamiya drives the midnight bus between Tokyo and snow-swept Niigata, where he lives. Just as the relationship with his younger girlfriend is about to bloom, his emotionally desperate ex-wife suddenly reappears.
Assistant Director
In 2011, a journalist arrives in Nagaoka, a Japanese village that underwent destruction during both World War II and the 2004 Chūetsu earthquakes, and is now notable for the fireworks it launches annually in memory of the victims of war. She is there for two reasons: firstly, to learn about the experiences of Nagaoka's inhabitants, and secondly, to watch a stage play written by an enigmatic student of her ex-boyfriend, which depicts the bombing of the city during WWII.
Director
An ordinary salary man, Junosuke, goes in search of his lover, Miharu, who disappeared one night when she handed him the key to her room, and promised to be back in five minutes. She had only gone out to buy apples at the nearby convenience store, because Junosuke has one for breakfast every morning. Slightly drunk from the cocktail he had had earlier, Junosuke falls asleep, and wakes up the next morning to find that Miharu had never returned.
