Completed in 2012, Tokyo Sky Tree towers 634 meters over the capital. This two-part documentary chronicles the process of building the tallest structure in Japan and explains its relationship with tradition and surroundings.
East Shinjuku Night High School has students with various challenges. Delinquent Taketo is trapped in a negative spiral. Filipina-Japanese Angela struggles with schoolwork, while Kasumi spends all her class hours in the infirmary. Shozo had to leave school to work in his youth. With guidance from their new science teacher, Fujitake, they work on an experiment for an academic conference.
Sasaki Yuko (Adachi Yumi) works as a temporary employee at a call center, struggling with her mortgage and child-rearing. Despite her overbearing boss and uncertain future, she tries to make ends meet. Her husband Yoshimitsu (Aoki Munetaka) is optimistic but doesn’t earn much, which frustrates Yuko and her only joy is her son. One day, a misfortune strikes the Sasaki family, and a momentary lapse in judgment drastically changes their lives. Peculiar characters disrupt their peace, leading to chaos as hidden desires and wishes come to the surface.
Kōhaku Uta Gassen, more commonly known as simply Kōhaku, is an annual music show on New Year's Eve produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK and broadcast on television and radio, nationally and internationally by NHK's networks and some overseas broadcasters which bought the program. The show ends shortly before midnight.
Literally "Red and White Song Battle," the program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The "red" team or akagumi is composed of all female artists, while the "white" team or shirogumi is all male. The honor of performing on Kōhaku is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful singing acts in the Japanese entertainment industry can perform. In addition to the actual music performances, the costumes, hair-styles, makeup, dancing, and lighting are important. Even today, a performance on Kōhaku is said to be a big highlight in a singer's career because of the show's large reach.