JAPAN, Our Homeland

In the spring of 1956, about a decade after the Pacific War ended, a new teacher named Rieko Sakamoto arrives at an elementary school in Kiba, a working-class district of Tokyo. Around the same time, Shizu Miyanaga, a bright and charming transfer student from Kobe, joins sixth-grade class #4. Shizu excels in both sports and studies, easily winning the admiration of her classmates. She dreams of becoming a singer, and her talent and confidence make her the center of attention. Akira, the class president and son of a carpenter, begins to feel something more than friendship for her...