ONLY LOVE
It's the year 2000. Junko has been dead for several years, and her grand-daughter Yokoyama Chiyo (Matsushima Nanako), who's now 24 years old, is attending the 3rd anniversary service to commemorate her death, which is being held in Yamagata, her hometown. As she's standing there by Junko's grave, Chiyo is thinking about her medical examination earlier which confirmed that she was pregnant. Afterwards, as they're assembled in the house to eat, her uncle talks about her past and asks her if she'd heard from her mom, Kazuko. It turns out that Chiyo was brought up by her grandma, after Kazuko ran off with another man and her father, who never recovered from the shock, died shortly after. As her uncle continues to prattle on, Chiyo's aunt (his sister) admonishes him for his tactlessness. Junko's aunt and uncle are actually her mom's half-sister and half-brother, as they were from Junko's later marriage to another man, while Chiyo's mom is Kazuo's child. Chiyo takes her leave, saying that she had to get back to work.
Chiyo's walking through the forest, on her way back to the train station and as she passes the bridge (where Aya first fell into the brook with her bike), she takes out her mobile to call someone with the initials "K.J.." - but then changes her mind. Her phone rings and it's a call from her office about some work emergency and she walks off, talking purposefully into the phone.
Meanwhile, there was a man by the river, Yashiro Shinji (Watabe Atsuro) who was down by the brook and he looks up and sees her talking on the phone. Something about her catches his attention and he starts to follow her, limping along after her.
He gets on the same train as she does and follows her into the city. She finally notices someone tailing her when she reaches the Tokyo station and confronts him outside the station, threatening to call the police. He tells her that he means no harm, and that she "looked very familiar and he's sure they must have met before" - but she scoffs at such an old trick, and tells him to buzz off. She walks off, but then turns back to him and asks him if he's interested in making some "easy money"...
Chiro buys a name-stamp ("Yashiro") for him and then takes him to the hospital clinic, where she asks him to co-sign as the father on a form requesting an abortion. Shinji asks her to talk it over with the real father - but she says it's not his business and tells him to get on with it. Suddenly he gets down on his knees and begs her to reconsider. Chiyo is taken back by this - but says "fine, I'll find someone else..."
Shinji's waiting for her outside the hospital and as she comes out after her operation, he hurries after her and asks if she is okay, saying the doctor says everything went fine... She turns to him and asks him "do you know what would have happened to a woman in my situation a hundred years ago... they would have been hanged for what I've just done..." She walks off, and on her way home, passes by an abandonned kitten and on an impulse, takes it home with her.
That night, alone in her house, her eyes keep drifting over to a sand timer, and she has memories of a scene with a little girl and a woman in a bright red dress handing her the timer...
Chiyo's a magazine editor at a publishing house and she's telling her staff off about the earlier mix-up that happened while she was out of town. Afterwards, one of her staff approaches her about doing an article on "the lifestyle of 20th century women", but Chiyo dismisses the idea, saying all the modern woman is interested in are brand names, fancy foods and the latest trends.
After work that day, Chiyo is eating dinner with her lover, "K.J..", who tells her he is free that night as his wife is at her mother's and hands her a hotel key. She tells him about her abortion and he gets upset at her for not discussing it with him, but she says it's her own problem and nothing to do with him. She then breaks up with him, saying that it's over between them. He gets really mad at her and as she is walking out, he questions whether she'd ever truly loved him, saying that someone like her is incapable of true love.
Shinji is at a law office and his lawyer comes in, saying that it's good that he got an early release because his parole came through even sooner than they'd expected. He then tells Shinji that he's still trying to find a job for him but is having some trouble finding suitable work. He gives Shinji a box of his personal stuff that was sent by his family and asks if Shinji had contacted them, saying Shinji needs to have a good talk with his dad - but Shinji says his father doesn't want to have anything to do with him and would prefer that he languish in prison. Inside the box are boxing gloves, championship cups and some newspaper articles and mags that show Shinji as a former boxing champion. After Shinji leaves, he calls his home and his sister answers... but when his dad realises who it is, he tells Shinji not to contact his family anymore and he should just go to their lawyer for whatever he needs. Shinji then goes to the park, where he throws all his boxing stuff into the garbage. He comes across Aya's portrait in the box, as he looks at the picture, he suddenly realises why Chiyo seems so familiar to him.
The next morning, Chiyo is woken up by a phone call, and it's her mother. Her mom is calling from the States, and wants to fly out to Tokyo to see Chiyo. Chiyo's stunned, as this is the first contact from her mom in 20 years, and her eyes drift over to the sand timer that is on her bedside table. (Her mom had handed it to her, just before leaving her family, saying to the 4-year old Chiyo that she will be back when all the sand has fallen.)
Shinji goes to Chiyo's house (he got her address from the abortion form) and hands her Aya's portrait, and tells her that's why she'd seemed familiar because the picture used to hang in his home and asked her if she didn't think also that the person in the picture looked like her... Chiyo says "of course it's not me - this is obviously a period piece, so it must be someone from many decades ago..." Shinji says he feels Chiyo should keep the painting and after giving it to her, he leaves.
Chiyo goes after him and offers him money to impersonate as her husband, saying that she'd lied to her mom about being married and now her mom is coming to see her in Tokyo. They go to a studio to take wedding photos together, and later, as they're prepping the house to make it look like their home together (she even has matching wedding bands for them to wear), she tells Shinji how her mom had left her years ago when she was small, and had never contacted her until now. At first, she'd refused to see her and concocted up this story about how she's now married and living really happily, and to leave them alone- but then afterwards, she changed her mind and decided to agree to the visit. She said resentfully that her mom didn't show the slightest bit of remorse on the phone, and so she wents to get back at her so that when her mom arrives, she'll show her that she doesn't need her mother and that Kazuko's desertion hasn't affected her life at all.
Shinji suggests that she tells her mom the truth instead, about how she isn't married, but Chiyo says that he doesn't understand, and the person her mom really wanted to see is not her but her husband. She asks Shinji about his job and he says that he's unemployed. Chiyo says that's even better, and says that he can play the part of a really useless and bad husband who gambles and cheats on her. Shinji comments that it's because she wants to make her mom to feel regret for having abandonned her and to blame herself for having ruined Chiyo's life.
On the day of her mom's visit, the two of them are sitting in her living room, waiting for Kazuko to show up. They'd discussed before about what to say when they're asked how they know each other, but as nothing was decided, Shinji asks Chiyo again if she wants them to have met through friends or work. Chiyo sees Aya's portrait that she's put on the mantelpiece, and says that they can say they met through the portrait - that Shinji owned this portrait and that's what led to them getting together - and that it's like they were pre-destined to meet...
Time passes, and her mom still hasn't come yet. Suddenly the doorbell rings and they get up nervously, but it's the courier guy and he hands her a letter. The letter is from her mom who can't come after all, because she's too ill to travel, and asks that Chiyo come to the States instead. Shinji encourages her to go but his words annoy Chiyo who says she's too busy to just up and go somewhere. She gives him some money and tells him to go, but he continues to convince her to go to Las Olivos (where her mom is), saying that she must have something she really wanted to say to her mom to have gone through all this trouble.
Suddenly, Chiyo loses her temper and she breaks their framed photo, saying angrily "don't you understand? My mom left me for a man! She left me when I was only 4 years old! But then I thought that if I was a good child, she would come back and I tried working really hard and doing the best I could, but despite everything, she never once tried to see me in all these years. And in the 20 years since she had gone, I have learned to cope on my own and to forget about this woman. I don't need her and I don't want her. She was the one who chose to leave, so fine then! She should just stay away and never come back!"
Shinji says to her that if that is how she really feels, then she should go and see her mom, and tell her all that. He pauses and then adds, "but I think that a part of you really do want to see her..."
Chiyo changes her mind and decides to go to Las Olivos after all. She and Shinji are at the airport, and while Chiyo is giving last minute instructions on the phone to her office, saying that she'll be back in a few days' time, Shinji calls his lawyer. His lawyer tells him that he's found him some work and asks him to show up for an interview at 10 am tomorrow. Shinji hesitates and asks his lawyer if it would be a bad idea for him to leave the country right now, and his lawyer tells him that as he's on parole, it would look like he was fleeing the country and he would end up being sent back to prison. Shinji replies that he was just asking, and after he hangs up, he decides to accompany Chiyo to the U.S. But on the plane, he gets very nervous and throws up violently. Chiyo's embarrassed by his behavior, and assumes he is just a nervous flyer so on arrival, she rents a car to drive to Las Olivos rather than continue with the domestic US flight that they were booked for.
On the way, they eat this huge lunch (they obviously didn't expect the portions to be so large) and afterwards, they continue on in their rented red convertible. Chiyo's driving, while Shinji tries to help with map navigation, but Chiyo's really cocky and when Shinji tells her that she's taken the wrong turn-off, she ignores him, but as they continue to drive, they end up on this dusty and fairly deserted stretch of road. Suddenly Shinji gets stomach cramps from the lunch and Chiyo has to stop on the roadside while he goes off to some bushes. But while she's waiting, Chiyo also gets cramps and runs to the other side of the road and goes behind some trees.
Shinji returns and finds both her and the car gone... and he starts to call out her name, thinking she'd abandoned him, when she comes out from behind the trees, and panics when she realises that her car's been stolen and starts blaming Shinji for not watching it! Las Olivos is still 40 miles (64 km) away, and at first they try to hitchhike, but has no luck and so they start trudging down the road. Chiyo has a bottle of water on her and drinks from it. Shinji asks for some but when she gives it to him, he drinks some and then uses the rest to pour over his head - which makes Chiyo really angry, and she starts yelling at him about how he's good-for-nothing and has given her nothing but trouble, etc.
A truck comes along, and Shinji sits down in front of the road, as it comes straight at him. Chiyo tries to pull him away but he won't budge, and at the last minute, she jumps off to the side and the truck continues to come at them. When she turns back, the truck has stopped, and its bumper is literally inches away from Shinji's face!
The truck driver is an American who has spent sometime in Osaka and can speak Japanese. He's chattering away to them, but they're too tired to respond and fall asleep after a while. When Chiyo wakes up, she finds that they're in Las Vegas! She tells the driver that they want to go to Las Olivos, but the driver says Shinji told him "Las Vegas" and drops them off.
They decide to spend the night in Las Vegas and go into a hotel, where she asks for two rooms. But then she finds that her wallet's been stolen, and they figure out that it must be the driver who took it while they were asleep, and again she blames Shinji for not keeping watch!!
They're wandering disconsolately in the streets and suddenly Chiyo makes a decision and pawns all her valuables (necklace, earing, computer) and takes the money into the casino. She puts a large stack of chips on "24" at the roulette table, and loses. She puts another stack and loses again. She continues to persist and Shinji asks her why "24" and she says that her mom left her when she was 4, and she always thought that if she was good and worked hard, she would come back - but no matter how well she did, her mom has never contacted her until now, and now she's 24 years old... Her pile of chips go down quickly and she's down to her last one. She hesitates on No. 24 and then cops out, chosing "red" instead. The wheel spins and it lands on black. She looks defeated and turns to go but Shinji pulls her back - he's put all his savings on black, and has won! He asks her where he should put it for the next spin and she says "red", and so he bets on black and wins. He asks again and she says "red" and again he puts it on black and wins. And so by going the other way, he manages to make some pretty hefty winnings, and she suggests they cash out... But then he pushes it all onto "24" - she's shocked and tries to withdraw it but it's too late.... and the wheel is spinning around... and it lands on 24!!
They're now in this hotel suite and as Chiyo goes off to take a shower, Shinji turns on the TV and starts watching this boxing match... but as Chiyo comes out, he quickly turns it off but ends up changing it to an x-rated channel and she's totally disgusted and goes straight into her room.
Later that night, Shinji can't sleep and goes out to the living room to pour himself a drink, when Chiyo also opens the door and asks him why he's still up. He tells her he's too *excited* to sleep and she (probably thinking about the porn movie earlier) quickly starts shutting her door but he tells her that it's not "that" kind of excitement; he's just hyped from all that has happened to them today. They start drinking beer together, and she tells him that she can't stop thinking about what happened at the roulette table, and he says he can't either. Chiyo starts to read her book, and Shinji asks her what she is reading and she says that it's for her work. She asks if there's anything he likes reading but he says reading puts him to sleep. He mentions that his mom used to read him bed-time stories, which catches her attention, and she asks "such as..." And he says "The Little Match Girl", and she asks him what the story's about.
He says "A long long time ago, on a cold snowy night, a little match girl hasn't sold all her matches..... and she ends up lighting them herself..." "Why?" she asks. "Because she was very cold and hungry..." and she says "well, then why didn't you say so first? It would make the story much more logical that way?!" - and he apologizes and continues. "She lights the first one, and in the flame, she could see a roaring fire and the vision made her forget her own shivers. Then she lights the second one and sees a vision of a table laden with delicious mouthwatering food, and watching it, she forgets her own hunger. As she strikes her third and final match, she sees a vision of her beloved grandmother from heaven and she feels very happy and loved as her grandma draws her into a warm embrace. And so when dawn comes the next morning, the little match girl is forever reunited with her beloved grandmother and lives with her happily ever after ... medetashi, medetashi..["how wonderful"]." He turns to look at Chiyo and sees her fast asleep.
They both end up sleeping in the living room, and the next morning, they pack up everything and get bus tickets to go to Las Olivos. Midway, the coach stops at a rest-stop, and Shinji goes to the washroom. When he comes out, he sees these three big burly guys moving in on Chiyo - but Shinji easily beats them up. (Watabe Atsuro looks cho-kakko ii with his boxing moves!!) Chiyo is totally dumbstruck!
Afterwards on the bus, he tells Chiyo how there are 4 siblings in his family and that he was the useless one, and in high school, he didn't study but hung around a bad gang and got into trouble - and so finally his family threw him out. But then when he started boxing, it opened up a whole new world for him. He had a real talent for boxing and his trainer told him that he had the makings of a world champion - and he wanted to become successful so he could prove to his family that he isn't a failure. He won several competitions easily and he became very confident - flushed from his boxing success, which made him famous and popular with girls. "But then I got too cocky and eventually my pride became my downfall...." Shinji stops and thinks back on the night when he got into an alley fight with these gangsters and after beating them up, he turns away and lights up a cigarette, but then one of them sneaked up behind him and stabbed him in the thigh... Chiyo looks at him questioningly but he doesn't continue and she says fine, it's none of my business anyway and looks away...
They finally arrive in Las Olivos but as they're waiting at the bus stop for the bus that'll take them to her mom's place, she suddenly sits down and tells Shinji to go on without her. At first Shinji thinks she's just chickening out, but then she tells him that she feels feverish - so they end up checking into a hotel nearby. She's resting on the bed, and he gives her a wet towel for her forehead, saying that her condition's like a kid who gets feverish from stage-fright or over-excited from some big event, and says that he too is like that... but she tells him not to compare them together.
Chiyo tells Shinji that she can't actually recall her mom's face, only the scene of her leaving. The image that she has of her mom is one that she has made up herself. She doesn't have a mother like Shinji's that will read bedtime stories to her. She asks him to tell her the Little Match Girl fairytale again, and falls asleep as he is telling it. He reaches over to take her towel, but her hand closes over his, and as she's dreaming, she says softly "ikinai de ...." (don't go) And he looks at her and can't resist brushing his lips against hers... but it wakes her up and as she opens her eyes, he panics and moves quickly to the sofa where he curls up and turns his back to her. Chiyo doesn't say anything, but she brings her fingers slowly up to touch her lips...
The next morning, Shinji wakes up to find Chiyo out by the poolside. She looks up and says that she'd been thinking about his story, and what he said about her being happily reunited with her grandma... doesn't that actually mean the little girl died? She teasingly accuses him of changing the ending but he tells her that it's not him that changed the story, it's his mother, and that was the way she used to tell him the story. But then he says that his mother died last year, and he'll won't ever have the chance to hear her tell it again.
They set off to see her mom, and on the back of the pick-up truck they're riding in, she hands him one of the wedding bands again and puts the other on her own finger.
They arrive at her mom's house and Chiyo rings the doorbell. An elderly American guy comes out and as she hesitates, he asks if she is "Chiyo" and then hugs her, saying "I'm so sorry dear but your mom is dead." He then gives her this letter that her mom had left for her.
In her letter, Kazuko apologizes for abandonning her but tells her how she had fallen in love with a man before meeting Chiyo's father but didn't think that the guy liked her, and so married Chiyo's dad (who knows all about this and is still willing to love her) instead. And she says that the year Chiyo was born was her happiest year ever. But then when Chiyo was four, she met that guy by chance again and it turned out that he loved her too, but that he had to leave for America shortly and she knew that if she let him go again, they wouldn't get another chance to be together. And so it was a choice between being a mother and being a woman... and she chose to be a woman. But she got her punishment, because shortly after moving to the U.S., she was dumped by the man and left all alone in this foreign land. At the time, she really wanted to commit suicide, as she had no one in the U.S. and could not return to Japan. That was when she met her present husband (the American guy) and he was the one who gave her hope to live again. His dream was to grow a vineyard there, but everyone said that the soil was unsuitable and it wouldn't be possible to get a good harvest, but in the end, he managed to do so. Kazuko says that after all that has happened to her, she still thinks that giving birth to Chiyo was the happiest and most meaningful thing she'd ever done and it was the thought of Chiyo that gave her the courage to go on living. She says that maybe she has no right to ask to see Chiyo again, but she really wanted to see her again."
The American guy comes over and hands Chiyo a bottle of wine, saying that it was her mom's first batch of wine and she had really wanted to give it to Chiyo. Chiyo looks at the label and it says "Chiyo's Vineyard"... He says that her mom told him "Chiyo" meant "a thousand years" in Japanese when he asked her. But he now understands the real reason why she named it that, and he says to Chiyo that her mom really wanted her to be the first to drink this...
Later, Chiyo is sitting in the field beside Shinji and she says softly, in a bittersweet kind of way: "In the end, she still got her way.... she wouldn't even give me this one chance to get back at her...", and leaning at Shinji, Chiyo starts to cry...
On the bus, Chiyo's still thinking about what her mother had written in the letter. Her mom's last words to her were to be "true to your love, and to cherish the person you love, even through the difficult or sad times - because only love can give you true happiness..." She looks over at Shinji (who's sitting across the aisle in the other window seat)...
That night, as they're checking into a motel, the reception guy asks her if she wants one room or two, and as she hesitates, Shinji steps forward and asks her to request for separate rooms.
They're in bed in their separate rooms, and Shinji gets a call from Chiyo, asking him to tell her another bedtime story. He says "A long long time ago, there was this injured boxer. This boxer had a fiancée, but when she found out he couldn't fight anymore, she broke off their engagement. She was also pregnant with his child but she aborted their unborn baby as well - because at that time, she had already found a new lover. When the boxer found out, he sought out the guy and started beated him up... he kept punching and punching... when the boxer finally came to his senses, he'd hurt the guy so badly that the guy would be paralyzed for the rest of his life and could never leave his bed... From then on, everyone deserted this boxer... no, one person didn't... the boxer's mother never gave up on him and continued to visit him in prison. But she died before he was released from jail. So God said to the boxer: to atone for your sins, you will be alone for the rest of your life. You can never love anyone again, because you will not be able to offer anyone happiness... medetashi, medetashi..." The phone had fallen silent on Chiyo's said - and after saying hello into the receive a few times, he hangs up and goes to his door. Through the peephole, he could see Chiyo standing on the other side. He opens the door and she hugs him, and asks him to hold her.... as he tentatively puts his arms around her, she says "motto tsuyoku.." (tighter) and tightening his embrace, he starts to kiss her...
They're lying in bed together, and Chiyo says to Shinji that she's sure that wasn't what God meant to say to the boxer, although she doesn't know what He really meant to say... she then asks him if he'll be sent back to prison when he returns to Japan, and he says most likely.... and she says "but if we tell them that I forced you, they can't blame you".
But as dawn breaks, Shinji packs up his stuff and quietly leaves without waking Chiyo. He goes out to the beach and takes off the wedding band, throwing it into the water. He leaves a note for Chiyo, saying that "Shiawase ni natte, kudasai..." (Please find your happiness...)
Chiyo wakes up and finds Shinji missing. She runs out to the airport and looks all over for him. Finally she sees him being led away by two policemen... She calls out to him "wait! What God really said to the boxer was: you are too gentle and kind to be a boxer, so I'm taking away your ability to box so that you can find your true self and start over again... And there is someone who needs the boxer's love... someone that only you can give true happiness to." Shinji turns back to Chiyo with tears in his eyes, saying "hai..." before being taken away...
Chiyo is back in Japan and she is at the cemetery in her hometown. She has gone to see the present *juushoku* of the temple, but all he knew was that the painting was of her great grandmother Aya, and the painter was Shinji's great-grandfather - and that they had fallen in love but were not able to be together.
Chiyo returns to Tokyo and she is at work. She gives to one of her staff (the girl who had suggested writing about "20th century women") the article she had written on it and asks her to read it and give her her opinion.
In the article, Chiyo writes:
"As the 20th century draws to a close, we have witnessed many changes to the women of this century... in the short span of 100 years, women's role in society has undergone radical changes. One hundred years ago, women did not have the freedom to choose her partner or her own way of life; her happiness was utterly dependent on others... 50 years ago, in the post-war era, women began to experience their first taste of freedom, and they were given more rights to choose what they wanted and more latitude to pursue their interests - but still, these freedoms were hampered by innate prejudice and a predominantly chauvinistic society outlook. In comparison, today's women enjoy much more freedom and are given many more choices - but then this excess of choice has ultimately become our baggage; with too much freedom, women have lost their sense of direction and abused these privileges - the result of privilege without responsibility. It is important to sometimes stop and reflect on the lives of the many generations of women that precede us and remind ourselves that it is because only because of the unwavering love and devotion of our ancestors and all the generations that precede us, that we are alive today and living in this world now....
The scene changes to six months later... Shinji is released from prison and he works as a welder in a factory. While he is at work, there's a visitor looking for him and when he goes outside, he finds Chiyo standing there. She turns to him, and as they start walking towards each other, he sees that she is pregnant and a warm smile breaks across his face. He takes her into his arms and they stand there, holding each other.
"... yes, we are never on our own." [Sou, watashi tachi wa kesshite hitori ja nai.]
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