''April Story'' ( ja, 四月物語) is a Japanese film directed by

Shunji Iwai is a Japanese film director, video artist, writer and documentary maker. Life and career Iwai was born in Sendai, Miyagi, Japan. He attended Yokohama National University, graduating in 1987. In 1988 he started out in the Japanese entertainment ...

starring

Takako Matsu (born June 10, 1977) also known as is a Japanese actress and pop singer. Personal life Matsu was born to a family of buyō and kabuki actors, including her father Matsumoto Hakuō II, her mother and businesswoman Noriko Fujima, her uncle, ...

Plot

Uzuki Nireno, a shy girl from the countryside of northern

Hokkaidō is Japan's second largest island and comprises the largest and northernmost prefecture, making up its own region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō from Honshu; the two islands are connected by the undersea railway Seikan Tunnel. The la ...

, leaves her family and gets on a train bound for

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

so she can attend the university of her choice; to be near the boy she fell in love with, who moved to Tokyo from her hometown.

Cast

as Uzuki Nireno *

Seiichi Tanabe is a Japanese actor. He won the award for best actor at the 24th Yokohama Film Festival for '' Hush!'' and at the 27th Hochi Film Award for ''Hush!'' and ''Harmful Insect''. Filmography Film * ''Atashi wa juice'' (1996) * ''April Story'' (1998) ...

as Yamazaki * Kahori Fujii as Teruko Kitao *Kazuhiko Kato as The Man in the Art Gallery *

Go Jibiki is a Japanese actor. He was born on May 7, 1976, in Tokyo, Japan. Because of his father's business, he spent his early life in Singapore (1983–86) and New York (1986–89), and thus learned to speak English fluently. After returning to Japan, ...

Matsumoto Kōshirō IX Matsumoto (松本 or 松元, "base of the pine tree") may refer to: Places * Matsumoto, Nagano (松本市), a city ** Matsumoto Airport, an airport southwest of Matsumoto, Nagano * Matsumoto, Kagoshima (松元町), a former town now part of the ...

as Uzuki's father * Ichikawa Somegorō VII as Uzuki's brother *

Yōsuke Eguchi is a Japanese actor and singer. Since 1986, he has appeared in a number of television series and movies. He is married to the singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka (born 11 April 1969) is a Japanese pop singer who also is notable as a songwrit ...

Oda Nobunaga was a Japanese ''daimyō'' and one of the leading figures of the Sengoku period. He is regarded as the first "Great Unifier" of Japan. Nobunaga was head of the very powerful Oda clan, and launched a war against other ''daimyō'' to unify ...

Tatsuya Ishii , also known as Tatuya Ishii (born September 22, 1959) is a Japanese singer-songwriter, artist, and industrial designer from Ibaraki Prefecture. Biography In 1985, he debuted as vocalist in the band . In 1992, their single won the Japanese ...

Akechi Mitsuhide , first called Jūbei from his clan and later from his title, was a Japanese ''samurai'' general of the Sengoku period best known as the assassin of Oda Nobunaga. Mitsuhide was a bodyguard of Ashikaga Yoshiaki and later a successful general under ...

Crew

*Director/Writer: Shunji Iwai *Director of Photography:

Noboru Shinoda Noboru (written: , , , , in hiragana or katakana) is a masculine Japanese given name. Notable people with the name include: *, official in the government of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture *, former professional sumo wrestler and current politician fr ...

*Lighting Director:

Yuki Nakamura is a former Japanese football forward. Career In 2010 he started his professional career playing in the Romanian Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of ...

*Production Designer:

Yuji Tsuzuki Yuji or Yu Ji may refer to: * Yuji Naka, is a Japanese video game programmer, designer and producer * Yu Ji (painter), a Qing dynasty painter and calligrapher * Yūji, a common masculine Japanese given name * Consort Yu (Xiang Yu's wife) (虞姬; ...

DVD Editions

*Japanese R2 (No English Subtitles) *Korean R3 (English Subtitles) *Hong Kong R3 (Japanese dialogue, English / Full Chinese subtitles)

Festivals

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the largest publicly attended film festivals in the world, attracting over 480,000 people annually. Since its founding in 1976, TIFF has grown to become a permane ...

, 1998 *

Pusan International Film Festival The Busan International Film Festival (BIFF, previously Pusan International Film Festival, PIFF), held annually in Haeundae-gu, Busan (''also'' Pusan), South Korea, is one of the most significant film festivals in Asia. The first festi ...

, 1998

Awards

*1998 Pusan International Film Festival: Audience Award

References

External links

* 1998 films Japanese film stubs 1990s Japanese films 1990s Japanese-language films Films directed by Shunji Iwai {{1990s-Japan-film-stub