is a

Japanese television drama , also called , are television programs that are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, jidaigeki, thrill ...

which originally aired on Nippon Television (NTV) on August 25, 2008. Directed by Nozomu Amamiya and with a screenplay by Yō Takeyama, it starred

Etsuko Ichihara was a Japanese actress. She appeared in over 100 films. Biography She graduated from Waseda University School of Letters and Art and Sciences with B.A. degree. Ichihara was a member of the Haiyuza theater troupe from 1957 to 1971. She won an ...

and

Karina Nose (born February 21, 1984) is a Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan throu ...

. The production won a TV Drama Award at the 2008 Festival of the Arts of the Japanese Agency for Cultural Affairs ().

Plot

The story takes place in Maoka City,

Karafuto Karafuto Prefecture ( ja, 樺太庁, ''Karafuto-chō''; russian: Префектура Карафуто, Prefektura Karafuto), commonly known as South Sakhalin, was a prefecture of Japan located in Sakhalin from 1907 to 1949. Karafuto became ter ...

, Japan (Currently

Kholmsk Kholmsk (russian: Холмск), known until 1946 as Maoka ( ja, 真岡), is a port town and the administrative center of Kholmsky District of Sakhalin Oblast, Russia. It is located on the southwest coast of the Sakhalin Island, on coast of the g ...

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

) during the final year of the Pacific War. Nine telephone operators in Maoka took their own lives by taking potassium cyanide when the Soviet Union invaded the city on August 20, 1945. The TV drama is based on this incident and is partially fictional (names of the characters, etc.).

Cast

as Nakamura Mizue (age 82) ** Mayuko Fukuda as Mizue (age 15-19) *

as Inoue Aiko *

Miho Shiraishi is a Japanese actress from Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Filmography Film * ''Shiroi Fune'' (2002) * '' Swing Girls'' (2004) ''as Yayoi Itami'' * ''Densha Otoko'' (2005) ''cameo'' * ''The Harimaya Bridge'' (2009) ''as Kayo Takeuchi'' * ''Halfway ...

as Misa Yamazaki *

Yui Ichikawa , is an actress and model from Tokyo, Japan. She is also known by her nickname, ''Yui-nyan''. As an actress she has appeared in several dramas (''doramas''), and in recent years she has concentrated more on her film career. She played a minor ...

as Nakajima Sakura *

Risa Kudō , also known as Lisa Kudō is a Japanese actress and gravure idol. She was born on October 4, 1983, in Kanagawa, Japan. Life and career Kudō began her entertainment career as a "gravure" (non-nude) model in several DVD releases in 2005 and 2006. S ...

as Yoshiko Inoue *

Osamu Mukai is a Japanese actor. He was born in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan. He graduated from Meiji University. Early life He was born in Isogo-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture and went to Hama Junior high school (浜中学校) and Hitorizawa High scho ...

* Nakamura Shidō * Hitomi Satō * Ayaka Ikezawa as Akane Kawashima * Asuka Shibuya * Natsuko as Tiyo Sato * Yūko Natori * Ayumi Sakamoto

Background

The

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

's occupation of

is a very sensitive topic and controversial in both

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

and Japan due to the previous border dispute between the two countries. A 1974 movie titled '' Karafuto 1945 Summer Hyosetsu no Mon'' (樺太1945年夏氷雪の門) portrayed the event as an invasion by the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

that claimed the lives of thousands. However, due to political pressure from the Soviet Union, the Japanese government intervened and banned the movie from being aired and sold. ''Kiri no Hi'' caused less political uproar from Russia due to the movie's insistence as "fiction" and it did not focus on the Red Army's brutal actions but instead talked about

world peace World peace, or peace on Earth, is the concept of an ideal state of peace within and among all people and nations on Planet Earth. Different cultures, religions, philosophies, and organizations have varying concepts on how such a state would ...

. At the end, the granddaughter of the survivor of the Soviet offensive pointed at

and said, "Grandma, look, it's Sakhalin", with a big smile, instead of calling the island by its Japanese name of Karafuto, which hinted that the Japanese people were to move on from the past and go forward despite their conflict with the Russians.

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, 1303752
Official Site
2008 television films 2008 films Japanese drama television series World War II television drama series Films set in Sakhalin