By Kanae Takagi

I watched the movie "A Tale of Mari and Her Three Puppies" at Sapporo-Cinema Frontier on January 17. The story is about a dog Mari and her puppies who are separated from their master by the quake-scarred region in Japan's Nigata Prefecture. They endure many trials, such as being attacked by crows, scrounging for food, falling into a river from a bridge and being exposed to wind and rain until they finally find their master. This movie is based on a true story. The affection between parents and children is described through this family of dogs. Many parents and children watched this movie, but I was surprised that many children cried as they watched. Children watched this movie and were sincerely moved. Children understand the genuine the affection between parent and child.

"A Tale of Mari and Her Three Puppies" describes the affection between parent and child, but recently there is news where someone is killed by a family member, for example, a girl killed her father with a hand ax last September in Kyoto, and a boy set fire to his house killing his mother and a sibling this January in Aomori prefecture. What is family? The family is the focus of the movie "ALWAYS Part��-The Setting Sun on 3rd Avenue."

I watched "ALWAYS Part��-The Setting Sun on 3rd Avenue" in the same theater on January 10. Most of the viewers were elderly. The story takes place in Tokyo in 1959. This movie describes the lives of people living at 3rd Avenue, Yuhi-chou, in the old part of Tokyo. Mr. Chagawa, for example, is an author and he wants to win the Akutagawa Award, and the Suzuki family runs Suzuki Auto. This movie describes two "families." First, there is the relationship between the Suzuki family and Mika-chan who is a family relative and who lives off the Suzuki family. Mika-chan can't adapt herself to the Suzuki family because she was brought up like a princess. However, she opens herself up to the Suzuki family because they receive her warmly. Recently, relatives outside of the immediate family rarely live in the same house.

Second is the relationship between Mr. Chagawa and Jynnosuke-kun who lives with Mr. Chagawa and Miss Hiromi, who is a dancer. Jynnosuke-kun supports Mr. Chagawa. Miss Hiromi likes Mr. Chagawa, but she thinks she doesn't suit him because she is a dancer. Mr. Chagawa is working hard to win the Akutagawa Award because if he doesn't win the award Jynnosuke-kun must leave and go back to his father. They are considerate to each other and do their best for each other.

Many things can be learned from "A Tale of Mari and Three Puppies" and "ALWAYS Part��-The Setting Sun on 3rd Avenue." In "A Tale of Mari and Her Three Puppies," Mari struggles to protect her puppies. Therefore, this demonstrates how we can love our family and protect them, too. The movie "ALWAYS Part��-The Setting Sun on 3rd Avenue," shows that if even people aren't related by blood they can become like a family if they really want to. Therefore, we should remember that we can love our family and love other people like family just as they do in this movie.