Dear Keiko,
how are you?
It's nearing the end of December,
so I'm sure Tokyo must look gay and fun because Christmas is coming.
But all I do
is shovel snow every day.
And even if we do shovel,
I don't think Santa Claus will come all the way up here.
Since Aunty Yukiko left for Tokyo
and because Dad is still logging,
we go to the Nakahatas
after school gets out.
We go straight from school with Sumie to the Nakahata's house.
We study together
and wait for our dads to come home.
But the Nakahatas have a T.V.
Watching the T.V. again?
Did you all finish your homework?
It's going to be winter break soon.
Don't you have to study for test?
You can't watch T.V. until supper.
Sumie's mother is strict.
But
she's a very good cook.
I know I shouldn't say this,
but she makes stuff that's a lot facnier than Aunty Yukiko ever did.
I guess that's because she's a housewife.
It made me remember my mom.
Nakahata residence.
Uncle?
I'm fine.
Just a minute. I'll get mom.
Who is it?
It's Uncle Mitsuo from Tokyo!
It is?
Hello? This is Mizue.
When?
Really? And what'd you have?
A girl?
Congratulations!
How's Toshiko?
I'm so happy for you.
Yes.
I'll have him call as soon as he gets home.
All right.
Bye.
Aunty had a baby?
That's right. A girl.
What's her name?
They haven't named her yet.
Little Mitsuo has a kid now?
You used to make him cry all the time when he was little.
I never did that!
Did you, Uncle?
No, it was Okamura.
But he was behind all the schemes.
He was the bad guy!
But
that guy heard you were working at a petrol station in Tokyo...
Do you remember the time...
You should hurry and call Grandma.
I forgot.
He forgets all the time these days.
You do, too, Mom.
I do?
Because she's getting old.
Stupid, watch it.
Hello, I am ... Is aunty there?
I wonder what happened to Aunty Yukiko?
Think she'll be home by Christmas?
Since Aunty's not home,
Sota doesn't come either.
Hey
I wonder if Aunty's really going to come home?
I'm pretty sure...
Jun?
What's wrong?
Nothing.
I'm pretty sure
Aunty's
not coming back home.
I was beginning to think
about a
particular thing then.
It was the telephone at the Nakahata's house.
As soon as Uncle got home,
he called Tokyo.
The other end of the line was Tokyo.
All you had to do was dial the numbers.
I remembered
that dream I had of Mom.
Jun?
I can't call you from here.
But the telephone is a wonderful thing.
So that's it.
We don't have a phone here, so Mom can't call us.
But
I can call her.
There's too much snow in the forest
and we can't go to fetch water anymore
so Dad goes alone these days.
Dad gets up early in the morning
to do it and then goes out to the mountains to log.
And we headed straight
for the Nakahatas as soon as school got out as usual.
But I started thinking more and more
about the telephone.
What's wrong?
Nothing.
Can you learn how to ski right away?
Depends on how athletic you are.
Jun won't be able to do it.
Maybe not.
Probably easier to balance if he has shorter legs.
It wasn't just at the Nakahata's house.
I couldn't take my eyes off the phone at school either.
The lady lawyer called Mom
that day and told me to talk to her.
But I ran out without doing it.
I'm sure Mom's mad about that.
I did something a child shouldn't do.
Where are Aunty and everyone?
Shopping.
Hello!
No one's here.
So you're here.
No one's here.
Someone is. You.
You're right. I'm here.
If no one was here, you wouldn't be either.
True...logically...
Logic or not. It's true.
Yes.
Oh yes.
Is she still gone?
Who?
Yukiko.
Yes.
She's not coming home?
She said she was.
But...
I don't know.
Rose Beauty Salon.
Hello.
May I speak to Mrs. Kuroita Reiko please?
Just a minute, please.
I called Mom "Mrs."
You have a phone call.
Thank you for waiting. This is Kuroita.
Hello? Who is this please?
Hello?
Strange...
Hello?
Who is this please?
Hello?
Strange...
Hey Jun! How've you been?
Sota came for the first time in awhile the next day.
Has she contacted you at all?
Aunty Yukiko?
No, she has not.
Didn't she tell you she'd be home soon?
I think she may not come home.
Why?
Just a hunch.
But my hunches are pretty accurate.
You have a pretty mean streak.
He has a point.
Didn't you tell me once?
What?
That Yukiko
had someone before?
Did I?
Yes, you did!
Now, now. Don't get so worked up.
What kind of guy
was he?
How old?
What does he do?
How long were they seeing each other?
Don't mock adults!
I'm not.
First you say one thing then another.
Kids these days!
I'm just a kid so I don't know anything.
Come on, tell me what's going on.
Is she still with him?
Do you think she's with him in Tokyo?
Come on, Jun. Please tell me.
The logging in the mountains finished that day.
There was a party for the workers and their families
at the Nakahata's.
We were invited to the feast, too.
ls the sake ready?
I'll take it in right now.
Please hurry.
And have you seen Jun?
No, I haven't.
I wonder where he went?
Is the sake ready yet?
We'll bring it right in.
Ok.
Everyone please sing along.
The lonely moon
in the alleyway...
Rose Beauty Salon.
I'd like to speak to Kuroita Reiko please.
May I ask who this is?
Hello?
Yes.
Just a minute please.
Hello?
Jun?
It's you, isn't it, Jun?
Hello?
Is that you, Jun?
Are you all right?
I was worried about you.
Where are you now?
In Uncle Nakahata's office.
I'll call you back right away. Give me the number there.
That's okay.
But you're at someone else's house.
Is someone else there? Is Hotaru with you?
No one's here. I'm alone.
Where's Hotaru?
Is she all right, too?
Yes.
It must be cold up there.
Is it snowing?
How long will you be in school?
Mom.
Yes?
I'll call back.
Wait...!
I'll call back again,
because someone will come.
Please.
Please call.
Bye.
Wait, Jun!
I'm so happy.
You've made me so happy.
Thank you very much, Jun.
Really thank you so much!
Bye.
Jun!
I thought he'd take a break after logging,
But the next morning,
Dad went into the forest and started something new.
I think Dad
wanted us to help,
but I told him we had to study.
I took Hotaru and kept going to the Nakahata's house.
I lied when I said we needed to study.
We were helping to decorate the house for Christmas.
Keiko?
It's because Dad hasn't
even thought about Christmas.
You're both here, too?
Thank you for having us.
Don't you have to help your dad work?
No, we don't.
Why not? He was counting on you.
Manual labor is too much for us.
Not everything's manual labor, you know.
But he didn't say anything to us.
We're going over to help.
We'll give you a ride.
No, thank you.
Give me that one.
I see.
The truth is,
I had a secret plan.
It was to
call Mom secretly again
and let her talk to Hotaru.
But
if I told her ahead of time, she'd feel obligated
to Dad and say no.
Jun.
Here.
Can I ask you to watch the house for me?
Ok.
I'm going out to the pig shed with Sumie.
Ok.
I'll leave it to you. So beautiful.
This was my chance!
Jun?
I wonder what Dad's doing in the forest?
Shouldn't we be helping him?
Where're you going?
I'll be back.
Hotaru!
Hurry and come!
What?
Get on the phone.
Who is it?
Hello.
Hotaru!?
Are you all right?
Do you know who this is? It's Mom.
It's Mom,
Hotaru!
Can you hear me?
Hello!
Hotaru!
Sorry.
But I did it to
make you happy.
Hotaru,
are you going to tell Dad?
Sorry.
But after that, Hotaru didn't
talk to me much any more.
It's December 24th, Christmas eve.
Today is the last day of school.
We have a long winter break
until January 20th.
Bye.
Thank you for everything.
Just a minute please.
Acutally, there's something
I wanted to talk to you about.
What is it?
It was yesterday.
What is it?
Class was over and everything had been cleared and put away.
I thought all the children had left.
Just when I was about to go into the teacher's office,
I heard a voice from inside.
Someone talking in a low voice on the telephone.
Hello?
Mom?
It's Hotaru.
I'm fine.
We're all right.
That's not true.
I didn't say anything and hid.
Hotaru hung up soon after
and went out the back door.
It sounded like she was talking to her mother in Tokyo.
I didn't mean to tattle or interfere, but it did happen.
That's all I wanted to say.
Thank you.
I'll pay you for the phone charge later.
You don't have to do that.
Thank you.
Was Jun there?
No, he wasn't.
Was it really
Hotaru?
Not Jun?
That's right.
Thank you.
Dad,
can we go the Nakahatas to celebrate Christamas tongiht?
Great! Let's go Hotaru!
I'm not going.
Why?
I'm not going.
Why!
Not going.
Go on, Hotaru.
Mom! We're hungry!
Coming, coming.
Jun! Hotaru! Let's go, I'll drive you home.
I have food for both you and your dad right here.
Let's go.
Why? Jun and Hotaru were supposed to stay here tonight.
No. Their dad's waiting.
Dad told us we could stay here.
No, you can't.
It may be
okay with your dad but it isn't okay with me.
Every family should celebrate Christmas at their own house.
But Dad doesn't have anything for Christmas and...
Let's go home, Jun.
No, but...
Dad!
Come on and get ready.
This is for your dad.
Thank you.
Do you know what day Christmas is, Hotaru?
I do.
Smart girl. What day is it?
The day Jesus Christ was born.
I'm impressed you know that.
We used to go to Sunday school.
Did you go to Sunday school, too, Jun?
He did.
Really.
Can you sing any Christmas songs?
I can.
Sing one.
There are so many, which one?
Sing any one. With Jun.
What should we sing, Jun?
This one then.
Jun?
Aren't you going to sing?
Bye.
Jun.
Here.
Do you think I'm cold
for taking you away from our party?
But
if you stayed,
what would your dad do all alone at home?
You're a man, aren't you?
You should think about your dad sometimes.
I know you miss your mom, but your dad misses her, too.
The truth is,
your dad's even lonelier than you are.
Because your dad was living with your mom
a lot longer than you.
But he's trying to bear with his loneliness
by working so hard.
He's working
so hard,
it almost brings tears to my eyes.
Are you cold sleeping in that house?
We're cold.
I'm sure you are.
But you're mot frozen. You're still alive.
Do you know why?
Because your dad gets up several times a night
to put wood on the fire so it won't go out.
That's why it stays warm upstairs.
Did you know that?
I didn't know.
Compared to him, you're no good.
You're not doing anything to help your dad.
You don't even work as hard as Hotaru, and she's a girl.
This isn't Tokyo.
Up here, there's no one you can depend on.
Real winter will set in soon.
Then, you'll understand.
If you dad collapses when it comes,
you'll have to be the man of the house.
Understand?
Even if you're a child, you're still a man.
That's how it works in a family up here.
The way you are now
is no good.
Take this. I'm going home.
Uncle's words sounded loud and clear.
Dear Keiko...
Uncle was right.
I'm a man,
but I always whine.
I avoid manual labor as much as I can.
I only use my head
to get my way.
We're home!
Dad?
Skis!
They were Dad's Christmas present to us.
The reason I knew is
because they had our socks on the ends.
Santa Claus is supposed to
put presents in stockings,
but skis are too long to fit.
So it looks like the skis were wearing the socks instead.
Dad?
There's Dad!
Are you cold?
Thank you for the skis.
That night
we went to sleep by Dad next to the wood stove.
Dad?
I have to apologize for something.
For what?
I secretly
called Mom.
At school.
Without telling anyone.
I'm sorry.
I see.
What did Mom say?
She asked if I was all right.
What did you say?
That I'm fine.
I see.
I'm glad.
I'll bet that made Mom happy.
For a second, I almost confessed.
But the timing wasn't right.
I had a dream that night.
I was in the forest at night
and heard some Christmas carols.
Then, I saw a line of people
having a candlelight service.
They came closer singing the whole way.
Dad, Mom and Hotaru
were at the front of the line.
I shouted as loudly as I could,
but they didn't notice me.
All the people passed me
and disappeared into the forest.
Dad,
Mom,
even Hotaru....didn't notice,
and left me behind.