Biwa no mi-machi

枇杷の実待ち

A documentary capturing the daily life of an 88-year-old woman living alone—a woman who still cherishes, 70 years later, the girls' school she attended in her youth, as well as the piano and the Christian faith she discovered there. The school building where I spent my junior high and high school years had grown old—standing for 70 years—and was slated for demolition. To bid it farewell, I returned to the school for the first time in about 20 years and began to film. There, I met Natsuko-san, an alumna who had enrolled the year after the Great Kanto Earthquake. She spoke of playing the piano in the school’s newly built chapel, and then began to play once more. As her fingers moved across the keys, memories came flooding back... For over 70 years, that school, the piano, and her Christian faith have served as the pillars of her heart.