Haru tono tabi (2010)

Tadao lived in Mashike, Hokkaido. As a young man, he had left Kesennuma, Miyagi Prefecture, to work as a fisherman, dreaming of making a fortune from the herring fishery and building a grand “herring mansion.” But things had not gone as planned. Now old and unable to walk properly, he depended on his granddaughter Haru, who lived with him and looked after him. Tadao had outlived his wife; his daughter—Haru’s mother—had killed herself after divorcing her husband. He had no close friends, and Haru was the only person around him he could rely on. One day, Haru lost her job and began thinking about working in Tokyo. Unable to leave Tadao, whose legs were disabled, alone in Mashike, the two set out on a journey to find somewhere for him to live, visiting his siblings and relatives in his hometown of Kesennuma, as well as in Naruko and Sendai. But both Tadao and his siblings were stubborn and awkward, and none of the discussions went well. Haru had been avoiding the father who abandoned her mother, but seeing how Tadao and his relatives were struggling to make their way in life, despite their awkwardness, changed her feelings. Before returning to Mashike, she decided to visit her father, who lived in Shizunai.