Hakubo tells the story of two young people who live in rural Fukushima: Sachi Koyama, a girl who excels at playing the violin, and Yuusuke Kijinami, a boy who loves to paint. After an awkward, chance encounter, the two meet and begin to fall in love, but Yuusuke is still living in the shadow of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami.
Direction
Yamamoto lets Fukushima's emptiness breathe like a third character.
Score
Sachi's violin becomes dialogue — every note carries unspeakable grief.
Director
Yutaka Yamamoto
Hiyori Sakurada
Sachi Koyama (voice)
Seishirou Katou
Yuusuke Kijinami (voice)
Ayane Sakura
Hii (voice)
Sora Amamiya
Rina (voice)
Kana Hanazawa
Matsumoto (voice)
Daisuke Takahashi
Club Manager (voice)
Hiro Shimono
Noboru Koyama (Sachi's Father) (voice)
Sumi Shimamoto
Satoko Koyama (Sachi's Mother) (voice)
Kaori Fukuhara
Emi Koyama (Sachi's Sister) (voice)
Yuka Otsubo
Okamura (voice)
Sayaka Akaike
Futaba Toono (voice)
Hibiki Torii
Akari Kawamura (voice)
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released eight years after 3/11, Hakubo was part of a wave of Japanese media grappling with Fukushima's cultural amnesia — the government's 'reconstruction' narrative versus lived reality.
Director Yamamoto specifically cast Fukushima-born voice actors for background roles; Seishirou Katou (Yuusuke) recorded some lines in actual evacuated towns. The emptiness you hear is real.
JP
