The Bento on a Hot Summer's Day

There used to be a family of four living in a certain housing complex.
The father who is a businessman, the mother who is working as a part-time cashier at a supermarket, the 9 year-old elder daughter Yuuna, and the 4 year-old younger daughter Naho.
On a certain morning in the early summer just before everybody takes summer break, encouraged by her mother, Yuuna prepares box lunch for her family for the first time in her life.
She challenges to make rolled omelet and packs vegetables and sausages in the boxes.
Her father and mother are very proud of the growth of their daughter.
During the breakfast, the mother asks the father a favor but the conversation leads to the discussion about the financial situation that concerns the future of their daughters.
Their opinions conflict and the conversation escalates into a big argument.
Meanwhile, Yuuna encourages herself to take a certain action.


Setting the location in the housing complex which was built between 1960 and 1970 during the period of high economic growth in Japan, I wrote a short story of a usual morning of one family of four.
This film is intendedly written with a structure where the audience can empathize with one of the characters depending on in which position in their family they find themselves.
With such an approach I tried to visualize the problems that exist in “family” which is a smallest unit of society, which can lead us to think about the challenges that ordinary families have to overcome.

Director: YUSUKE ISHIDE

Country: Japan