09 March 2015

ここにある幸せ Koko ni Aru Shiawase


Title: ここにある幸せ Koko ni Aru Shiawase
English Title: Happiness is Here
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
Year: 2015
Episode: 01
Cast:
  • 松田翔太 Matsuda Shota
  • 宮本信子 Miyamoto Nobuko
  • 中村繪里子 Nakamura Eriko
  • 相澤侑我 Aizawa Yuga
  • 瀬口広幸 Seguchi Hiroyuki
  • 小川たける Ogawa Takeru



SYNOPSIS
Tachikawa Hiroyuki works as a consumer electric store clerk in Akihabara, Tokyo. His boss is unhappy that a slacker like him collapses under the rigorous workload, when other employees cope with the harsh working conditions. Hiroyuki quits his job, although he doesn't know what else to do.

Hiroyuki lives with his girlfriend Takahashi Chieko, but she is fed up with his aimless way of living. She tells him to get out of the apartment.

With no job holding him back and an angry girlfriend who told him to go away, Hiroyuki goes to the small port town Tsuyazaki, located in Fukuoka prefecture in the Kyushu region. He's always wanted to go there ever since he became friends with someone who was from Tsuyazaki when he was in grade school.

As he walks around Tsuyazaki, Hiroyuki meets Handa Fukuko, a cheerful and talkative old lady who offers to show him around town.



REVIEW
Koko ni Aru Shiawase is a drama about a young man who finds the happiness and contentment he craves that he couldn't find anywhere else. He meets an inspiring individual who shows him many things, and who teaches him how to be happy.

I sometimes feel like Tachikawa Hiroyuki; lost and confused and overwhelmed. I can't help feeling as if there's something more that should be there but wasn't, as if there's something better coming along but I just don't know when, as if what I have or what I am is not enough and never will be enough.

Which is why, like Hiroyuki, I think Handa Fukuko is such an awesome person. She's been through a lot of difficult times throughout her lifetime, but she remains cheerful and optimistic. It's really amazing that she continues to live her life to the fullest.

I think she's admirable for even learning how to paint when she was already 60 years old. She doesn't let old age stop her from doing things she wants to do, and I wish I could be just like her when I am older.

Fukuko was born somewhere else, but she has lived in the small town of Tsuyazaki in Fukuoka prefecture ever since she got married. Although Tsuyazaki is not her hometown in the sense that it was where she was born or where she grew up, it is her hometown in the sense that is is her fixed or principal residence. Tsuyazaki is where she feels at home.




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ここにある幸せ Koko ni Aru Shiawase