Michiko Kawai

Two sisters Tae and Yo come back to their old house which is soon to be torn down. Clearing up the family mementos, Tae finds a red box full of recipes and letters written by their mother who died 20 years ago. In these recipes and letters, she finds out how her mother had struggled in her life due to relocation from Japan to Taiwan, the death of her Taiwanese husband, and a battle with cancer. Tae travels to Taiwan to trace her mother's past, reminiscing about the dishes she made for the family.

Tokyo Family Court judicial research official Akira Yamanobo is in charge of Tetsuo and Ayano Katase's divorce arbitration. Ayano, the wife, who works for a boutique company, insists her husband is involved with another woman. Supported by her employer Kotomi Saegusa, the company president, she demands a divorce as soon as possible. On the other hand, her husband Tetsuo, a trading professional, denies having a relationship with a woman. He says he will not agree to the divorce and does not plan to let his only son Kenta go, so the arbitration continues. According to Akira's investigation, Ayano gave birth to Kenta as a single mother five years ago when she was working as a hospital clerk, making him Tetsuo's stepson. Tetsuo loves Kenta as his own child, so Akira doesn't understand why Ayano is so insistent on getting a divorce. However, Tetsuo's insistence on not giving up custody of his stepson Kenta is also very unusual.

Based on the comic book by Marie Abiko.

10-year-old Shigeki, owns his own room for the first time. From his room, he sees a girl living in a big hill top house. Shigeki instantly fell in love with the girl. Her name was Yayoi. Shigeki buys a telescope with the help of his father and starts watching her. But after a while, Shigeki has to move away. He wrote a love letter to Yayoi, put it in her post and left town. Shigeki grew up and still watching Yayoi.

The body of a 59-year-old male is found on the banks of a river. The stepson, Kazuo, confesses to his involvement but also implicates his estranged sister Nami. Two detectives, Okishima Keisuke and Kono Kaoru, then travel to the resort district of Beppu to stake out the house of Nami's ex-lover. They feel he may also be implicated in the murder and are certain that Nami will make contact. The detectives now wait.

Twelve year old Sei has hit puberty and is quickly becoming sexually aware, sometimes not as privately as he'd like; erections in school and other inopportune times plague him. He talks about it with his school friends, Kinta and Nyanko, in between their feuding over the affections of classmate Yumi, but can't figure out what to do about it.

O-Shin is a young brothel worker who, one night, helps a young samurai escape from his pursuers. Against the warnings of her fellow workers, particularly Kikuno and the brothel's owner, O-Shin falls in love with the samurai.

Sleeping Bride is the story of a girl, Yumi, who since birth, has never been awake. A boy called Yuuichi finds the girl in the hospital while he is a patient there. A nurse remarks that the girl is 'Sleeping Beauty', and Yuuichi believes that a kiss from a prince will wake her, just like the story. Yuuichi returns to see Yumi every day, says 'Wake up, I'm the prince' and kisses her. Ten years later he restarts his daily ritual to see Yumi, one day she wakes up.

A salaryman faces a major life change as his firm undergoes financial difficulties. To add to his troubles, a man claiming to be his long-estranged father shows up at his house requesting shelter. One of the best of Somai's seriocomic studies of the messiness of family life.

Based on the comic by Hiroyuki Yasuda