Tsubu to Toge

[Machine Translation] A man flees his pursuers over the whereabouts of diamonds flown in from Shanghai, recalling his days as an aviator in the sky. A boy gathers vagrant children in similar circumstances and sells them to a farmer in the countryside, believing that this will bring them happiness. A woman works for a picture-story show publishing company and waits for her brother-in-law to return home with her fiance, wondering what freedom means in a country where her father has disappeared. In 1945, with the end of World War II, Japan became an occupied country, and its situation changed drastically. People struggle to survive, even though they have lost everything and sometimes commit crimes. Sometimes miserably, sometimes nobly. These six gems depict the lives of the nameless people who lived through the decade of occupation and reconstruction.

ある男は、上海から空輸されたダイヤモンドの行方をめぐって追手から逃げる―飛行士として空を駆けた日々に思いを馳せながら。ある少年は、みずからと似た境遇の浮浪児を集めて地方の農家に身売りする―それが彼らにとっての幸福に違いないと信じながら。ある女は、紙芝居の出版社で働く傍ら許婚とともに義兄の帰りを待ち続ける―父のいなくなったこの国で自由とは何か悩みながら。一九四五年、第二次世界大戦の終結とともに被占領国となった日本の状況は一変した。あらゆるものを失い、時に犯罪に手を染めてもなお、生きるために人々はもがく。惨めにも、時に気高く。占領と復興の十年を駆け抜けた名もなき人々の生を描破する珠玉の六編。