"Wanna know a secret?". Lan, the new, quiet girl in class gives Mie and Hana an origami rabbit. In the rabbit's folds hides a treasure map. Answering riddles one by one leads Mie and Hana to an adventure through Naha, a city shared by the old and the new, children and grownups. Between Lan's lies and truths, the two find a great treasure hidden in the City.

Through Kumiodori (traditional Okinawan musical theater) “Hanaui-nu-en”, this film tells a story of performers working to preserve, sustain, and further develop the traditional Ryukyuan performing arts. The film portrays young successors of the traditional arts applying themselves devotedly to cultivate their skills. The entire cast of this film consists of actual performers, who relate the process of how Kumiodori is created, as well as the meaning of the subtle theatrical motions and postures.

Meiling Lan, an actress from Taiwan, comes to Okinawa looking forward to a vacation stay at a high-class resort to relieve herself of job stress. But the place she reserved, “KAFUU”, was a guesthouse similar only in name to a high-end hotel. The guesthouse was run by just three people, quiet Ai and talkative Satoru, and Oba (old lady), the brisk guesthouse owner. Meiling’s hopes for a dream vacation is shattered to pieces…

Asuka, a fledgling actress from Tokyo, visits Aka Island, one of the outlying islands of Okinawa in the southern seas of Japan. Jo, a junior school student and the son of the guesthouse owner, is uncomfortable being in front of an actress who he has seen only on TV; yet he is asked to take Asuka on a tour of the island. While walking the island, Asuka sees a Kerama deer, a natural treasure. As she listens to Jo’s father tell the story about the Kerama deer, Asuka has flashbacks of harsh words of her co-workers and becomes depressed. Life on the island with Jo gradually changes Asuka’s outlook.

The son who left home several years ago returns to the island to report his engagement with a woman he met in Tokyo. The film comically portrays marriage in Okinawa through battles between the son and mother, and the bride-to-be who is tasked to help out with ukui*, a traditional Okinawan event, to be accepted as a member of the Okinawan family.

*Ukui… A ritual to see off the ancestral spirits back to the other world on the last day of Obon (a festival to honor the spirit of the ancestors).

Akane is a yuta* living with her mother and son. One day, her seven-year-old son disappears. Akane cannot accept the loss of her son, when a woman visits and asks Akane to find her missing son. Akane is forced to leave her secluded world and face reality.

*Yuta… A magico-religious professional who delivers divine messages and conducts medicinal rites through direct contact and communication with divine spirits, the spirit of the dead, and other supernatural beings. (Source: The Okinawa Encyclopedia)

The goat, raised with care for the son’s wedding, runs away and meets a young boy.
The story takes place in a hamlet in Yanbaru, where old Okinawan scenery still remains. A goat, carefully raised by an old man for his son’s wedding celebration, runs away on the day of the wedding, causing an upheaval in the village. As the goat runs away in frenzy, what it sees is the beautiful scenery of Okinawa. The goat meets a young boy, and becomes aware of its own fate…

In a tranquil farming village of Yanbaru, Okinawa, surrounded by lush nature, there lived a girl that loved vegetables dearly. The young girl worked hard from early morning in the fields of Yanbaru. Her name was Ai: an honest and modest girl who loved farming. Her daily routine was to work out in the field with Oba (grandma). But after work, she transforms! At Club YANBARU, a highly popular club in Naha City, she appears on the crowded dance floor as Harusa Ai and dances away. She defeats flirty men in drinking matches, and continues to dance…. And the next morning, rubbing her sleepy eyes, Ai heads towards the field with a hoe in her hand.

A story about the exchanges between the local residents and a postman newly assigned to rural Okinawa. This first live film directed by CG creator Toshihiko Nohara depicts the typical slow and laid-back life in Okinawa, with fukugi trees, red tile roofs, and ordinary Okinawan people. While seemingly familiar, Nohara’s portrayal of Okinawa throughout the film somehow causes viewers to feel estranged. The indescribable, slight perceptual gap exemplifies Toshihiko Nohara’s views of Okinawa.