Motoki Masahiro, Hirosue Ryoko, Yo Kimiko, Sugimoto Tetta, Minegishi Tōru, Yoshiyuki Kazuko, Sasano Takashi, Yamazaki Tsutomu. Originally released in 2008 as a motion picture. Special features: interview with director Yôjirô Takita.
Summary:
Daigo Kobayashi is a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and finds himself without a job. He decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled 'Departures' thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency. He discovers that the job is actually for a 'Nokanshi' or 'encoffineer,' a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.