It’s not the Japan of the postcards, the lights of the Shibuya crossing, the one represented gracefully by Sofia Coppola, not even the slightly stereotyped one of the anime or of authors like Takashi Miike, neither it is close to Shinya Tsukamoto's crazy and explosive narratives: Hirokazu Kore'eda's cinema looks elsewhere, in the apparently less glaring corners, in the anonymous alleyways where millions of Japanese spend their lives day after day.
And yet, just like everywhere else in the world, it is not under the spotlight that the most authentic soul of a people is hidden and the sometimes incredible stories that dot the everyday are often more noble and profound than the most alluring reconstructions that are made of them.