The Blue Bird

Higashigaoka Junior High School is in turmoil. Last term a pupil named Noguchi was bullied. The boy tried to take his own life. On the first day of the new term a substitute teacher arrives. His name is Murauchi and he will take the second year class. The pupils are surprised as he introduces himself. There is a stammer in the man’s speech. Because he cannot speak smoothly, he speaks plainly. His first instruction to the class is about a desk. He has Noguchi’s desk and chair put back in their place. Every morning he says good morning to that empty desk. The act spreads beyond the classroom. Teachers and parents are made uncomfortable by it. Murauchi does not give it up. Hiroshi Abe and Kanata Hongo appear in the hundred and five minute film, a Japanese production Kenji Nakanishi finished in 2008.