I just re-watched the Japanese show “Love Letter”. I remember watching it many years back when it was screening at the old Picturehouse. That time when I watched the show, I was really touched. I remember wanting to visit the places in Japan that were the filming locations of the movie.
When I went to Japan in 2006, I totally forgot about the show. But that time when I went to Japan, it was a trip by my mum to cheer me up, and there were just too many things on my mind, so other things took a backslide. I did not even remember calling on my penpal the last time round!
Then when I went to Japan last year, we saw from a tourist brochure that several places in Otaru were the filming sites of the show. The first time round when I went to Hokkaido, we went to Otaru but I could hardly see the resemblance. In any case, a place looks different in the summer than in the winter.
So I decided to get the VCD and re-watch the show. It is still so touching even though I am watching it for the second time! The show started out with a girl (Watanabe Hiroko) at the anniversary of her late fiance’s death. She was at his grave with his parents and drove his mum home. The mother told her stories of his school days in Hokkaido, and that they lived in Otaru before moving to Kyoto. However, their old house in Otaru had since been torn down and now a highway runs over it.
To keep the memories of her fiancé alive, she found his name in the year book (Fujii Itsuki) and copied down the address. For some reason, she wrote to the address. Her letter stated, “Dear Fujii-san, How are you? I am fine.” The address she copied down was not that of her late fiancé but of a girl of the same name, who coincidentally looks a lot like her. When the female Fujii Itsuki received the letter, she was bewildered. To pique her curiosity, she wrote back.
Hiroko was shocked she received a reply, so went to her fiance’s best friend and confided in him. After exchanging a few more letters, she and the friend decided to go up to Otaru to clear up the mystery for themselves. It was winter, so there was snow everywhere. Through some incidences, she realized that the one she was corresponding with is a female, and alive and kicking. She happened to be the high school classmate of the male Fujii Itsuki.
Thus they started corresponding, with the female Itsuki telling Hiroko what she could remember of the male Itsuki during school days. Hiroko realisesd that she looks a lot like the female Itsuki, and wondered if her late fiancé fell for her because of that reason, as she suspected he actually liked his female classmate of the same name. At the end of the show, Hiroko managed to let go of her past memories and moved on in her life, while the female Itsuki realized that her male classmate of the same name did like her after all, and was too embarrassed to tell Hiroko about that.
It is a very heartwarming show. The title “Love Letter” refers to the letters exchanged by the two girls, but the symbolism goes much deeper than that. In real life, letter writing is useful, to keep in touch, to tell people you love them, to apologise. Nowadays, everyone uses email, who really writes letters in this time and age?
But I am for the old-fashioned way. Somehow emails are just too impersonal. Of course emails are a good way to keep in contact, and instantaneous too. People can talk to each other just using emails alone. But at times, I do still like to write letters, on cute scented paper. It is the presentation and the nice thought that people actually take the trouble and time to pen down words.
Somehow handwritten words speak a lot. The American author Nicholas Sparks and his wife fell in love while exchanging letters with each other. My ex and I used to keep in contact while any of us were overseas by writing letters and exchanging them when we saw each other again. In olden days, people would write letters in order to court a girl.
Call me old-fashioned or sappy or romantic or hopeless, but I still like writing letters. Except now in order to flow with the trend, a mere email or even instant messaging will do. But if I ever fall in love again, I will definitely write letters to him, love poems, terms of endearment, whatever couples do. That is how I used to keep my love alive, and letter-writing works almost all times!
When I went to Japan in 2006, I totally forgot about the show. But that time when I went to Japan, it was a trip by my mum to cheer me up, and there were just too many things on my mind, so other things took a backslide. I did not even remember calling on my penpal the last time round!
Then when I went to Japan last year, we saw from a tourist brochure that several places in Otaru were the filming sites of the show. The first time round when I went to Hokkaido, we went to Otaru but I could hardly see the resemblance. In any case, a place looks different in the summer than in the winter.
So I decided to get the VCD and re-watch the show. It is still so touching even though I am watching it for the second time! The show started out with a girl (Watanabe Hiroko) at the anniversary of her late fiance’s death. She was at his grave with his parents and drove his mum home. The mother told her stories of his school days in Hokkaido, and that they lived in Otaru before moving to Kyoto. However, their old house in Otaru had since been torn down and now a highway runs over it.
To keep the memories of her fiancé alive, she found his name in the year book (Fujii Itsuki) and copied down the address. For some reason, she wrote to the address. Her letter stated, “Dear Fujii-san, How are you? I am fine.” The address she copied down was not that of her late fiancé but of a girl of the same name, who coincidentally looks a lot like her. When the female Fujii Itsuki received the letter, she was bewildered. To pique her curiosity, she wrote back.
Hiroko was shocked she received a reply, so went to her fiance’s best friend and confided in him. After exchanging a few more letters, she and the friend decided to go up to Otaru to clear up the mystery for themselves. It was winter, so there was snow everywhere. Through some incidences, she realized that the one she was corresponding with is a female, and alive and kicking. She happened to be the high school classmate of the male Fujii Itsuki.
Thus they started corresponding, with the female Itsuki telling Hiroko what she could remember of the male Itsuki during school days. Hiroko realisesd that she looks a lot like the female Itsuki, and wondered if her late fiancé fell for her because of that reason, as she suspected he actually liked his female classmate of the same name. At the end of the show, Hiroko managed to let go of her past memories and moved on in her life, while the female Itsuki realized that her male classmate of the same name did like her after all, and was too embarrassed to tell Hiroko about that.
It is a very heartwarming show. The title “Love Letter” refers to the letters exchanged by the two girls, but the symbolism goes much deeper than that. In real life, letter writing is useful, to keep in touch, to tell people you love them, to apologise. Nowadays, everyone uses email, who really writes letters in this time and age?
But I am for the old-fashioned way. Somehow emails are just too impersonal. Of course emails are a good way to keep in contact, and instantaneous too. People can talk to each other just using emails alone. But at times, I do still like to write letters, on cute scented paper. It is the presentation and the nice thought that people actually take the trouble and time to pen down words.
Somehow handwritten words speak a lot. The American author Nicholas Sparks and his wife fell in love while exchanging letters with each other. My ex and I used to keep in contact while any of us were overseas by writing letters and exchanging them when we saw each other again. In olden days, people would write letters in order to court a girl.
Call me old-fashioned or sappy or romantic or hopeless, but I still like writing letters. Except now in order to flow with the trend, a mere email or even instant messaging will do. But if I ever fall in love again, I will definitely write letters to him, love poems, terms of endearment, whatever couples do. That is how I used to keep my love alive, and letter-writing works almost all times!
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