Letter collection section Updated October 9th

Let's talk about "Welcome Back Mone" together! 20th

Letters Corner 2021/09/27

On September 9rd, the "Okaeri Mone" Fan Appreciation Event was held in Kesennuma! I applied for the event but unfortunately lost... Those who were able to go were lucky.
The program will be broadcast on NHK General TV in the six Tohoku prefectures from 6:10 on Saturday, October 2nd, and nationwide from 8:15 on Sunday, October 10th (late Saturday night).

Now let's introduce the letters! I'm Sayumi in charge of this section.

Letters introduced in this section may also be introduced on Kesennuma's community FM station, "Radio Kesennuma." Letters sent to the radio may also be introduced here.
There are also apps that allow you to listen to radio stations from all over the country, so please see the last explanation for more details.

This issue's letter

Sansei made up his mind to become a monk, Ryochin gave the first clipping, and his father Shusui gave the final clipping, and a fine monk was born.
And I felt the "power of unity" of Kamejima in the "power of hometown" of the people of Kamejima who lend a hand when they are in trouble, and in the local government official Yuto. I always end up coming back to these words. The story of Monet-san and Mi-chan was also carefully drawn, and it was a week that made me cry. How will the horn be played tomorrow? I hope it will lead to the Kesennuma chapter in a good way. (Umakkoyama)

That clipper scene really touched me. There was a slightly funny atmosphere, but I could also feel Mitsuo's determination. I liked how Koji entrusted the young people with his hopes for the future.

▲Hair-cutting ceremony

We received a lot of letters about that scene!

This week he finally proposed! Suganami did a great job! Monet was so pretty listening to him!
But there are so many other things I want to write about... First, there's the hair-cutting ceremony for Misao. His childhood friend cut his hair little by little, and then his father... I couldn't help but cry when I saw Hide-san, who must have been holding back his tears up until that point, burst into tears of emotion.
And then there was a conversation between Mi-chan and Monet. It didn't seem like she was completely satisfied yet, but it seemed like Mi-chan, who seems to have secured a position next to Ryo over the past three years, has found some room in her heart. I hope the two sisters can work together to liven up the island from now on.
Lastly, Miyata's horn. I've always wondered why neither Monet nor Koji have touched an instrument since the disaster, so I'm looking forward to a scene in the Kesennuma episode where they play music together again. With one more month to go, I want to savor every bite, like a candy that's reaching the bottom of the tin. (Saiun)

Thank you, Saiun-san. You summarized the highlights of last week!
The story of "Mee-chan and Ryo-chin" has not been depicted since then, so I don't know what happened to them, but I definitely felt that they were in the "position next to each other"! I also thought it was surprising but reliable when Mee-chan told Monet, "Let's liven up Kesennuma together."
I'm also looking forward to a music scene at the end! I used to be in a brass band, so maybe we could play together! But, well, if there isn't a music scene, I'll just do it alone...

When we saw the advection fog on the Kitakami River, Asaoka said to me, "The fog will clear up someday," and I think that this was the answer to the final scene of today (9/24).
That's why I felt that President Anzai's words and Natsu's words when Riko stumbled resonated even more deeply with me.
I wish Chiaki and Ikumi had appeared in the film (although this may be rude of me to say it). I'll end this post on Kesennuma. I hope I can visit there someday. (Sanma Chiharu)

Thank you for your letter, Sanchiharu-san. During the scene of the drifting fog, Monet was still away from his hometown and had not yet heard of the earthquake disaster. Asaoka-san, who witnessed Monet's growth through meeting various people, felt like a "mentor in life."
By the way, Chiaki-san is Sato Chiaki, a freelance announcer who is teaching the dialect for "Okaeri Mone," and Ikumi-san is Kumagai Ikumi, a singer-songwriter! Both are from Kesennuma! Yes, I hope they can appear. It seems difficult to include them in the main story, but I think they both watch the drama, so it would be nice if they could talk about it on some occasion.

I thought one of the themes of this week's "Welcome Back Mone" was "spiritual recovery."
On a personal note, right after the Great East Japan Earthquake, I quickly transported daily necessities from Tokyo to our employees in Miyagi by truck. The damage caused by the tsunami at our factory on the coast of Miyagi was unimaginable. We were relieved that everyone was safe, but I couldn't find the words to say to the affected employees, and my heart ached. Even in such a situation, everyone said "Thank you" and "We're grateful for your help" with a smile, and I remember feeling the humble strength or human strength of the people of Tohoku. I think that the pain that Monet and the others felt during their impressionable years from the earthquake is an anguish that only those who were directly involved can understand. Monet took a "step" across the bridge, the three of them made a "decision," and the thaw with Mi-chan. Watching them slowly and carefully grow over time made my heart warm and I felt that my own heart had cleared a little (maybe I've been feeling a little sick lately...).
When Ryumi told Monet, "You're not strong. You're tenacious," I felt the way people live their lives and it gave me courage. (Hitorimi)

Thank you, Hitorimi-san, for sharing your own story! Among the victims, there are those who lost loved ones, homes, and jobs, those who witnessed the damage, those who were safe but had family members living far away who were affected, medical workers on the ground, ambulance and firefighters, and members of the Self-Defense Forces, and there are people who were affected in various ways, and there is a gradation in the "degree" of the damage. As Hitorimi-san says, it is "each person's suffering" and I think it cannot be expressed in a single word.

That's why it's important to imagine yourself in someone else's position and try to understand them. I felt that it was a big step for Monet to step out of the darkness and into the world.

Monet is finally going back to Kesennuma. This week, all the resentment that had been building up until now has melted away, and I feel like I can finally see the world of the work. Even though she has made up her mind, Monet says, "I haven't done anything yet." Although she doesn't smile with relief, the scene at the end where she talks leisurely with Suganami-sensei felt like the first time the two of them had truly accepted each other. I feel like I want to stay immersed in this atmosphere forever. (Pyon)

It's finally time to welcome you back. I've been waiting for this moment, but now that it's here I feel a strange sense of loneliness!
I have built a relationship with Dr. Suganami that is based on trust, and although it took a long time for the two of us to get to this point, I feel a strangely sense of security.
However, normally, the longer the spring, the more worries one might have, saying things like "the spring is too long," but that's not the case with Suga Mone!

When Monet heard that the oyster beds had been destroyed and the damage was serious, she was worried. But her friends had all grown up by now and were helping each other. The people on the island were cheerful. When I visited Kesennuma in 2013, everyone I met was cheerful. They were smiling and trying to overcome even serious situations. I realized that people can be both weak and strong. I was feeling depressed at work at the time, but the people of Kesennuma cheered me up.
Suganami-sensei and Monet-chan can just get married even though they live in different places. Or so I thought, but in this day and age, it's fine if they can just love and respect each other without getting married, and since they've found a good balance between the two of them, I think it's fine. I somehow came to terms with this. They're a new type of couple that isn't too clingy. I'm sure the people at the forestry association would say, "Why?!" But I'm also curious about why Ryo-chin is always next to Mi-chan! What's going to happen to those two? (Nagoya no Mayuko)

Mayuko from Nagoya! We've been waiting for you!
Ryochin & Mi-chan: "Those two!?" I wonder. Since they're not drawn, we can only imagine, but I think that rather than being his girlfriend, she's more of a "nice girl to have around." This is just a feeling. There's no evidence for it!
I want Monet and Suganami-sensei to show off their Reiwa-ness as a Reiwa couple! For example... they could have a couple account on SNS? Post a photo of a cafe with the other person's hands on the other side of the table? No, I would never do that...
Also, I heard that you came to Kesennuma in 2013! Thank you very much! Please come again if you have the opportunity.

In the end, Professor Suganuma's proposal of marriage was put on hold. The lingering feelings towards her hometown have begun to melt, and her long-awaited return has been decided, but Mone has been given a heavy task. "Produce results in two years," "What will she do with Professor Suganami?" Two years from now means exactly now! Since we know what happened in between, we are more worried than excited about what Mone, Professor Suganami, and the other characters are going through now. By the way, when Sakaguchi Kentaro appeared as a guest on Asaichi afterwards, Professor Daikichi said, "I thought they had decided to get married, but they have decided to put it on hold, so I will put the gift money in my pocket." Upon hearing this, could it be that Kadai is checking out "I can't wait to see you back, Mone" every time (laughs) (Yoshinobu)

Hahahaha. I saw Daikichi-sensei's "heartfelt congratulations" comment in real time! It made me really happy!
By the way, if you asked me to produce results in two years... I definitely couldn't do it! No, I couldn't! I was doing something similar to Monet, like a "one-man branch office," but the initial deadline was two years. In the end, I did it for seven and a half years. That was a decision made by the company, not me, but now I think that I couldn't have done anything in two years.

This week has been such a big hit to my heart that I think it will be difficult to summarize it. I've listed it in bullet points.
① Don't exaggerate. That level is fine. I thought this might be what Ryuuki meant when he said, "Fishermen live by their own will."
② Dr. Suganami's proposal was wonderful because it was so obvious that it moved from the left brain to the right brain. "When you imagine the other person's pain, the world you see becomes twice as big." I wrote this phrase down in my notebook because I wanted to be like that too.
3. While Dr. Suganami calms Monet down and gives her advice on what to do next, Natsu-san is checking her watch. Ayako-san is praying with her hands together when Miki's head is shaved. Yuto-kun's (probably) mother looks like she's about to cry. The adults watching over them are really wonderful.
④ 12 minutes with just Monet and Mi-chan. I would like to see Mi-chan's morning drama in the same amount of time as I have seen so far.
⑤ I would like to ask Yuto about Kesennuma so far. I wonder if he helped Ryo-chin and Shinji-san even though he was in a different position to the others, and if he also looked at the relationship between Mi-chan and Ryo-kun (!) with that same calm and detached eye.
⑥A white shirt with Monet's tear stains.
7. Monet's smile when listening to the horn. Her face when she remembered the light of music was the best.
2. After the teacher said, "Being together means thinking about your future together," Monet shook her head when asked, "Hmm?" It really conveyed how glad she was to have fallen in love with such a wonderful person.
9. Danny Boy is the best.
2. I hope they don't end up sad. I'm sorry for thinking such unnecessary things. I wanted to grab my shoulders and shake them. (Original)

Moto-san! Thank you very much.
Actually, Moto-san told me that the original was too long and so he resent a shorter version, but I decided to post the long version anyway.

It's so great! I read each bullet point, nodding in agreement. I'd like to reply to all of them, but the ones that caught my attention the most were 4 and 9!
First of all, number 4, I think that sometimes people see Mi-chan in a negative light. But Mi-chan is really kind, caring about her family, and her life has been greatly affected by the earthquake. I would like to see a story told from Mi-chan's perspective.
And what about No. 9 "Danny Boy"? I didn't have time to write about this in the diary, but the song that Miyata played on the horn was "Danny Boy". I looked up the lyrics, and it's a song about "sending off a loved one". It's been used in a lot of movies, and I'm sure there are many different interpretations, but it was the perfect song for that scene.

This week's final episode of the Tokyo series was subtitled "To the Island," and it felt like many things had progressed, though not all, towards the next Kesennuma edition.
Among all of that, the scene that left the biggest impression on me was when Mone and Suganami-sensei listened to Miyata-san's horn performance and then talked about returning to the island. I wondered what song was played on the horn that made Mone say, "Music can really give you that push...", but when she chose "Danny Boy", she was surprised with "Oh, I see!" In the scene where Mone and the teacher are talking alone after the performance, the sound of rippling waves plays throughout the sound effects, which cannot be heard physically in Shiomi-yu (Mone must have heard it in her flashbacks), and I thought that this was a production that reminded them of their painful past being washed away and the sea (water) embracing them in their future. The marriage has been put on hold (it's a shame considering he proposed as if he was possessed by a certain passionate former tennis player), and Daikichi said on Asaichi that he would "keep the gift envelope in his heart...", so I'll also put off my congratulatory gun for now (lol) and send "sparklers from my heart" to Mion and Kotaro as a parting gift. If my hands shake or waver, the sparkler seeds will fall, so I'm putting "training and wishes" into them so that they can light the fireworks without wavering in their feelings. I think it will probably be okay though... (Totokichi)

Yes! Thank you, Totokichi-san. "Danny Boy" was a great choice.
So I read Totokichi's post and watched the broadcast again. And I definitely heard the ripples. Various water sounds are used impressively in "Okaeri Mone." For example, the "washing machine" scene at the very beginning, or the "bathroom cleaning sound" that is interspersed throughout the film. So I thought the ripples sound must have been inserted for the same reason Totokichi mentioned.

Also, I feel like those two are fine and don't waver. Sparklers look good on them. I think they would look good in yukata too. Maybe they could wear them together? Oh, I'm going to go into a fantasy world for a bit.

This week was a week in which the main character, Monet, had her own stage. I cried every day. Today, I will consider the final scene that aired on September 9th. It's Mion's feelings. Instead of the feeling that she had always wanted to "go back to her hometown and be useful," President Anzai's words, "It's sweet as a business, but for some reason, my heart is warmed," flow from "I was happy that I just wanted to be there and be with everyone," which was not what she had always wanted. My theory is that when Weather Experts was launched, the president must have wanted to be useful to society and to people, but the company grew bigger and bigger, and Tokyo is a place where you can't see faces. There are many headquarters of ordinary companies, and there are branches and sub-offices in the provinces, and you just give orders and instructions to those branches. I think President Anzai remembered his origins through Monet's words. He realized that work where you can see people's faces is important, and that it was an important thing that he had forgotten. I think that the expressions on the faces of Riko, Mamo-chan, and Nosaka-san, who were watching Monet's presentation, also noticed this.
This week was very moving. Every episode was a memorable one. The final closing was given by President Anzai, who spoke for us. Well, tomorrow is finally the final chapter, the Kesennuma arc. What kind of moving drama awaits us? I'm really looking forward to it. I hope everyone is happy. This was Michael's speculation. (Michael J. Kanematsu)

Ah, yes, just as Michael wrote, Riko, Uchida and Nosaka had great expressions on their faces during the Monet presentation.
It was very impressive to hear that President Anzai was so touched by this. I would like to hear some stories from when President Anzai was younger!
What else? How did Michael end it? He previewed next week's episode, so I think it's okay to end this corner with that. So that's all for the 20th episode!

This week, I would like to send you a heartfelt "gift envelope"... no, a heartfelt pacific saury. At last, the pacific saury has been landed! (Actually, I would like to send you something to express my gratitude, but I am writing this with the intention of sending you something "heartfelt"!)

▲This is saury.

Thank you to everyone for joining us this week. We are now entering the final climax.
We look forward to hearing from you all around the city, prefecture, and country!

(Corner host: Sayumi)

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Person who wrote this article

Sayumi

I live in Kesennuma. I write illustrations, articles and manga for "Kesennuma Saite Kerain" and other websites. I share information about fun things to do and delicious food in Kesennuma. I am in charge of the "Okaeri Mone Diary." I like comedy, manga, games and horror movies. [Twitter] @sayumino1nichi　 [Instagram]@sayumi_insta

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