Casting Blossoms to the Sky

Casting Blossoms to the Sky (Japanese: この空の花　長岡花火物語, Hepburn: Kono sora no hana: Nagaoka hanabi monogatari) is a 2012 Japanese drama film directed by Nobuhiko Ôbayashi.^[1]

Casting Blossoms to the Sky
Film poster
Japanese name
Kanji	この空の花　長岡花火物語
Transcriptions Revised Hepburn Kono sora no hana: Nagaoka hanabi monogatari
Directed by	Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Written by	Nobuhiko Ohbayashi
Starring	Yasuko Matsuyuki Masahiro Takashima Masao Kusakari
Music by	Kousuke Yamashita
Production company	PSC
Distributed by	Toho
Release date	7 April 2012 (2012-04-07) (Japan)
Running time	160 minutes
Country	Japan
Language	Japanese

Premise

In the aftermath of the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami, a journalist is invited to Nagaoka by her ex-boyfriend, a schoolteacher who is directing a play about how the city was decimated by a WWII air raid and the 2004 Chūetsu earthquake. She travels to the city to report on the disaster and perhaps to meet the ex-boyfriend. While there, she learns about the experiences of its inhabitants and stumbles upon a stage play written by an enigmatic student. The film tells the story of the city, its people and the various Japanese views of war (past and present).

Cast

• Yasuko Matsuyuki - Reiko Endo
• Masahiro Takashima - Kenichi Katayama
• Natsuki Harada -Wakako Inoue
• Minami Inomata - Motoki Hana
• Saki Terashima
• Toshio Kakei Goro Matsushita
• Naoyuki Morita
• Mansaku Ikeuchi
• Takashi Sasano Akiyoshi Muraoka
• Koji Ishikawa
• Takahito Hosoyamada
• Toshinori Omi
• Takehiro Murata
• Misako Renbutsu
• Takuro Atsuki
• Tôru Shinagawa
• Akira Emoto
• Chôei Takahashi
• Shirô Namiki
• Yuto Kobayashi
• Mayuu Kusakari
• Kanae Katsuno
• Tomoko Hoshino
• Toshie Negishi
• Shusaku Uchida
• Tsurutaro Kataoka - Makoto Nose
• Hiroshi Inuzuka - Tsurukichi Nose
• Masayuki Yui
• Bengaru^[2]
• Masao Kusakari - Jyuzaburo Hanagata
• Sumiko Fuji - Ririko Motoki
• Shiho Fujimura - Kaoru Endo