The Firefly (2001) Hotaru

Japanese film icon Ken Takakura, who has starred in over 100 films, stars in this elegiac look at war and remembrance. Hideji Yamaoka (Takakura) was a suicide pilot during the war who somehow survived Japan's surrender. After decades of working as a fisherman in Kumamoto, a provincial seaside city in southern Kyushu, Yamaoka remains reluctant to discuss his wartime experiences with anyone, much less an intrusive reporter looking for a feature story. Then a series of events shake Yamaoka to the core, forcing him to re-evaluate his past. Following the death of fellow suicide pilot Fujiki (Hisashi Igawa), Yamaoka learns that his wife Tomoko (Yuko Tanaka) is slowly dying from kidney failure. While testing himself as a possible kidney donor, Yamaoka recalls his courtship with her when she was still a student and utterly in love with a strapping Korean pilot named Kaneyama (Yukiyoshi Ozawa). Though Yamaoka married her after his rival's death, she never forgot her first love. Finally, an aging restaurant owner, whose establishment was a favorite haunt of the suicide pilots, is retiring. She asks Yamaoka to return a memento to Kaneyama's family in Korea. This film – which proved to be a big box-office hit in Japan – was directed by Yasuo Furuhata.