Joji Matsuoka	...	(Director)
Lily Franky, Suzuki Matsuo	...	(Writer)
Jô Odagiri	...	Boku
Kirin Kiki	...	Okan
Yayako Uchida	...	Okan - young
Takako Matsu	...	Mizue
Kaoru Kobayashi	...	Oton
Tamae Ando	...
YosiYosi Arakawa	...
Akira Emoto	...	Doctor from Sasazuka Clinic
Junko Emoto	...
Chisako Hara	...
Hiroyuki Hirayama	...	Isoyama
Itsuji Itao	...
Ayumi Ito	...	Tamami
Ryo Iwamatsu	...	Editor on the phone (voice)
Ryo Katsuji	...	Hiraguri
Asako Kobayashi	...
Kyôko Koizumi	...	Property agent
Hijiri Kojima	...
Hitomi Kurihara	...
Mariya	...
Miyuki Matsuda	...
Ken Mitsuishi	...
Aoi Miyazaki	...
Toru Nakamura	...
Tsubaki Nekoze	...
Seiji Rotukaku	...
Sumie Sasaki	...
Noriko Sengoku	...
Sansei Shiomi	...
Tomorowo Taguchi	...	Mailman
Rena Takeshita	...
Shohei Tanaka	...	Boku - secondary school
Tetsushi Tanaka	...
Susumu Terajima	...
Satoshi Tomiura	...	Boku - adolescent
Kumiko Tsuchiya	...	High school teacher
Osamu Tsuji	...
Nahoko Yoshimoto	...
Mieko Yuuki	...
Ryô Iwamatsu	...	Editor on the phone
Norimichi Kasamatsu	...	Cinematographer

Comments: I thought this was really boring. Don't know where its high marks come from.

Summary: Leaving her alcoholic husband, Eiko takes their son Masaya away from Tokyo and back to her hometown in a Kyushu rural mining community. She toils to support him though many years of schooling even after he wastes his time while studying art in a Tokyo university. After graduation he struggles to find work and finally pulls his life together for his mother's sake, ultimately ending up with multiple jobs as an illustrator and even as the host of a sexually-themed talk show on radio. When Eiko becomes ill with cancer, Masaya invites her to live with him in back in Tokyo where the roles of support are reversed.