One Million Yen Girl

121 minCountryJapanLanguageJapaneseBox office$3.9 million (est.)

One Million Yen Girl (百万円と苦虫女, Hyakuman-en to nigamushi onna) is a 2008 Japanese drama film written and directed by Yuki Tanada. The film is a variation on seishun-eiga and family drama that tells the story from a woman's perspective.^[1] The troubled 21-year-old female protagonist named Suzuko Sato (Yū Aoi) sets out on a journey to escape troubles and lives on her own terms by saving up one million Yen each time, but ultimately finds that grass is always greener on the other side.

In Japanese films, it is unusual for the girls to take initiative, however, One Million Yen Girl was able to subversively redefine this narrative.^[2] This is one of the most popular films by Yuki Tanada that incorporates feminism and aims toward redefining the gender role and space for woman in the film industry.^[1] With a middle ground budget and some promotions, this film has comfortably found success and won awards.^[3]

21-year-old Suzuko Sato failed to get a proper full-time job, and after graduating from junior college, she works part-time at a restaurant. She lives with her parents and her younger brother who is in the sixth grade, but somehow feels uncomfortable. Then, her fellow part-time worker Riko proposes that they share an apartment and she agrees. Just before moving into the apartment, Suzuko is surprised to hear from Riko that Riko's boyfriend Takeshi Hamada will also be sharing the room with them. Suzuko moves in after Takeshi, who moved in a bit earlier, and is even more surprised to learn that Riko has already broken up with Takeshi, and that Suzuko and Takeshi will be the only two people sharing the apartment.

One rainy day after they start living together, Suzuko picks up a kitten that was left in a cardboard box and brings it back to the apartment. Takeshi abandons the kitten while Suzuko goes out to buy food for the kitten, and Suzuko goes out to look for it, but the kitten she finds is already dead. Angry, Suzuko throws away all of Takeshi's belongings while he is away, and moves out of the apartment herself. Suzuko is criminally charged by Takeshi with property damage, put in a detention facility and fined 200,000 yen, which she pays. When she returns home from the facility, she is strongly criticized by her younger brother, who is aiming to take the entrance exam for a private junior high school, and she feels even more uncomfortable living at home, due to the neighbors and former classmates. Suzuko declares to her family that she will leave home when she saves up one million yen, and works hard at part-time jobs.

The first place she decides to settle after leaving home is a seaside town, and she decides to work at a beach house. The owner of the beach house praises her for her skill in making shaved ice. Her work at the beach house goes well, but she is annoyed by Yuuki, a regular customer, who keeps flirting with her, so she quits the beach house when her savings return to one million yen. With one million yen in savings, Suzuko has enough money to move and rent a room, so she has made a plan to move again when her savings return to one million yen after the move.

Her next destination is a peach-producing region. When she asks the owner of a coffee shop in the town if there are any short-term part-time jobs, she is introduced to a peach farm that is short on manpower, and she ends up working there as a live-in employee. She lives with an elderly mother and her single middle-aged son, and begins harvesting peaches. Her mother praises her for her skill at picking peaches. The village chief, who come to know that a young woman named Suzuko has come to the village, comes to see her accompanied by the owner of the coffee shop. After that, the village chief decides to make Suzuko the "Peach Girl" of the village without her permission. Peach Girl is like a campaign girl to promote the sale of peaches from the village, and the village will provide a related budget. The village chief also says that a national TV station will be coming to cover her in a week. Suzuko says that she does not want to be a Peach Girl, so an emergency meeting is held at the village meeting hall, where villagers gather, and Suzuko once again announces that she will decline the role. Criticized by many of the villagers, Suzuko, in desperation, says that she is an ex-convict and runs out of the meeting hall. Suzuko wants to be in an environment where no one knows her, so appearing on TV is out of the question. It was before the harvest season ended, but the mother and son of the peach farmer greatly thanks her as she leaves.

Suzuko's next destination is a small city in Saitama Prefecture, about an hour by express train from Tokyo metropolitan area. Suzuko gets a part-time job at a DIY store and is assigned to the gardening department. Her boss, Kogure, is an unpleasant type, but her senior at the part-time job, Ryohei Nakajima, a university student of the same age as Suzuko, is a reliable man. One day, Suzuko meets Ryohei by chance while shopping at a supermarket. The two go to a coffee shop, and Suzuko, feeling at ease, tells Ryohei about her past, including her criminal record, and the "guideline" she set for herself of one million yen. After that, Suzuko regrets having told him everything, falls into self-loathing, and runs out of the coffee shop. Ryohei catches up with Suzuko and tells her that he likes her, and Suzuko also says that she likes Ryohei. The two quickly become close and end up having a physical relationship.

Later, Miyamoto Tomoyo, who is from the same university as Ryohei, is assigned to the gardening department as a part-timer and becomes close to Ryohei. One night, after they have sex, Ryohei asks Suzuko to lend him 50,000 yen, and Suzuko lends it to him. Later, Ryohei finds Suzuko when he is with Tomoyo at a coffee shop and asks for an additional loan, and Suzuko lends it to him again. After this happens repeatedly, Suzuko blames Ryohei for loving her because she has money, and decides to break up with Ryohei and leave the town.

When Suzuko goes to say her final goodbyes to the DIY store, Ryohei pays back all the money he borrowed from her. Later, while Ryohei is working in the store, Tomoyo comes to him and says, "Are you OK being misunderstood by her? You borrowed the money from her because you didn't want her to leave after her saving reaches a million yen, but she left before she saved up a million yen!" Ryohei chases Suzuko to the station on his bicycle. Ryohei is unable to catch up, but the two exchange glances on and off the footbridge, and the film ends.

• Yū Aoi as Suzuko Sato, a 21-year-old woman who tries to define her own rules and avoids her problems by saving up one million yen and moving away.
• Mirai Moriyama as Ryohei Nakajima, Suzuko's love interest and co-worker.
• Ryusei Saito as Takuya Sato, Suzuko's younger brother who is seen as the ideal child, but has problem at school and looks up to his sister.
• Pierre Taki as Haruo Fujii, an older peach farmer who awkwardly looks out for Suzuko.
• Sumie Sasaki as Fujii Kinu, an elderly woman who offered Suzuko a job picking peaches.
• Takashi Sasano as Siraishi - Master of Kissaten 'White', an elderly man who found Suzuko in a cafe and offered to find her a job.
• Terunosuke Takezai as Yuuki, a flirt who tried to hit on Suzuko.
• Kami Hiraiwa as Riko, Suzuko's co-worker and supposed roommate.
• Tomohisa Yuge as Takeshi, Riko's ex-boyfriend and Suzuko's brief roommate.
• Noriko Eguchi as Yayoi Asano, Takuya's school teacher.
• Kota Mizumori as Noguchi

One Million Yen Girl was written and directed by Yuki Tanada. When asked about the sources of inspiration and the writing, she stated that she wanted her films to be about just an ordinary person who has to deal with problems that would ordinarily would arise in life.^[3]

The lead actress in One Million Yen Girl named Yū Aoi worked with Yuki Tanada before and after this film. However, other actors and actresses are not known to have worked with the director before or after this film.

On top of the woman director and actress, the film also consists of mostly woman production crews. The producers are Ko Hirano, who has worked on 16 other films, and Koko Maeda, who has helped to produce Kill Bill: Vol. 1, Kill Bill: Vol. 2, and many others. The cinematographer, Kei Yasuda has also worked on many other films including one with Yuki Tanada's Moon and Cherry (2004). The editors, Takashige Kikui and Ryûji Miyajima are established and have worked on more than 20 other films. However, the music composers, Ko Hirano and Eiko Sakurai were only starting out when the film was made.^[4]

One Million Yen Girl was initially released in Japan and Taiwan as of 2008. The recorded estimated box office gross receipts of approximately $3.9 million.^[4]

One Million Yen Girl was selected as the winner of the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award in 2008.^[5] The film has also won My Movies Audience Award of the Far East Film Festival that took place in Udine, Italy in 2009.^[6] This is the first film that Yuki Tanada was able to find success using the middle ground budget which many other Japanese directors have struggled with because the Japanese film industry is mainly divided into only two industry: the mega budget and the low budget.^[3]

• One Million Yen Girl at IMDb
• One Million Yen Girl at Rotten Tomatoes