Hana to Ame: Flowers and Rain

2018, 90 minutes

The story of a man who spent part of his childhood in London and his journey from the reality of drug dealing to the dream of becoming a professional rapper.

Yoshida spent his entire childhood with his family in London. Then as a teenager, he moves to Japan, where he finds it difficult to get used to the close-minded atmosphere. He studies at a famous private high school, but faces discrimination and cannot understand why he is singled out given he looks the same as everyone else. By chance, he encounters LM and Aida, who introduce him to the world of hip hop. For the first time, Yoshida feels accepted in Japan. As he pours his body and soul into hip hop, Yoshida doesn’t forget a promise he made to his sister, Mari, about becoming a successful rapper overseas. He pursues the dream with everything he’s got. To gain credibility on the streets as a real hip hop artist, he starts to get seriously involved in drug-dealing. Yoshida builds a reputation for himself and begins to realize his own power. But then his world comes crashing down. His album doesn’t sell, he loses a rap battle, and he’s betrayed by the people he respected and trusted the most in the music industry. He can’t believe that hip hop, the one thing that made him feel at home, is now the source of pain and torment. Yoshida throws himself into the illegal drug trade and becomes successful, as if trying to compensate for failing as a rapper. Meantime, Mari continues to work hard to chase her own dream despite suffering from serious depression. A distance begins to grow between the two siblings. At this point, life takes a turn for the worse for Yoshida. First, a fellow drug-dealer is arrested. Then, he himself is thrown in jail. The final blow is the death of his sister, his last hope, after she overdoses on sleeping pills , a type of drug he sells. His life has become a nightmare. So he decides to turn back to his dream, stand up, and try to make it as a real rapper.

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