Asahiyama Zoo Story: Penguins in the Sky (2009)

112 min · Japan · Dir. Masahiko Tsugawa

Asahiyama Zoo in Hokkaido, is the northernmost zoo in Japan. The unpopular zoo welcomes a new zoo keeper, young Yoshida (Yasuhi Nakamura), who has more affection for insects than people after years of being bullied at school when he was young. Yoshida soon realizes that Asahiyama Zoo is facing a financial crisis and the zoo director Takizawa (Toshiyuki Nishida) has been doing everything in his power to save the zoo from closing down. Moved by Takizawa's passion, Yoshida and other zoo keepers came to share the zoo director's belief that one's dreams can come true, and together they tackle this seemingly impossible task of revitalizing Asahiyama. A breakthrough arrives in the form of “Behavioral Exhibition,†a method that is pioneered by Ashiyama's zoo keepers and which eventually makes the zoo renowned throughout the world.

Cast

Toshiyuki Nishida

Kanji Takizawa

Yasuhi Nakamura

Tsuyoshi Yoshida

Ai Maeda

Makoto Ogawa

Keiko Horiuchi

Sanae Ikeuchi

Naomasa Musaka

Teruo Mitani

Sansei Shiomi

Genta Tobe

Ittoku Kishibe

Seinosuke Yanagihara

Akira Emoto

Itsuro Usui

Hiroyuki Nagato

Keisuke Nirasaki

Akaji Maro

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