An Encyclopedia of Unconventional Women (2009)

This is a film made up of six short films by six different directors, whose lead characters are unconventional women, along with an introduction explaining the origin of Hijoshi. Segment 1: Uranai Tamae! (Fortune Telling). Tamae has fallen in love with the local Shinto priest. Everyday he gives her a fortune that she basis her day on. One day her fortune has her befriending a foreign student in her class named Catherine. As they grow closer, her fortunes begin to tell her to confess her love. Segment 2: Sakigake!! Micchan (Fist Fighter, Micchan). Miichan is a female fist fighter. One day as she is training hard, she discovers a flier advertising for a free sample of food. The food stand is owned by Tanaka. He runs it with the help of Taku, a young man he rescued from the streets. When they arrive, Taku proceeds to hand out plates of food, then a line is formed. Miichan gets in line for a second helping and keeps returning to the line. Tanaka scolds Taku for not noticing that he's given their one-plate-per-person sample to the same female more than once. Taku stands up to her. However, she obviously wants to pick a fight with him. Tanaka believing that she is a sinister being, jumps in the van with Taku to make a run for it. But Miichan lifts the vehicle up, so that the wheels spin. Taku finally decides to fight her, giving her what she truly wants. Segmant 3: Miho is an archaeologist working at an archaeological site. She's a woman who chooses not to wear a bra. One day, to her bewilderment, she notices that a fellow coworker, Keigo, may be wearing a bra. Later, she decides to investigate. She goes into the men's changing room and discovers a pink bra. However, when her colleague Shimizu shows up, she panics and throws the bra out the window. She later goes and buries it. Her secret burial is soon discovered when the digging begins at the very site that she had buried the bra. Miho is shocked to see Keigo, unabashedly, reclaim his bra. Miho, intrigued, decides to go speak with Keigo, later that night. Segment 4: Otoko no Shoumei (Who's the Man?). A producer and director are seeking to cast a lead actor in gangster film, after their lead has been hospitalized. Four actors sit across to audition. When the fourth auditions and impresses the director, the producer realizes, by her resume, that she is a woman. A controversy begins between her and her fellow actors. Part 5: Konyoku Heaven (Hot Spring Heaven). Chiaki arrives at an inn to enjoy the town's hot springs. As she is being shown her room and tea is served for her, the inn employee jokes that the hot springs are known to attract people who want to commit suicide. Yet, when she notices a portable charcoal grill (Japanese shichirin), she freaks out, fearing suicide is the guest's intention. Chaiki, ignores her and goes to a co-ed hot spring. She befriends a man there and shares a meal with him with her grill. Later, a newbie to co-ed hot springs arrives and doesn't know how to behave appropriately. That night, she meets him while walking. He propositions her. She invites him to a 4 am rendezvous, promising him something better. However, as he goes to Chiaki, several other people pop up from beneath the water. They are there to watch the sun rise. The young man begins to cry at its beauty. Segment 6: Shinenai Onna (Ready. Set. Suicide.) In Tokyo, Japan, a young woman named, Ryoko Nakatani, decides to kill herself after her first attempt in trying to ask a man on a date results in an immediate rejection. However, as she goes to retrieve a knife from her kitchen, her imagination of possible humiliating scenarios of how the detectives investigating her death would react to her apartment. She imagines them laughing at her for her nasty and messy apartment and her flowery curtains. In a panic, she rushes out to buy new curtains and a vacuum cleaner. As she is filling bags of things to throw away, she discovers a notebook of her poetry. She imagines the detectives laughing at her horrible poems. She decides to burn the notebook. However, when she imagines them reconstructing her poetry from the ashes, she digs a hole in a playground and buries the ashes. With her apartment tidy and organized, she goes to the kitchen for the knife. As she goes to cut her wrist, she notices that the knife is rusted. Her imagination runs wild again. Ryoko, again, hastily rushes out to buy a new knife. On her way home. she passes a grocery store, where she decides to buy some vegetables. At home she tests the knife on a tomato. It is so sharp, she continues to cut the rest of the produce. She ends up making her first home-made meal. Once the meal has been eaten and thoroughly enjoyed, she goes back to the knife and her wrist. As she struggles to put the meal out of her mind, she notices that she has no makeup on, which she is certain would be another humiliation.