Full of gentle melancholy, this report focuses upon a rice grower and a rural entrepreneur fighting for survival in a village three hours north of Tokyo. The entrepreneur runs a mulberry paper plant and restores old farmhouses for tourists. The rice grower - "number one" in the hamlet - has lost all his children to the city. The smile falls from his face when he learns at a village meeting that he must give up yet more rice fields. Each spring the villagers - stooped from working close to the soil - climb up a damp, misty mountain to offer gifts to the Gods. The old folk vastly outnumber the children. Almost half the residents here are over 65. Footage of a traditional funeral complete with hanging lanterns symbolises the demise of rural Japan and all its spiritual values.

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