Goodbyes aren't what they used to be. Kids moving away for school today can be in constant contact with friends and family back home, texting as soon as the train doors close on a waving Mom and Dad.
But in this country of many islands, some of which are specks in the ocean where cellphones don't reach, exceptions to the always-wired rule still exist.
Working from his own on-location research, Yasuhiro Yoshida has scripted and filmed a drama, "Tabidachi no Shima Uta — Jugo no Haru (Leaving on the 15th Spring)," set on one such exception: a small island called Minamidaito 360 km from Okinawa with a population of 1,200 and no high school.