The Japanese film industry has themed many movies around that imported holiday, Christmas, or, more specifically, Christmas Eve, which has become Japan's date night of date nights. Even those outside the local film industry now celebrate special days that originated elsewhere, including Halloween, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day and, as Junichi Ishikawa's new feel-good film makes clear from its title, April Fool's Day.

Ishikawa and scriptwriter Ryota Kosawa, who teamed up on the hit "Legal High" drama series for Fuji TV, have made that rarity: a Japanese commercial film based on an original story, unfolding entirely on April Fool's Day.

"April Fools," however, is not what a film based on this theme might have become in Hollywood: overgrown boys dreaming up wacky stunts, with unintended or even (if we are talking about black comedy or horror) deadly consequences. Instead, it defines April 1 as "the one day in the year when it's all right to lie" and gives its seven stories mostly serious spins. This follows the local custom of changing foreign cultural imports to serve local needs — in this case the need to jerk audience tears using tried-and-true TV-drama methods. There are plot twists aplenty, but none of the laugh-riot "Gotcha!" variety — and none that are really surprising, unless you are unfamiliar with the above-mentioned methods.