Marriages in Japan were long between families, with the omiai (arranged marriage) process typically serving to both introduce prospective partners to each other and vet their respective family backgrounds. Have the wrong sort of ancestors? The wedding's off.
As seen in Yujiro Harumoto's drama "Going the Distance," this attitude continues to linger in modern-day Japan. A selection for the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival's Japanese Cinema Splash section, the film is as simple in structure as a folk tale, and ties up as neatly and strongly. Its observations about families are straight and true, and made with the feel of a fly-on-the-wall documentary.
In fact, Harumoto based his script on an incident from the life of his star, Shinichiro Matsuura, who hails from the same Goto Islands chain off Nagasaki as the character he plays, Asahi, and works in the same profession, as a boxing trainer.