- In the Japanese town of Ushimado, the shortage of labor is a serious problem due to its population's rapid decline. Traditionally, oyster shucking has been a job for local men and women, but for a few years now, some of the factories have had to use foreigners in order to keep functioning. Hirano oyster factory has never employed any outsiders but finally decides to bring in two workers from China. Will all the employees get along?
- In the Japanese town of Ushimado, the shortage of labor is a serious problem due to its populations rapid decline. Traditionally, oyster shucking has been a job for local men and women, but for a few years now, some of the factories have had to use foreigners in order to keep functioning. Hirano oyster factory has never employed any outsiders but finally decides to bring in two workers from China. Will all the employees get along?
The small remote town of Ushimado, Okayama, by the Seto Inland Sea, is the backdrop of this documentary.
A white cat is lying down, relaxed, by the shore. His owner named him Milk but everybody calls him Shiro (white) because of the color of his fur. Curious of the strangers with a video camera, Shiro is always looking for an opportunity to break into the house where the filmmakers are staying.
There are six small family-owned oyster factories in Ushimado where oyster farming has been a long tradition. Now, in November, they are entering the busy season of oyster shucking.
Watanabe, who works for the Hirano Oyster Factory here, used to own an oyster factory in Minami Sanriku, Miyagi. However, since he was hit severely by the tsunami and the nuclear accident in 2011, he moved to Ushimado with his wife and small children to take over the business from Hirano who was thinking of closing the factory because he had no successor.
In Ushimado, the shortage of labor is a serious problem because its population is rapidly declining. Traditionally, oyster shucking has been a job of local men and women, but beginning a few years ago, some of the factories started using Chinese workers. The wave of globalization is already reaching this small remote town.
Hirano Oyster Factory had never employed any foreign workers before, but Watanabe finally decided to bring in two workers from China. He bought a prefabricated small house for their residence, investing a considerable amount of money.
But bringing on Chinese workers is not an easy task. First of all, they cannot communicate with each other because of the language barrier. Prejudice and fear towards outsiders are strong among locals. An incident in which a Chinese worker killed his co-workers at an oyster factory in Hiroshima is still a fresh memory.
One day, Watanabe hears unsettling news that one of the Chinese workers next door just quit and went home because he couldnt stand the tough work. Being an outsider himself, Watanabe feels conflicted.
Watanabes mind is still occupied by his hometown in Miyagi. He learns from an oyster seeds merchant that very few oyster farmers have come back to business there. In Okayama, the use of the oyster seeds from Miyagi is banned because the industry fears that rumors of radioactive contamination could ruin their sales.
Two Chinese girls have started working at the Nakamaru Factory. Its owner, Nakagami, wants to retire and give his business to his son because of health issues, but he must wait until he reaches 65 to avoid an expensive gift tax. So he keeps working. According to Nakagami, there used to be 15 to 20 oyster factories in Ushimado, but many have closed because nobody succeeded them.
Meanwhile, the new Chinese workers Zhao and Zhen finally arrive. Can they all get along?
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