Why is the movie Sunset Sunrise not Sunrise Sunset?

Movie Setting
The location is Sanriku, Iwate Prefecture, and the time is around the spring of 2020, right after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Incidentally, at that time, there were almost zero infections in the Tohoku region, and people coming from Tokyo were treated like germs. There was also an atmosphere where cars with Tokyo license plates would be reported. It's a funny story now, but back then, a great demon of fear had descended into people's hearts.

Even in Tokyo, the parks were full of fresh greenery, and the air was filled with the scent of plants and soil. As I was walking and took off my mask for some reason, a man riding a bicycle coming from the front shouted something.
"Why are you taking off your mask in front of me!" He was yelling things like that.
I was more than 10 meters away. I felt anger toward him.

Back then, the true nature of people was being exposed. There are many particularly strange people in the media. I decided to remember those people. They are bound to do the same thing again.

Dissatisfaction of Tohoku People
I have heard stories about the dissatisfaction of Tohoku people toward Tokyo for a long time.
I had been working long-term in Aizu for 10 years before the earthquake. What a young person at a design office in Fukushima said at that time still remains in my head.
"Mr. IKE, do you know that when a typhoon approaches from the west, once the typhoon passes through Tokyo, they stop broadcasting typhoon news on national television? It doesn't matter where the typhoon goes in Tohoku!" He said it with anger.
"Now that you mention it, that's true." I had never paid attention to it either. Even so, after I started working in Tohoku, I began to care about the weather in Tohoku.

After that, even after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident occurred, we were commuting to the mountains of Aizu without much of a break for IT maintenance, facility management system maintenance, and meetings.
It had been over a year since the earthquake, but when I was eating lunch at a roadside station in Aizu, an alarm sound rang out from my smartphone, and the wall-mounted TV I was watching started shaking, which was quite scary.

Since a relationship of trust had already been built through work, they welcomed us with a "thank you for your hard work" even after the earthquake. Initially, the guard of the people in Aizu was strong. Since it was different from human relationships in Tokyo, I had a lot of trouble building a relationship of trust with local contractors.
At one point, it even developed into a boycott of the parent company's equipment.

This kind of pressure is a common story in the construction industry.
I even went to bow my head to the construction company in Fukushima that was leading the charge. This became a major issue for a while.

There was a scene like that in the movie too. For those who would ask a resignation agency for help, that desperation, direct negotiation, sense of crisis, but also the feeling of letting go and having fun.
I watched it thinking, "They probably will never understand this feeling."

Thoughts after watching the movie
There is an original novel for the movie. I haven't read it. It seems the setting of the novel was Miyagi, but in the movie, the setting is Sanriku in Iwate Prefecture.
The protagonist, who works at a major trading company?, loves fishing. When he starts working remotely due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he calculates, "I'll spend my time fishing on the Sanriku coast," and moves into a vacant house. That is where the story begins. And the feelings of the carefree salaryman from a big city change.

I think it was a move around the spring of 2020, so it was just about the time Japan was entering the pandemic rhapsody. After this, self-restraint and lockdowns were repeated for about two years, and people's lives were difficult, but there were some good things too.

Thanks to this self-restraint, human movement decreased, and the nature of the sea and mountains recovered significantly. It can be said that it became clear how much human activity affects nature. The ultimate SDGs would be to have a self-restrained life for about 10 days simultaneously around the world once a year. A rest day.
If that happens, more people will notice the crisis of the Earth.

The movie is a work drama during the COVID-19 pandemic after the earthquake, and also a romance drama. It has comedic aspects and speaks some honest opinions. There will probably be people who feel antipathy toward that. Killing time with a movie, and then being preached to and having ideals pushed on you. You might think, "Give me a break." Even so, I think it's worth watching if it touches your heartstrings somewhere.

Food talk
One of them is the introduction of Sanriku's food culture. Eating and drinking delicious things. Just being able to do this is the joy of life.
"I haven't eaten anything delicious lately..."
"I want to eat delicious raw oysters"
"Simmered rockfish also looks delicious"
"Squid salted guts and white wine, that's nice"

Why is sunset first
As a combination of words, I think sunrise usually comes first.
Sunrise Sunset is normal, but sunset is first.
Perhaps it means that the sun had been set since March 2011, but someday the sun will rise.

the sun rise the sun set I remembered a masterpiece by Little Feat from the phrase.
On your Way Down Little Feat Dixie Chicken 1973
the sun rise the sun set
since the beginning it hasn't changed yet
.....

Food and travel
Yamagata/Miyagi
Speaking of food, last year I went on a trip where food was the main focus in Yamagata and Miyagi.

Shimanami Kaido
In the summer of 2020, my son and his friends were traveling on the empty Shimanami Kaido. The inn they stayed at after driving 400 kilometers from Tokyo had only my son and his friends as guests. And it was 9,000 yen per night with this meal. Now it would probably be fully booked even at 19,000 yen.

Even though it was the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a period when the lockdown was lifted and travel and movement became possible. The government and local municipalities were also issuing subsidies and coupons. During that delicate period between 2020 and 2023, I went on trips and camping several times. Everywhere was sparsely populated, quiet, and nature was beautiful.

Okinawa Itoman
When I went to a popular izakaya in Itoman, Okinawa, the only travelers were us eccentric people who came to do sea kayaking. Other than that, there were a few locals; it must have been bustling before COVID.

When I paid the bill in cash to the landlady, she kindly handed me the change and bowed her head to thank me. "It's somehow sad."
The sadness of human relationships thinning out due to things that cannot be helped.

Amakusa Sakitsu
Kumamoto Amakusa, it is also my father's hometown. In May 2022, I am eating sushi in the World Heritage Sakitsu village. They are using ingredients caught in the sea of Sakitsu.

Gokayama Gassho-zukuri
Now it is overflowing with foreigners, but in January 2023, Gokayama, Toyama Prefecture, was not popular at all. I stayed at a World Heritage folk house, a minshuku built 400 years ago.
The landlady of that minshuku said that there are many foreigners recently, and she hates it.

It seems they suddenly enter private houses where people live and make a lot of noise. Since Japanese is a rare quiet language in the world, it is sensitive to loud voices. Loud voice does not mean energetic, but annoying. After that, I eat Himi yellowtail in Kanazawa.
Around this time, a hotel in Kanazawa was 4,700 yen per person for three people in one room. Now it costs 20,000 yen per person. It was the last chance for the poor.