Stage Play "Cats Become Lions" Review 2022/11/12

Performance Title: "Cats Become Lions"
Theater: Haiyuza Theater
Theater Company/Planning: Gekidan Haiyuza
Playwright: Takuya Yokoyama
Director: Takatsugu Manabe
Cast: Kaneko Iwasaki, Seiji Shioyama, Naoko Shimizu, Midori Ando, Fumito Shimura, Naomi Wakai, Takayuki Nonoyama, Masaomi Koizumi, Yuri Taki, Chihiro Takamiya
Performance Period: 11/4 - 11/13 (Tokyo)
Running Time: Approx. 125 minutes
Keywords: 8050 problem, human drama, family, drama club, The Cat's Office, tear-jerker
Personal Satisfaction: ★★★★★★★★☆☆

I watched a stage production of a new play by Takuya Yokoyama of the Osaka-based theater unit "iaku," performed by Gekidan Haiyuza and directed by Takatsugu Manabe.
This is the third time a play by Yokoyama, who has been nominated for the Kunio Kishida Drama Award, has been directed by Manabe, following "Headless Mantis" (2018) and "The Pheasant Cries for the First Time" (2020). This is my fourth time seeing a work by Takuya Yokoyama, following "I'm Coming to See You, Even Though It's Raining" (2021), "Futamatsuzuki" (2021), and "Hot Heartbeat" (2022).
This was my first time watching a production directed by Manabe.

This work deals with the "8050 problem," a major social issue in Japan's current aging society.
The "8050 problem" refers to a social issue where 80-something parents support the lives of their 50-something children who are shut-ins (hikikomori) at home, and as the parents age and require care themselves, more families are reaching a dead end both financially and mentally.
In this story, Miyako Kamata (Naoko Shimizu), who was in the drama club during junior high school, became a shut-in until the age of 50 due to a traumatic incident that occurred during her time in the club.
Meanwhile, her mother, Taeko Kamata (Kaneko Iwasaki), has also become elderly and is hospitalized after falling at the entrance while on her way to go shopping.
Miyako's younger sister and Taeko's second daughter, Asami Misaki (Midori Ando), is married and independent, and Asami's 24-year-old daughter, Azusa Misaki (Yuri Taki), is a member of the theater troupe Dreamland and is active in theater.
The story depicts the conflicts and human drama of the people in the Kamata family, who are caught in the "8050 problem," sometimes cruelly and sometimes gently, while linking the cause of Miyako's withdrawal to Kenji Miyazawa's "The Cat's Office," which is to be performed by that theater troupe.

I myself was ashamed to say that I didn't know much about the "8050 problem" as a social issue, and I was able to encounter it for the first time by watching this play. First of all, I thought that the fact that such things are happening everywhere in Japanese society is a phenomenon that more people should know about, and I felt that it is very significant that a stage work dealing with such content is being performed in this way, and I am really glad that I was able to see it.

As expected of a Yokoyama play, the depiction of the harsh reality that even in the same family, people clash because their positions are different, and they hurt each other even though no one is at fault, could not be watched without tears, and I was reminded once again that the way he portrays humans is extremely careful.

And although I had never read Kenji Miyazawa's "The Cat's Office" itself and didn't know the content, I understood it at the end with the realization, "So that's how it connects!" and because I understood the content at the end, my resolution regarding why Miyako became a shut-in increased, and I felt the skill of the play.

The story is also very well-crafted, and I am impressed by why Yokoyama's scripts are always so wonderful. It also touches on the "8050 problem," a social issue that Japanese people absolutely must know about, and I felt that I wanted many people to see it.

↓ Kenji Miyazawa "The Cat's Office"

[Motivation for Watching]

I have seen Takuya Yokoyama's stage works many times at iaku, and none of them have been misses. I have always felt that he is a playwright who is excellent at expressing human drama carefully, gently, and sometimes cruelly, so when I heard that Gekidan Haiyuza would be performing a new play by Yokoyama, I decided to go see it.
Previously, Takatsugu Manabe of Gekidan Haiyuza directed a Yokoyama play in "The Pheasant Cries for the First Time," which was selected for the Corich Stage Arts Award! 2020, so I watched it with high expectations when I heard that the two were teaming up again.

[Story/Content] (*Contains spoilers)

Regarding the story, this is a memory I obtained from watching the play, so please forgive me if there are any omissions or mistakes.

Miyako Kamata (Naoko Shimizu), dressed in gym clothes, was troubled by criticism she received from her classmates when she was a student.
After Miyako leaves, Taeko Kamata (Kaneko Iwasaki) comes in and is talking to someone on the phone. It seems to be about her wanting someone to accompany her because she wants to go shopping, but it seems she is being turned down by the person on the other end of the line, and she argues with the person on the other end in a harsh tone before hanging up.

The Misaki family living room. Akihito Misaki (Seiji Shioyama) is in the living room, and his wife Asami Misaki (Midori Ando) comes in. The person Taeko was talking to on the phone earlier seems to have been her daughter Asami, and Asami refused to go shopping with her mother Taeko, citing that she was busy, and pushed it onto her husband Akihito. Asami seemed fed up with her mother Taeko's stubbornness and was irritated. Akihito tries to soothe the irritated Asami.
Akihito seems to have worked as a freelance cook before and has a skill, but he seems to be unemployed and not working now.
Then their 24-year-old daughter Azusa Misaki (Yuri Taki) comes home. Azusa belongs to a theater troupe called Dreamland, and since they will be performing a play for children soon, she was busy with rehearsals and came home late. Asami is angry that Azusa continues to do theater and live her life doing what she likes even after becoming an adult, and after taking it out on Azusa, she asks her to accompany Taeko on her shopping trip. Azusa is busy with rehearsals but agrees.
And Asami also mentions her sister Miyako, who is nearly 50 years old, and how she has been a shut-in for a long time, wondering how she manages with food and such.

However, since Azusa also had theater troupe rehearsals, although she had once agreed to accompany Taeko shopping, she later called Taeko to tell her that she could no longer go because of rehearsals.

At the theater troupe Dreamland, the troupe leader Mana Yanai (Naomi Wakai) and troupe members Yuma Ishido (Masaomi Koizumi), Hiroshi Uji (Takayuki Nonoyama), and Risa Ochi (Chihiro Takamiya) were working hard on rehearsals for an upcoming children's performance of Kenji Miyazawa's "The Cat's Office." However, the essential troupe leader, playwright, and director Mitsuo Kurashita was absent. It seems that the troupe leader Yanai and Kurashita are living together, and the other troupe members were dumbfounded by the situation where the top two members of the troupe were dating.
Azusa arrives at the rehearsal space. Azusa is confronted by Yanai about secretly exchanging LINE messages with the troupe leader Kurashita and planning to go to the sea. Azusa's smartphone is taken by the troupe members, and their LINE exchange is read aloud, revealing that they have a promise to go to the sea.
Azusa's position in the theater troupe Dreamland, which is about to have its performance, becomes precarious.

Meanwhile, Taeko went out to go shopping alone, but she tripped at the entrance, was taken by ambulance, and ended up being hospitalized.
Asami and Akihito rushed to the hospital, and Asami was told by the doctor that while Taeko's life was not in danger, she would need to be hospitalized for several months. Azusa arrives there. Asami scolds Azusa. She is scolded that if Azusa hadn't gone to rehearsals, Taeko wouldn't have ended up like this, and while she isn't telling her to quit acting, she needs to cooperate more regarding family matters.
From there, Asami and Akihito discuss that they cannot leave Taeko at her parents' home as it is even after she is discharged, and that money for a nursing care facility is tight. So, Asami suggests moving into the parents' home where Taeko lives. Akihito is surprised. He thought the parents' home where Taeko lives would originally go to his sister, but since his sister Miyako has been a shut-in for a long time, he says they might be able to make it the Misakino family's home. He says that would save on their current rent and might be good financially. Akihito tells Asami, who is speaking with glinting eyes, to calm down.

The rehearsal space for theater troupe Dreamland.
The troupe leader is absent because he went to Iwate to investigate Kenji Miyazawa in detail, and in the meantime, the troupe members were rehearsing with scripts in hand. The script was written in the original style of "The Cat's Office," and the troupe members seemed to have a very hard time getting the lines into their heads. Although the troupe members say that this is hard to approach and they want to perform a modern version of "The Cat's Office," Yanai says that the troupe leader cannot change it because of his desire to stick to the script in the style of that time. In addition, she says that the leader is currently in the middle of writing his own adaptation of "The Cat's Office," so they should wait a little longer. The troupe members' dissatisfaction grows because the script is not coming out easily.
Then, Azusa speaks up. Her aunt, Miyako, should have performed "The Cat's Office" in the drama club during her middle school days, and she says she will check to see if there might be a script from that time.

Azusa visits Miyako's house. Even after knocking on the front door, there is no response.
So, Azusa asks to borrow the script for "The Cat's Office" that Miyako practiced during her middle school days, as they are going to perform "The Cat's Office" in the upcoming theater troupe Dreamland performance. Miyako opens the door and hands the script to Azusa with only her hand showing.

Azusa visits Taeko's hospital room. Taeko is drinking instant miso soup, but she complains that it is not delicious because it was not made from dashi. The nurse says that this miso soup is not instant, but she thinks it can only be instant.
Taeko sees the script in Azusa's hand and asks, "What is that?" Azusa says it is a script for Kenji Miyazawa's "The Cat's Office" and that she borrowed it from Miyako. She says she wants to use it for the upcoming performance of her theater troupe, Dreamland. Then Taeko says, why do all the people in the Kamata family love theater? And she says that Azusa's mother, Asami, also loved theater. Azusa is surprised. She says that Asami also really wanted to join the drama club in middle school, but because of Miyako, the drama club was abolished, and that wish did not come true.
From here, it shifts to a flashback of the 1984 Shinohara Junior High School drama club, where Miyako belonged during her middle school days.

Miyako was the president of the drama club at the time. And she was trying to perform Kenji Miyazawa's "The Cat's Office" as a graduation performance with the club members. There was a half-Brazilian club member named Rodrigo, and he was bullied by his classmates because of his skin color and had become a truant. It seems that Miyako went to his house to pick him up because she wanted him to come to school.
In "The Cat's Office" as well, because Rodrigo was a truant and it seemed unlikely he could participate in the play, one of the members was going to play the cat role, and the advisor, Mr. Jellyfish (Fumito Shimura), was going to play the lion role. However, the president, Miyako, makes this proposal to the advisor, Mr. Jellyfish. She wants to adapt the end of the script for "The Cat's Office" so that Rodrigo plays the cat role and she plays the lion role, in order to liberate those who are oppressed by society. This is an irony toward society. And she wants to give an interpretation that this society can also be seen as a community called school.
However, the advisor, Mr. Jellyfish, rejects Miyako's proposal. He says they cannot create a work with such a difficult interpretation for a play performed in middle school. In addition, he mentions that Miyako frequently visits Rodrigo's house to invite him to school. He says that Rodrigo's sleep was disturbed by Miyako, and he cut his right finger at the factory where he works the night shift.
Hearing this, Miyako is overcome with self-reproach and becomes unable to go to school herself. Naturally, the "The Cat's Office" that was scheduled to be performed at that time was also canceled without being performed. And the drama club is forced to be abolished.

The living room of the Misakino house.
Asami and Akihito were organizing various expenses for after Taeko's discharge and discussing how to live in the future. Asami's work is going well, and she seems to be able to earn income there. Akihito says that since there is land at Taeko's parents' home, it might be possible to use that space to run some kind of cafe. He says that the location is good, and if he, who is skilled, can make some food and serve it to customers, it might lead to profit. And he suggests that Azusa could work at the cafe as a part-time job while being active in the theater troupe.

The rehearsal space for theater troupe Dreamland.
Rehearsals for "The Cat's Office" were progressing using the script Azusa prepared and borrowed from Miyako. The troupe leader never appeared at the rehearsal space and was sending photos of things like the Hanamaki Higashi High School grounds.
Then, a man comes to the rehearsal space. And that person asked, "Is Miyako Kamata here?" When asked who he was, the person identified himself as Rodrigo Sawaguchi (Fumito Shimura), and he said that he read the script for "The Cat's Office" to be performed for children, and because the final adaptation was exactly the same as Miyako Kamata's script, he came because he wanted to appear in it himself.
Miyako was not here, but Azusa, who remembers the name, realizes that this person is Rodrigo, a Japanese-Brazilian classmate of Miyako. To convey this fact to Miyako immediately, the two of them, Rodrigo and Azusa, decide to visit Miyako.

Asami, Akihito, and Azusa were with Taeko. Asami proposes that when Taeko is discharged, the Misakino family also wants to live together at the parents' home. Taeko opposes this, saying there is no such space at the parents' home.
Asami strongly objects to this, saying that Miyako is also a shut-in and cannot take care of Taeko, so it will be difficult unless she lives with her. However, Taeko gets angry, telling her not to be selfish and suddenly want to live at the parents' home for her own convenience. She asks who she thinks has been taking care of Miyako ever since she became a shut-in. She says that even Taeko herself had her husband pass away five years ago and had been tied to the parents' home all this time. She says she also wanted to escape from the position of taking care of Miyako, but she couldn't escape because Asami escaped, got married, and had a family. She says that just the other day, she asked her to accompany her because she was going shopping, but she didn't accompany her using work as an excuse, so she shouldn't put the responsibility only on Azusa.
Asami also refutes this. She says she didn't escape, she became independent. She says she also wanted to do theater, but because of her sister, the club was forced to be abolished, and while her sister was a shut-in and Taeko was taking care of her sister all the time, nothing was done for her, so she thought she would rather become independent and live on her own power.

Returning to the living room of the Misakino house.
Asami reflects that she spoke a little too passionately. She says she spoke the truth like a child. Akihito calms her down.

Meanwhile, Azusa and Rodrigo come to the entrance of the house where Miyako is shut away. Azusa says that Rodrigo, who was in the drama club with Miyako during her middle school days, wants to see her. Miyako says, "I caused you to cut your right finger, didn't I?" However, Rodrigo says that the injury to his right finger is not a big deal and that it was not Miyako's fault at all.
Rodrigo invites her to perform together, saying that theater troupe Dreamland will perform "The Cat's Office" for children, and he will play the lion role. Miyako did not say she would do it. Rodrigo says it is a return for inviting him to theater so many times, or rather, a revenge.

The performance of "The Cat's Office" at theater troupe Dreamland is staged.
While Azusa, playing the cat role, is being oppressed by other cats, Rodrigo, playing the lion role, appears from above the stage. The lion orders the dissolution of the office. And he says the lines that Miyako added at the end.
When the performance of "The Cat's Office" ends, Miyako and Taeko, and the couple Asami and Akihito are sending a grand round of applause. And Miyako was clapping with a full smile while shaking her body as if she were overwhelmed with emotion.
The performance ends here.

As is typical of Takuya Yokoyama's works, the depiction of humans is very careful, and since no villains appear and no one is bad, I feel the harshness of the world in the fact that people hurt each other depending on their circumstances. I felt that I learned about the cruelty of the problems that can arise from a universal problem that seems to be happening in various families in today's Japanese society, called the "8050 problem," by skillfully raising it into a drama of one family.
And the structure of the play was also excellent. I really liked the part where "The Cat's Office" was brought in as a play-within-a-play at the end. Miyako tried to adapt the final lion's lines and perform it in her middle school days, but I can certainly understand why the advisor would say no, as it would become a bit preachy if the president played it. However, the point that made me feel very moved was that by Rodrigo playing it after time had passed, in a way, Rodrigo is also different from the old Rodrigo, making me think that the cat has become a lion.
I will write down the detailed analysis in the analysis part.

【Worldview/Staging】 (*Contains spoilers)

The stage design was more elaborate than the usual iaku stage, and there were many completely different sound and lighting effects. However, they blended well into Yokoyama's play and were wonderful.
I will look at them in the order of stage design, stage lighting, stage sound, and other staging.

First, the stage design.
I remember the stage was roughly divided into three areas.
The first was a space on the stage left side that could be the living room of the Misakino house. There were about two sofas, and a small table was placed as if surrounded by the sofas. Most of the scenes where Asami and Akihito talk were developed here.
The second was an area on the stage right side with many chairs and a long table, which was used for the rehearsal scenes of theater troupe Dreamland and the scenes of interaction between Taeko and the Misakino family. The chairs were used by the troupe members while acting during the script rehearsals for theater troupe Dreamland.
And the third, which was the most eye-catching stage design, was the stairs and door leading to the upper part at the back of the stage on the stage left side. That door was the door to the residence where Miyako is shut away, and Azusa climbed those stairs many times to visit Miyako. Also, in the final play-within-a-play, Rodrigo appears from that door in the lion role and says the lines that Miyako added. I personally liked the position of this door and the way the set was done. Even before the performance started, this door had a presence and stood out, and I was impressed that it was used in such a deep way. Thinking about it, I thought this play might be difficult to perform unless it was a slightly larger theater like the Haiyuza Theater.

Next is the stage lighting. Very cool staging was seen in the stage lighting. I didn't think I would see slightly entertainment-like lighting effects in Yokoyama's play.
What left the biggest impression was the wonderful staging where the lighting was illuminated one after another from various angles with spots when Miyako was troubled by being told cold words by the troupe members in the drama club during her middle school days. The whole stage felt very black, so it was illuminated white only there, and it looked like a very wonderful lighting effect.

Next, regarding the stage sound. I think the sound design was quite reminiscent of Mr. Yokoyama's plays.
First, regarding the sound effects, there was a sequence where the cold words from Miyako's middle school drama club members echoed in her head. While I couldn't make out exactly what was being said through the audio, the effect of various people hurling attacks at her was impressive. I suspect it might have been a limitation of the theater's equipment, as the audio wasn't very clear and felt a bit rough in terms of equalization and hardware, but I liked it as a directorial technique.
Also, the music is genuinely classic and really makes you cry. I mean 'classic' as a compliment here; with Mr. Yokoyama's plays, you inevitably come to expect that kind of music, and I loved how the right tracks were played at the right moments. My favorite part was the music that played during the final scene where 'The Cat's Office' is performed and the audience applauds. It was extremely moving.

Regarding other aspects of the direction.
First, the cat masks in the final play-within-a-play were adorable. Since it was supposed to be a performance of 'The Cat's Office' for children, the headbands were indeed designed to appeal to kids, and the fluffy ears were a nice touch. The lion mask worn by Rodrigo afterward was very powerful and great. It had impact, but it also maintained a sense of cuteness that fit the 'for children' stance, which I liked.
The rehearsal scenes for the Dreamland Theater Company appear frequently, and as expected from a script written by someone as knowledgeable about the small theater scene as Mr. Yokoyama, the depictions were realistic. It's common for a troupe leader to be so particular that the script never gets finished, and the fact that he ends up going to Iwate and never coming back made the character of Kurashita—who never actually appears—feel vivid and interesting. Also, the fact that he ends up dating the troupe leader, and the 'scumbag' nature of him getting close to Azusa, felt very real.
I also liked the red gym uniforms worn by the middle school drama club students in 1984, as they fit the era perfectly. The fact that Miyako is always wearing the red gym uniform is also significant. It was wonderful that she changed into clothes appropriate for her age in the final scene while watching 'The Cat's Office.' Miyako had been trapped in her past experiences and regretted what she had done to Rodrigo, but by Rodrigo becoming a lion and performing 'The Cat's Office,' Miyako was liberated from her middle school past. Because of that, she was no longer wearing the red gym uniform. This kind of direction was also wonderful.
Also, the setting of the middle school drama club in 1984 was appropriate for the 1980s. For example, the fact that a Japanese-Brazilian student was being bullied is something that would absolutely not be tolerated today, but the fact that it was accepted back then reflects the outdated values of the time. The detail that Rodrigo worked at a factory at night might also be a plausible setting for that era. Most of all, the advisor teacher was interesting; it accurately reflected the outdated values of an era where a teacher could speak with such authority.
I also felt the modern-day setting was handled well. Akihito is a cook with a trade but is currently unemployed. It was interesting that the setting seemed to reflect the harshness of the current era. His wife, Asami, is also working, and the fact that the household is supported by the woman's income is not uncommon today, so it was a very convincing setting when compared to the modern era.

【Cast & Characters】 (*Contains spoilers)

Except for Naoko Shimizu, this was my first time seeing the performances of the Haiyuza Theater Company members, and they were all wonderful. Their voices carried well, their posture while acting was good, and overall, they felt very refreshing and had a sense of transparency that I found likable.
I will list the actors I found particularly wonderful.

First, Naoko Shimizu, who played Miyako Kamata. This is the second time I've seen Ms. Shimizu's acting, the first being in the iaku stage production 'Futamatsuzuki'.
I feel that Ms. Shimizu is an actor with an incredible amount of energy for releasing the emotions she keeps hidden deep inside on stage. When I saw her performance in 'Futamatsuzuki,' the energy she put into screaming when she was hated by her husband was tremendous.
In this role as Miyako, the way she cried out after being treated so cruelly by the advisor in the 1984 middle school drama club scene had such an incredible amount of energy that it made me truly feel how painful that treatment must have been.
And what personally left an impression on me was the ending. Rodrigo became a lion and performed the lines Miyako had written in middle school, which seemed to liberate her from her own painful past experiences. Her acting, where she applauded so movingly, was very memorable. What a happy moment it must have been for Miyako, applauding wholeheartedly while shaking her body. It was truly wonderful.

Yuri Taki, who played Azusa Misaki, was also wonderful.
Mr. Yokoyama's plays often feature a woman who becomes the heroine of the story, and she is usually very pure and possesses a charm that makes you want to root for her from the bottom of your heart. Chinatsu from 'Atsui Munasawagi,' which I saw in August 2022, was exactly that.
I think that role corresponds to Azusa this time, and I really liked her innocent nature. At 24, she is young and immersed in theater, prioritizing her own activities over her family. She has both a mother and a father, and since her mother works, she can still do as she pleases. I liked that purity. And I also liked the selfishness of her youth, such as trying to go to the beach with the troupe leader even though he has a live-in girlfriend.
However, I think her charm point isn't that, but rather the fact that she adores her aunt, Miyako, so much. I liked how she constantly relied on Miyako, as they shared the common ground of both loving theater.
Also, I liked how Azusa would clearly read aloud, whether it was reading the script of 'The Cat's Office' or reading the text of a LINE message. As expected of a member of the Haiyuza Theater Company.

The actor I personally felt was the most wonderful was Kaneko Iwasaki, who played Taeko Kamata.
I thought she was an actress with beautiful white hair, and the grandmother she played was truly realistic and wonderful. Her slow, slow way of speaking. Of course, I think the way the lines were written in the script was also wonderful. I liked the lines about instant miso soup not being tasty, and the way she said 'What is that?' when she saw the script; it felt so realistic that it made me think, 'There really is such a grandmother.'
And perhaps because of her age, I also liked the realistic touch of her slightly stubborn personality.
The scene where she argues with Asami is in the second half of the story, and the state of mind of Taeko, who had been tied to her home for so long, was a perspective I had never considered, so it was educational. It taught me that a life tied to one's parents' home for many years is a painful existence in its own right.

Midori Ando, who played Asami Misaki, was also good.
She felt like a woman who was truly successful in society, and her tone toward her husband was harsh, and her fight with her mother, Taeko, was also intense. I think she also secretly wanted to do theater herself, but she seemed to hate it and also seemed to hate people who continued to do it even after becoming adults.
The way she would think about their future life and then unilaterally talk about it if she thought it was a good idea was also very well-crafted as a character setting, as it really expressed Asami's personality.

Also, Seiji Shioyama, who played Asami's husband, Akihito, was wonderful.
Even though he was a bit pushed around by his wife, Asami, he had high pride as a cook, and I thought he was a very likable husband. I thought I would like to be like that myself.

【Analysis of the Play】 (*Contains spoilers)

Every time I watch a play, I am impressed by why the scripts written by Takuya Yokoyama move my heart so much. There are no villains among the characters in the scripts Mr. Yokoyama writes. This is because I can understand very well why the characters behave the way they do. That is precisely why, when the characters clash, it feels frustrating and painful because they can understand each other. I felt this in this work as well, for example, in the scene where Taeko and Asami argue, and in the scene between Miyako and the advisor in 1984.

Also, this work felt like it was created by weaving in the strengths of Mr. Takuya Yokoyama's past plays.
For example, the ending is truly wonderful and makes you feel very refreshed. It's a refreshing ending where Miyako, who had been a shut-in for many years, finally seems liberated from the curse of her past. I truly cannot forget Miyako's smile at the end. It was an ending that remained in my heart so strongly and deeply. I feel this point has something in common with Mr. Yokoyama's past play, 'Ainiiku no, Ame dakedo,' because the childhood friend was also dragging around a past event, having caused someone to go blind.
The fact that Azusa is an extremely pure and straightforward woman was also refreshing to watch. Scenes like the one where she reads the script of 'The Cat's Office' were transparent, coupled with the high acting ability of Yuri Taki, who belongs to Haiyuza. This point is similar to Chinatsu, the protagonist who appears in Mr. Yokoyama's play 'Atsui Munasawagi.' I was moved by her purity, thinking that in her early 20s, everything around her must look like it's shining.
And the mother-daughter fight between Asami and Taeko in the latter part of the story also somewhat reminds me of the mother-daughter fight that appeared in 'Futamatsuzuki.' In this work, the mother-daughter fight was a form of expressing the dissatisfaction and true feelings they had been keeping inside, but I think it definitely led to a positive direction by clearing up misunderstandings.

This work deals with the '8050 problem,' a social issue that is becoming increasingly serious in Japanese society today. The '8050 problem' refers to a social issue where 80-year-old parents support the lives of their 50-year-old children who are shut-ins at home, and as the parents age and require nursing care themselves, more and more families are reaching a dead end both economically and mentally.
During Japan's period of high economic growth, it was an era where the more you worked, the more your productivity improved and you were rewarded. Mass production and mass consumption were the very symbols of that era. The late-stage elderly who are now over 75 are the generation that worked as members of society during this period of high economic growth. However, the generation of their children, who are now reaching their 50s, entered the workforce during the transition from the Showa to the Heisei era, around 1990. Japanese society became an era that demanded more efficiency, and it became an era where you weren't necessarily rewarded for working hard, and people who couldn't produce results couldn't adapt to society. Since 2000, IT has also become widespread, and that trend has likely become even stronger.
People who couldn't get jobs in such times have reached their 50s before they knew it, and since 2010, we have reached an era where even their parent generation requires nursing care. Since they haven't worked, they naturally have no money, and there is no end to the number of families where both the 80-year-old parents and the 50-year-old children collapse together.

When I heard about this '8050 problem,' I didn't initially grasp what the problem was, but watching this play, I felt that the biggest reason lies in money. Even if the parent generation needs nursing care, the child who has been a shut-in for a long time cannot provide it, so they might think about putting them in a facility, but they have no money. The parent generation is likely living on a pension, but that might not be enough to pay for a facility.
And when the parent generation passes away, there are cases where the 50-year-old child who has been a shut-in for a long time cannot obtain food and ends up dying alone. After watching this play and researching the '8050 problem,' I felt that a very terrifying situation is occurring.
The anguish of elderly parents with children who haven't been able to return to society, and the children who reach their 50s without being able to return to society. Understanding the feelings of Taeko, Asami, and Miyako in this work, it's very frustrating because no one is to blame.

And in this work, Kenji Miyazawa's 'The Cat's Office' is woven into that. 'The Cat's Office' itself is a famous story, but I am ashamed to say I had never read it.
In this story, 'The Cat's Office' appears, and various types of cats are enrolled there. One of them, the 'Kama-neko' (oven cat), was a cat that was always dirty because it had a habit of sleeping in an oven at night. That's why it was hated by the other cats. So, the lion that rules 'The Cat's Office' finally orders the dissolution of the office.
If you know this story, you can understand how cleverly 'The Cat's Office' functioned in this work. Certainly, I can understand Miyako's desire to use 'The Cat's Office' to criticize the current state of schools where Rodrigo is being discriminated against because of his skin color. However, I do feel that if Rodrigo and Miyako were to perform that, it would be too blatant. If I were to watch that, I think I would be put off by it feeling a bit too preachy.
Besides, I can understand the advisor's feeling that it's not something that should be performed as part of school education. In the play, this advisor was depicted as quite a cold-hearted existence, but I didn't see it that way. Although I did feel that blaming Miyako for Rodrigo's injury was going too far.

What is the meaning of the lion's dissolution by Rodrigo, which is performed again after decades have passed?
First, for Rodrigo, it feels like a depiction showing that he has cut off his past, where he used to refuse invitations to perform, and is now active as an independent man.
Taeko, who watched this, felt a sense of liberation because, although she had been living tied to the Kamata family while taking care of Miyako's shut-in life, her daughter Asami would be living with her from now on. Taeko thought Asami had run away from the Kamata family, but she was positive about her returning, just having become independent.
I think Asami also felt a sense of refreshment from watching this, having been able to settle her strained human relationship with Taeko and having had her feelings understood by Taeko.
And above all, from Miyako's perspective, she had been tormented by self-reproach for having injured Rodrigo, but it was revealed that that wasn't the case, and she was able to escape from that curse. And by seeing Rodrigo's healthy figure now, I think the lion's dissolution became a liberation from her past trauma. That's why I think she changed from her gym clothes into her own clothes and applauded. I felt that time had moved forward.

The scripts written by Takuya Yokoyama are truly wonderful and moving. I am looking forward to another new script of his, "Dawn's Stranded Whale," which will be performed before the end of the year.

↓ Works written and directed by Takuya Yokoyama