
In a small regional town in 1980s southern Japan, Sakutaro "Saku" Matsumoto and Aki Hirose, who were classmates all through junior high school, become high school students and then fall in love with one another. They share audio diaries, go on excursions together, and enjoy summer vacation. However, Aki soon finds herself suffering from leukemia and beings to weaken day by day, rendering her unable to see Saku or go outside. Saku, desperate to take Aki to Uluru (Ayer's Rock) in Australia (the "Center of the World" in the Japanese title), a place she had wished to go to, desperately tries to achieve just that. Aki dies before ever boarding the plane, and Saku is left to live out his life without her.
17 years later, as an older, sombre Saku trudges through everyday existence, the last tape of Aki's audio diary is suddenly unearthed, leading Saku back to his hometown in the south, and back into his memories of his last days with Aki.
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finally i get to watch this j-movie... sweet, sad and heart-warming movie... to some it might be rather boring or slow-moving in the beginning bcoz it's mostly the "memories" of sakutaro and aiki.. but it's worth watching from the beginning till the end coz only then u'll capture the full essence of the movie..
maybe i should go n watch the korean version of this movie starring Song Hye Gyo and Cha Tae Hyun entitled "My Girl and I" am rather curious how well the koreans managed all the emotions in the story..
note: the movie theme song "Hitomi wo Tojite" sung by Hirai Ken is wonderful..