801号房. . .内心深处的心声

Sawajiri Erika, lead actress of 1 Litre of Tears.

Aya is confronted with the illness, Spinocerebellar Degeneration, in which the nerve cells of areas necessary for the human body to move and balance–including the cerebellum, brain stem, and spinal cord–transform are weaken as the syndrome worsens. This will result in the patient’s lost of his or her ability to talk, walk, stand and even feeding themselves.

1Litre of Tears: Best of 2006 Japanese Drama

Ikeuchi Aya (Sawajiri Erika, view her images below), a 15 year old girl, is the eldest daughter in a normal Japanese family. She lives with her reliable mother, Shioka, who works as a nutritionist, her father, Mizuo, the wacky owner of a tofu shop, her quiet younger brother, Hiroki, and two younger sisters, the sarcastic Ako and innocent Rika. (See screen shots)

On the day of her high school entrance exam, however she missed her stop and had to get off the bus and walked all the way to her high school because she fell asleep on the bus journey. She quickly got off and ran from the bus stop in the rain when she discovered she was late. She slipped and injured her knee. At this juncture, she met Haruto Aso, who was trying to skip the exam. He gave her a ride to school, the exam administrators allowed them to take the exam (despite the fact that Haruto was not keen on the exam), in which they both passed.

The new semester started with Aya and Haruto were in the same class. Both were elected as the representatives of their class. Aya joined the school’s basketball team, and reunited with the boy whom she was fond of, from the male basketball team. Just as she was beginning to enjoy her high school days, Aya starts to experience some physical difficulties. She would drop food from her chopsticks, having difficulties in estimating the distance of the objects in front of her. She would spill water out of her cup whenever she pours herself a drink. She would occasionally wobble while walking. Her mother, Shioka, was the only one who notices the unusual changes in Aya, and was rather concern about this sudden change.

Aya’s life started to change, when she fell and tripped. She couldn’t protect herself with her hands while falling and she hurt her face. Her illness was revealed and her condition worsens . . .

The plot is based on a true story of a Japanese girl named Kito Aya, who contacted Spinocerebellar Degeneration. She constantly updates her diary to document her experiences until till the day she lost all ability to talk and strength. Aya was noble and lived her life till the fullest even with the fact that she’s down with Spinocerebellar Degeneration. The diary served as a source of confidence booster, in which she found strength to live on despite her illness. She shed tears countless of times, surrounded by the love and support from her family, friends, and boyfriend. She braved on, each time. Her diary “1 Litre of Tears” 1リットルの涙―難病と闘い続ける少女亜也の日記 was published after her death, with its inspiring and courageous message of, “Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing.”

Kito Aya passed away at the age of 25, in a bed of flowers.

So far, over 18,000,000 copies of her diary have been sold.

Each time I watched each series, I couldn’t help myself but to shed tears, along with the characters. Many a times, we have take life for granted and didn’t realise the true meaning of life. “Just being alive is such a lovely and wonderful thing . . .” Yes, I am delighted to live to see the brand new day every time I opened my eyes. I’m delighted to be able to walk, eat, laugh and have a chance to breathe the first breath of fresh air. How lucky am I truly . . .

Sawajiri Erika

Sawajiri Erika, model, actress, singer