Ukiwa: More Than Friends, Less Than an Affair
うきわ ―友達以上、不倫未満―
Storyline
The whole story, ending included.
Two married neighbours drift toward each other without crossing the line — the drama of almost.
Maiko Nakayama has lived almost all her life in Hiroshima and thinks of herself as nothing special, neither good nor bad. When her husband, Takuya, is transferred to his company's Tokyo head office, she gives up her job and moves with him into company housing on the edge of the city. Takuya comes home later every night, and soon she knows he is having an affair with a junior colleague, Ayumi Fukuda, once the manager of his university rugby club. Next door lives his boss, Hajime Futaba, gentle and quiet, whose wife, Hijiri, is having an affair with her young pottery teacher. Maiko and Futaba begin talking across the partition between their balconies and at the rubbish point in the mornings. Both betrayed, they become each other's rubber ring, the thing that keeps them afloat.
They go out together once, and Maiko takes his hand. Futaba asks her to forget it: he is only someone she talks to. One night she climbs over the balcony partition to tell him everything, then loses her nerve and climbs back. At the company's summer festival she learns that Fukuda is the other woman and faces her. Hijiri ends her affair, Takuya ends his, and Futaba says things are back as they were. Unable to bear it, Maiko runs out at night; Futaba finds her by the river and calls her husband to fetch her. She decides not to divorce, so as to stay near Futaba, and then he is transferred to Fukuoka.
He invites her out one last time, to a karaoke box. They learn each other's first names, talk about school clubs, and he tells her that a rubber ring a person cannot blow up alone will one day let them drown; he too was saved by being needed, and he thanks her for the ring. They promise to live happily, and ask the taxi to take the long way home. Before the move Futaba tells Hijiri there was someone else he came to hold dear; they apologise to each other and leave for Fukuoka together, smiling as they say goodbye. Maiko confronts Takuya about his affair, and they divorce. She says goodbye at the dry cleaner's where she works part-time, finds a flat of her own, takes off her ring and cuts her hair.
Starring
Mugi Kadowakias Maiko Nakayama
A woman from Hiroshima who follows her husband into Tokyo company housing and finds he is having an affair.
Maiko Nakayama’s story
In the company flat Maiko waits up for Takuya, who comes home later every night, and soon she knows why. Her comfort is the man next door, his boss Futaba, betrayed as she is: they talk across the balcony partition. On their one outing she takes his hand, and he asks her to forget it. When both affairs end and Futaba says things are back as they were, she runs out into the night, and he calls her husband to fetch her. At their last meeting, in a karaoke box, they swap first names and promise to live happily. After the Futabas leave, she tells Takuya she always knew; she loved him, she says, but he was never precious to her. They divorce, and she takes off her ring and cuts her hair.
Naotaro Moriyamaas Hajime Futaba
Maiko's neighbour and her husband's boss, a gentle man whose wife is having an affair.
Hajime Futaba’s story
Futaba listens to Maiko across the balcony partition while his wife, Hijiri, sees her young pottery teacher. When Maiko takes his hand on their one outing, he asks her to forget it: he is only someone she confides in. When the affairs end, he tells her things are back as they were; when she runs out into the night he finds her by the river and calls her husband. Transferred to Fukuoka, he asks her to one last meeting in a karaoke box, tells her that a rubber ring a person cannot blow up alone will one day let them drown, admits he was glad to be leaned on, and thanks her. Before the move he tells Hijiri there was someone else he came to hold dear, and she admits the same. They leave for Fukuoka together, smiling.
Shunsuke Daitoas Takuya Nakayama
Maiko's husband, who begins an affair with a junior colleague after the transfer.
Naomi Nishidaas Hijiri Futaba
Futaba's wife, who is having an affair with her young pottery teacher.
Misako Renbutsuas Ayumi Fukuda
Takuya's junior at work, once the manager of his university rugby club, now his lover.
Juri Tanakaas Yu Tamiya
The young pottery teacher with whom Hijiri is having an affair.
Why it matters
Ukiwa takes on the most delicate case in the affair drama: two people, both betrayed, who fall for each other and do not have an affair. Its subtitle says it, more than friends, less than an affair, and the whole series lives in that gap, on two balconies divided by a partition. It is honest about the loneliness of a marriage in which one partner has simply stopped coming home, and about how comfort can turn into dependence. Its central image is a rubber ring, and its conclusion is unsentimental: being kept afloat by someone else can save a person, but it is not a life, and each of them has to learn to swim. It leaves a hard question about fidelity: whether a love that never touches is a betrayal too.