Platinum Town (2012)

Yamazaki Tetsuro (Oizumi Yo), an elite salaryman with Yotsui Corporation, returns to his hometown of Midorihara for the first time in years when his childhood friend, Kumazawa Kenji (Hirayama Koji), invites him to the class reunion. However, he can hardly recognise the Midorihara that he arrives at. The local town is experiencing a cash crunch. Tetsuro is asked by Kenji and others to rebuild Midorihara. He makes up his mind, resigns from his company and assumes the post of Midorihara’s mayor. Midorihara continued to inject money into financially unviable public work projects since the bubble era and now in debt to the tune of 15 billion yen. Tetsuro’s plan to save the town is to build a theme park for the elderly. It is an unprecedented proposal that Kamata Takezo (Emoto Akira), a senior town councilor, challenges. Tetsuro plunges ahead with transforming Midorihara into a ‘Platina Town’ where the elderly can live as they like, even as he faces a whirl of ulterior motives from proponents and opponents of the plan.