2011 Santa Barbara International Film Festival

Based on the real life experience of sci-fi novelist, Taku Mayumura, and starring Tsuyoshi Kusanagi and Yuko Takeuchi, 1778 Stories of Me and My Wife tells the inspirational tale of a man struggling to aid his wife as she battles a terminal disease.

Science-fiction writer Saku Makimura (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi) is devoted to his wife, Setsuko (Yuko Takeuchi).  Childhood sweethearts, they have spent 16 inseparable years together.  Illness, however, threatens to destroy the blissful symbiotic existence the couple has created as Setsuko has been diagnosed with cancer, with only one year to live at best.  Overwhelmed and in despair, Saku can't bring himself to tell her the devastating news.

When Setsuko’s doctor alludes to the strength that laughter can bring in bolstering the body's immunities, Saku pours heart and soul into writing one story a day for his beloved partner, in an effort to lighten her spirits.  And so, five years and 1,778 stories later, Saku discovers he has written an ode to love that no romance novel could hope to match.