Umi Matsuzaki/Synopsis

The story of Umi Matsuzaki from the 2011 Studio Ghibli film From Up on Poppy Hill.
==Background==
Umi Matsuzaki was born to her father Yuichiro Sawamura and her mother Ryoko Matsuzaki (daughter of Hana Matsuzaki who owns Coquelicot Manor). The latter of two of which Umi inherited her last name from. Eventually her mother would give birth to her sister Sora Matsuzaki and brother Riku Matsuzaki.
Her father brought supplies in the and taught her signal flags. He taught her to raise the signal flags on the balcony where they hung up their laundry. The two flags meant "safe voyages", and Umi would hang them up everyday, and she would raise them every time her father left port and would only taken them down, when her dad's ship moored at the harbor. However, her dad was killed in the Korean War when his supply ship struck a mine. So instead she didn't stop raising them, to keep her memories of her father alive. To add to that she also pays her respects to her father with a fresh flowers and a glass of water every morning.
Eventually she moved to her maternal grandmother's house, Coquelicot Manor. However she was sad, and couldn't stop crying because there was nowhere to raise her father's flags to honor his memory. So her unnamed grandfather built her a flagpole to raise them. Umi's grandfather would die sometime later.
After a while Umi would become a 16 year old girl known as "the girl who raises flags", as she raises the same pair of signal flags every single morning and takes them down every night. Apart from honoring her father, she cooks and cares for the family, doing most of the chores like washing, cleaning, cooking and shopping. While her mother went to America to study. Umi also takes care of boarders Miki Hokuto, Saori Makimura and Sachiko Hirokōji. Her grandmother hired a maid named Tomoko Shirakito to assist Umi. She would also become a junior student at Konan Academy High School. Her younger sister, Sora also goes there. They seem to have lunch together regularly at the school.
==Meeting Shun Kazama==
She is first seen in the movie doing her daily routine: making breakfast for her family, having a glass of water, tending to flowers and raising her flags as she looks at the sea. She then has breakfast with the residents of Coquliequt manor. Makimura enters the kitchen first. Then Miki comes in with a tired face. She had had night shift and that day she has night shift again. Umi assures her to save dinner for her. Riku enters the kitchen next. His socks no longer fit him and he eats a lot. Breakfast looks European: Salad, fried egg, salami. Miki has doused everything with soy sauce. The Japanese love soy sauce. But Makimura reminds her that she doesn't like soy, but unfortunately says too late. Sachiko Hirokouji enters the room next. She goes by the nickname Hiro, which is the abbreviation of her family name. Riku is impatient and already wants to start eating. However, he is admonished to wait for his grandmother. When the grandmother arrives, bon appétit is wished and then the household eats together. Sora then comes in. After the meal, Umi leaves the house where she meets Tomoko. She is driven by her husband Gen. She does not live in the house and works as a housewife. 
She goes to Hana's house to register. Gen offers to drive Umi to school. However, Umi declines with thanks, reasoning that she does not have a long way to go to school. She does the laundry then puts her uniform on, asks Tomoko to finish the laundry. Then leaves to go to Konan Academy High School. On the way she is asked by Gen Shiraki, husband of Tomoko Shirakito, if Umi wants a ride. To which she replies that she is going to walk. At Konan Academy, Umi meets her friends Nobuko Yokoyama and Yuuko. Nobuko hands her today's school newspaper (5/14/1963) and points out the poem at the bottom left:
The poem describes Umi's morning ritual of flag signaling. The author is Shun Kazama of the newspaper club. Yoshino, who is in the math club, is standing next to the girls and overheard. He thinks that Umi had better send messages in bottles soon. This upsets Nobuko and she immediately voices her opinion. The teacher enters the classroom and the lesson begins.
Nobuko is easily angered. This is shown at lunch when she returns from the canteen and sits down with Yuuko and Umi. Yuuko comments that there is curry again. Somewhat annoyed, Nobuko comments back. Suddenly, boys pour out and many stick their necks out of their classroom. The girls are surprised. Standing on a rooftop are Shun Kazama and Shirou Mizunuma. Shun pushes forward to the edge of the roof. Shirou gives the command to raise the banners. From the class windows, banners with the words demolition counter-demonstration roll down. In the schoolyard, the fence over the school pond is carried away. The photographers are ready. Shun jumps and falls first into the bushes and then rolls flying to the school pond.
During lunch she meets meets Shun Kazama unexpectedly when he jumps into a pool of water, while the crowd of students cheers at Shun's daring action, Umi anxiously and reflexively rushes to the pond. As Shun pokes his head out of the water, he looks at Umi and then reaches out his hand. Umi pulls Shun out of the pond. When she realizes she is being photographed and the whole school is looking at her, she pulls her hand back and Shun falls back into the water. Shun gets hoisted back up by other members.
In the evening, Umi returns home. She meets Tomoko, who mentions that she bought fish on sale. Umi says that she will fry the fish. She goes to see her grandmother Hana, who lives in the small house section of the manor. Hana praises Umi for her good work around the house, but Umi deflects the praise to Tomoko. Hana wonders if Umi is overworking herself and says that seeing the flag signal every morning makes her sad. She wishes Umi would soon find someone to distract her from her sadness. Sora tells Makimura and Sachiko what happened at school and talks about Shun's fan club stating that Shun Kazama is a livewire. As Umi runs down the flags, she notices that Shun looks a lot like her father Yuuichirou Sawamura. Before going to bed, Umi reads today's school newspaper again.
The next day after school, Sora tells Umi that she bought a picture of Shun jumping for 30 yen. Umi is surprised by this, in the English dub she says that the picture is a waste of money, while in the English dub, she just asks "30 yen?" as if she is questioning Sora's decision. Umi is asked by Sora to go into the Latin Quarter clubhouse to get Shun's autograph. Approaching the Latin Quarter clubhouse, Umi and Sora are slightly disgusted by the decaying sight of the building as they enter. The old historic clubhouse is located to the left of the main building. The two girls meet the astronomy club in front of the house: a club of two guys with a telescope. The girls ask how to get to the newspaper club. Then they enter the house. Inside it looks very chaotic. Dust is sticking everywhere, ropes are hanging down and the floors are littered with all kinds of things. The ropes serve as a pulley. They are greeted by a boy in a hut. Again they ask the same question. Then they go up one more floor and meet the philosophy club: a boy in a hut. The philosophy student tries to win the girls over to his club and asks if they like to read Friedrich Nietzsche. But their conversation is interrupted by three members of the chemistry club: A yellow-green cloud comes out of the lab. The three boys, who are doing basic research, flee out. The girls continue to the next floor, where the chemistry club is located. The floor is also home to the drama club and the technology club.
On the 3rd floor there is a yellow tent and the club room of the Literature Club, Archaeology Club and Newspaper Club. In front of the club room, the girls meet two members of the Literature Club. Yamazaki is initially surprised to see girls standing in front of him. He greets them and introduces himself. Then he lets them enter the club room. The archeology club is discussing how to recruit new members. This is because they have recently lost members. The girls meet Shun and Shirou in the room. Sora hands Shun the photo. He looks at it questioningly. Shirou says to him to sign it. Shirou asks the girls if they can be helpful because he is busy with the demolition demonstration. Shirou is the student representative of the whole school. Shirou's physics test is to be printed. Shun explains that Shirou has always done very well in physics. However, the physics teacher Suzuki did not give him a full score on the last test. Sora accompanies Shirou, who wants to come back at 6 p.m. to pick up Shun for the clubhouse meeting. Shun gives Umi a linoleum sheet to transfer the text onto. Meanwhile, Shun prints the newspaper for the next day. At 6:00 p.m., Shirou returns. Surprised by the late hour, Umi rushes home.
Curry is on Umi's cooking schedule. She asks Sachiko, who is also called Hiro, to help her. Sachiko gets vegetables by opening the trap door in the floor. When Umi looks in the refrigerator, she notices that there is no more pork. She used the meat for lunch. She asks Sora and Riku to buy pork. However, they are too busy watching TV with Hana. So Umi has to go shopping herself. She meets Shun, who rides her down to the valley on a bicycle. At the butcher's she buys 400g of pork for 230 yen. Shun eats his bread and gives her one. He needs the snack for the long ride home because he lives by the port. They say goodbye.
Umi enters Sachiko's room in the morning because Sachiko did not show up for breakfast. She thinks that Sachiko is sick. Sachiko is still in bed and tired because she painted at night. She looks at the painting Sachiko made and recognizes the flag signal on a boat - It answers to Umi's flag signal.
In the morning, Shun shows the finished page to Umi and he praises her for her good handwriting. However, they have to hurry because otherwise they would be late for class. After school, Noboku and Yuuko ask if Umi wants to have ice cream with them. Normally, they would be at their school club. But because of the debate, it's canceled. Umi declines because she has to go fish shopping. Because Tomoko has taken the day off. So the two go to the debate in the auditorium. Umi is at the market and is about to buy fish when she spontaneously decides to go to the debate.
On stage are the clubhouse speaker and Shirou. The speaker announces that the clubhouse will be torn down because 80% of the students want to build a new one. This triggers a loud discussion. Shun walks to the stage and speaks up: "Destroying something old is the same as forgetting the past. By doing so, you disrespect your ancestors who lived before you and are now dead. Those who always cry out for the new and do not respect history will no longer have a future. And if you do not want to hear the opinion of the minority, then you do not have the right to call yourselves democrats. As a result, the majority sweeps him off the stage. A quarrel ensues, which is ended by Shirou's singing of a sailor song. Then an official, accompanied by a man in white, enters the auditorium. They cross the room and then leave again without a word; in the singing of the students:
==Fixing up the Latin Quarter with Shun Kazama==
On the way home, Umi suggests to Shun that they renovate the clubhouse. Umi would arrange for the girls to help. Shun gives her linoleum sheets. She then rushes to the market to buy fish. In the evening, Sora tells Miki what happened at school while Umi is working on the film. Through Miki you learn a lot about Shirou: Shirou is the student representative of the whole school, Miki's younger brother is in Shirou's class, Shirou's older sister is an astrophysicist. Makimura puts a whiskey bottle on the table. Umi goes to get cheese. Miki announces that her doctor training will soon be over. She wants to have a graduation party and asks if Umi wants to invite some of her friends.
The next day, Umi raises another flag signal. Shun and Shirou stand behind her. Shun deciphers the flag signal: Hokuto. The two boys are invited to the graduation party in the garden. Miki has invited her former classmates and the housemates. Tomoko cooks and Umi, who brings the sushi, is the waitress.
After dinner, Umi gives Shun a tour of the big house, which is 60 years old. She tells him that the house used to be a hospital. From the hallway to the balcony, you can see the flags. She goes on to say that her father taught her how to raise flags. After his death, her mother and her three children had to move in with her grandparents. Her grandfather saw that his granddaughter was very sad. So he built the flagpole so that she could raise the flags. Above the hallway hangs the wooden sign with cats. Her grandfather loves cats. Across the balcony is her grandfather's office. The office belongs to her mother. There is a photo wall in the office where Umi points to her father's photo. Shun recognizes the photo and is shocked. Umi takes out a folder from the table. In the folder is a photo of three men. Shun looks at it and mentions Umi's father's name: Yuuichirou Sawamura. Umi tells about her father: Sawamura was a captain of a supply ship in the Korean War. The ship was hit by a water mine and sunk. He did not survive. Yuuichirou and Umi's mother Ryouko have different last names. The two wanted to get married, but Ryouko's parents did not approve. So she ran away from home to live with Sawamura.
After the ceremony, everyone goes home. On the way home, Shun thinks about his biological father. He walks slowly and arrives home late. His mother is worried. He is met by his father Akio Kazama who is watching a baseball game. Shun takes the photo from a book. The next day, when the girls' cleaning crew enters the clubhouse, Shirou gives a speech of thanks. Then the girls and boys begin cleaning. In the literature clubroom, Shun and Umi clean up. In the process, she discovers the collection of math exams. Umi notes that Miki had full marks on the math final exam. Shun leans down to her with interest, then, without a word, walks out of the room to repair. They don't speak to each other since. Even when Umi says goodbye to Sora and Shun stands by, Shun doesn't say hello back. In the evening, Shirou asks Shun in the bathroom what happened between him and Umi. Shun doesn't want to answer.
The next morning, Shun asks his father Akio Kazama if Yūichirō Sawamura is his biological father. Akio responds that they have already discussed it. Then there is silence. Akio tells how he got Shun: One evening, shortly after World War 2, Sawamura came to Akio's house with a baby in his arms. The baby was born the same year as Umi. He told him that he registered the baby under his name at the office because he didn't want to give it to an orphanage. When Akio's wife saw the baby, her joy shone all over her face. Immediately she took it and breastfed it. She was happy about the baby because she had recently lost her own. Often Sawamaru came to help the two.
Akio adds that Shun increasingly resembles Sawamura as he gets older and that he will remain his father no matter what comes. That morning, Shun did not raise the flag signal. At Matsuzaki's house, Miki packs her things. Umi says goodbye to Miki before heading to school. At the school gate, Shun hands out today's student newspapers. He does not speak to her while doing so. After school, Umi stands at the school gate waiting for Shun. Then, Shun comes and accompanies her on the way home. Umi confronts him about his strange behavior. He tells her that they are siblings and that they should remain friends from now on.
Umi is very sad. The housemates sensed her sadness because dinner didn't taste good and because she came home unusually late. They ask Sora what is wrong with her. During the night, Umi dreams about the loss of her father. She, as a child, walks in her neighborhood before seemingly waking up. She walks down the stairs in her sleepwear and finds her mother making a meal. Surprised, Umi asks when she came back, to which her mother replies that she’s “always been here”. Umi hears her father calling for her and embraces him, with him saying that he’s come back after her flags led him back and that he’ll be staying for a long time. She wakes up in tears.
Despite the rain, Umi raises flags in the morning. Two of Miki's former classmates look at the renovation work on the clubhouse. They assure Shirou that they will prevent the demolition. At the clubhouse, Noboku shows the student philosopher how to plaster walls. Her father works at a construction site and taught her. Shun talks to Umi again. She wanted to help in the evening. She has time to do it because Sora is doing the cooking today. Shun gives her linoleum sheets. She says goodbye.
==Meeting with the chairman of the school board==
Days pass and the repairs are completed: The bell rings. Umi already wants to go home, but Shirou asks her to stay. He announces the bad news that the clubhouse is to be demolished. The students agree that Shun, Shirou and Umi should represent the school and go to Tokyo, to which Sora wishes good luck to Umi that night. They meet at the train station and travel to Tokyo, while they are preparing for the multiple signs are shown of it. 
They register with the receptionist for an impromptu visit with Tokumaru. Then they take the elevator to the 4th floor, where Tokumaru's secretary receives them and brings them drinks. After a long wait, Tokumaru, wearing sandals, receives the trio. He takes them to his office. Shirou asks him to visit the clubhouse. He looks at Umi and asks how old she is and why she cares about the clubhouse. Umi responds by saying that everyone loves the house and that's why they all worked hard to renovate it. Then he asks her what her father does for a living. She tells him that her father was a captain and how he was killed in the Korean War. Tokumaru comments that it must have been hard for her mother to raise all three children and that she did a good job. He assures the trio that he will visit them at the clubhouse the next afternoon, which greatly surprises and delights them. He calls his secretary to reschedule his appointments for Friday. Thankfully, the trio says goodbye.
Then Shirou leaves the group because he wants to visit his uncle in Tokyo. At Tokyo's port, Umi and Shun exchange ideas about what they want to be when they grow up. Shun is still unsure what he wants to study. Umi wants to be a doctor. Before Umi gets on the streetcar, Umi tells Shun that she believes he is "summoned to her by her dad". Despite the possibility of them being siblings, she confesses that even if they were siblings she would still love him. To which he replies he feels the same way.
At home, Umi sees her mother Ryouko Matsuzaki's red shoes. She runs to her. The mother has brought beef jerky, which Riku and Sachiko are eating. The mother was in the United States for medical training. While the mother is unpacking her suitcase, Umi tells her about Shun being her biological brother. The mother tells of the day her father brought the baby home: Since Yuuichirou Sawamura traveled a lot, Ryouko had to do a lot of things herself. Ryouko studied medicine and Umi grew in her womb. One evening Sawamura came home with baby Shun in his arms. He said that the baby was the son of Hiroshi Tachibana. Tachibana was killed in an accident on a repair ship. The mother died in childbirth and relatives died in the Nagasaki nuclear strike. Sawamura could not give Shun to an overcrowded orphanage. Because Tachibana was his close friend and he could not do such a thing to his only child. So he had to register Shun as his child at the civil office. However, Ryouko could not raise a second child. Finally, he went to Akio Kazama and gave him the child. However, Umi continues to have concerns because Shun is very similar to her father. She cries in her mother's arms.
The next morning, Ryuko does the household chores. After the children leave for school, she calls Akio to meet him. They meet at a pub. In the afternoon, Tokumaru, accompanied by the school principal and a man, visits the clubhouse. All the students are waiting for him at the clubhouse. Tokumaru asks the astronomy club what they have found out so far. They answer that they have been observing the sun for 10 years. Their conclusion: the sun is very old and our life span, on the other hand, is very short. Tokumaru smiles while the school principal in the background shakes his head. He moves on to the philosophy club, which has two new members. The hut is pink and has the German phrase Was ist das Leben ohne Liebesglanz on the right side. He asks the philosophy student if he wants a bigger shack. The student quotes Diogenes: The philosophy club can be content with just a barrel. The students sing a song for Tokumaru.
He swivels his head to look at the students around him. Then he announces, the demolition of the clubhouse is canceled. The students cheer loudly and celebrate Umi as a hero. Akio calls Shun and says that Yoshio Onodera, the third man in the photo both Umi and Shun have of their fathers (which was also the photo responsible for their beliefs that they could possibly related), will be in port today and that he knows exactly about his biological father. The ship will leave at 4pm and won't be back in port for months. Shun and Umi have 40 minutes left. They walk in the direction of the harbor. They meet Gen, who gives them a ride to the harbor. However, they get stuck in a traffic jam later. So they continue walking to the harbor, where Akio's ship is already waiting for them. The two arrive on Onodera's ship Koyo Maru Yokohama. Captain Onodera orders his sailors to delay departure by 15 minutes. He shows a photo of Tachibana's crew and begins to narrate:
Hiroshi Tachibana was a captain and commanded a division of ships. In the photo, he is sitting on the chair between Onodera and Sawamaru. Shun's father is Tachibana, who was killed in an accident on a repair ship. His wife died giving birth to Shun. Then he tells Umi about her father what Ryoko had already told her. In Japanese, Yoshio states that seeing Umi and Shun makes him more happy than he's ever been as he feels like being with his old friends while in English, he states that he is proud that Umi and Shun are the legacy of his friends. Umi and Shun go back to shore and possibly continue their relationship off screen. The next morning, Umi raises the flag signal as usual.
Category:Synopsis