Uploaded March 2021 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago

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I hope you enjoy this Japanese Ghibli Vocal Cover of the beautiful song Sayonara no natsu from the movie ”From up on Poppy Hill“. Vocals by aFlowerSmiles, piano accompaniment played by me.

The original version is composed by Kouichi Sakata, lyrics by Yukiko Marimura and vocals by Aoi Teshima.

Please activate English subtitles for translation. Please activate Japanese subtitles to sing along with Romanji transcription.

I am very happy to present the second collaboration with aFlowerSmiles. Sayonara no natsu is really dear to my heart and Flower sings so beautifully The melody, harmonies and meaningfulness of the lyrics mean a lot to me.

Please visit aFlowerSmiles for more Ghibli Covers: youtube.com/user/aFlowerSmiles

Need relaxation and rest? Try out my Ghibli Piano Playlist: youtu.be/PzUiA9mNVNk

I hope that this cover brought you humanity into times that are not so easy.



From Up on Poppy Hill (Japanese: コクリコ坂から, Hepburn: Kokuriko-zaka Kara, "From Coquelicot Hill") is a 2011 Japanese animated drama film directed by Gorō Miyazaki, scripted by Hayao Miyazaki and Keiko Niwa, animated by Studio Ghibli for the Nippon Television Network, Dentsu, Hakuhodo DY Media Partners, Walt Disney Japan, Mitsubishi, and Toho, and distributed by the latter company. It is based on the 1980 serialized manga of the same name illustrated by Chizuru Takahashi and written by Tetsurō Sayama.

From Up on Poppy Hill premiered on July 16, 2011, in Japan. It received positive reviews from most film critics and grossed $61 million worldwide. An English version was distributed by GKIDS; it was released to theaters on March 15, 2013, in North America.


Plot

Umi Matsuzaki is a sixteen-year-old high school student living in 'Coquelicot Manor', a boarding house overlooking the Port of Yokohama in Japan. Her mother, Ryoko, is a medical professor studying in the United States. Umi runs the house and looks after her younger siblings and her grandmother. Each morning, Umi raises a set of signal flags with the message "I pray for safe voyages".
One day, a poem about the flags being raised is published in the school newspaper. Shun Kazama, the poem's author, witnesses the flags from sea as he rides his father's tugboat to school. Umi accompanies her sister to obtain Shun's autograph at the Quartier Latin, an old building housing their high school's clubs. She learns that Shun publishes the school newspaper, along with Shirō Mizunuma, the student government president. Shun convinces the other students to renovate the Quartier Latin, which may be demolished.
At 'Coquelicot Manor', Umi shows Shun a photograph of three young naval men. One of these men is her deceased father, Yūichirō Sawamura, who was killed in the Korean War. Shun is stunned to see it as it is revealed that he has a duplicate of the photograph. His father reveals that Yūichirō arrived at their house one evening with an infant Shun, shortly after the end of World War II. The Kazamas had recently lost their infant so they adopted Shun. Shun tries to avoid Umi and reveals they may be siblings. Having checked the city records, he discovers that both their names are in the Sawamura family registry. Umi hides her feelings and they continue as friends.
The renovation of the Quartier Latin is complete but the Kanagawa Prefectural Board of Education decides to proceed with the building's demolition anyway. Shun, Umi, and Shirō visit Tokyo, which is in preparation for the 1964 Summer Olympics, and meet with Tokumaru, the school board's chairman. They successfully convince him to visit the Quartier Latin. Umi later professes her love to Shun, and he reciprocates in spite of their situation.
Back home, Umi discovers that her mother has returned. Her mother reveals that Shun's father was Hiroshi Tachibana — the second man in the photo. In 1945, Tachibana was killed in an accident on a repatriation ship. Shun's mother died in childbirth, and his other relatives were killed in the atomic bombing of Nagasaki. Ryoko was unable to raise Shun, as she was pregnant with Umi. Yūichirō registered the child as his own to avoid leaving Shun as an orphan in the confused postwar years, but Shun was eventually given to the Kazamas.
Tokumaru visits the Quartier Latin and, impressed by the students' efforts, cancels the demolition. Umi and Shun are summoned to the harbor. They meet Yoshio Onodera, now a ship's captain and the third man in the photograph, as well as the sole survivor of the three. Confirming that Umi and Shun are not related by blood, he tells the full story of the three men. With everything resolved, Umi resumes her daily routine of raising the flags, but now, it's not just for her father.

#SayonaraNoNatsu #FromUpOnPoppyHill #StudioGhibli