Dear Grandpa (S)

This is a heart-warming story with Los Angeles as backdrop. Hana is a Japanese American girl, the only child of a Japanese family living in Los Angeles. At the age of six, her maternal grandfather, Isamu, leaves Japan to live his daughter's family in Los Angeles and receive medical care there. He speaks English with a thick accent, does radio calisthenics every morning and plays Shogi as his hobby. Hana has trouble communicating with her grandfather and stays distant with him. In one casual opportunity, Hana gets to learn Shogi from Isamu and falls in love with the game. Playing Shogi brings Hana and Isamu closer together. However, a certain incident causes Hana to stop playing Shogi and her distance with Isamu increases as she grows older. During a visit back home as a college student, Hana learns that Isamu has been battling a heart disease on top of a deteriorating condition of Alzheimer's. Realizing that her time with Grandpa is limited and chances of playing Shogi with him again is scarce, Hana musters the courage to approach her grandfather again, after many years of avoiding him.—Toru