Wissenswertes

Was the highest-grossing Japanese film in South Korea, except Japanese animation.

Scenes set in Kobe were actually shot in Otaru. Kobe gets very little snow, whereas Otaru being farther north (on the island of Hokkaido) gets considerable snowfall. In the scene under the opening credits of the film, Hiroko walks through deep snow to a group of houses downhill. She actually starts walking along the lowermost portion of a ski run on Mt. Tengu that terminates in the street where the houses are found. Otaru stretches out below the houses, with Ishikari Bay of the Sea of Japan on the horizon.

Near the end of the film Itsuki recalls the time of her father's funeral in flashback. The music playing under this scene is called "A Winter Story" and begins with a piano solo. The piano for this piece is played by eight year old Yui Makino.

Itsuki works in the Otaru library in the film. The building used for both exterior and interior library scenes was originally an office of the Nippon Yusen Co. Ltd., a major shipping company. This two-story European Renaissance stone structure was completed in October, 1906, and shortly after its completion, the commission to determine the Russo-Japanese border on Sakhalin Island met in the second floor meeting room in accordance with the Portsmouth Treaty following the conflict between the two countries. The building was bought by the city of Otaru in 1955 and became a museum. In March, 1969 it was designated as a National Heritage Structure due to being an important late Meiji period stone structure.

Most of the film was shot in the Otaru area on the island of Hokkaido. The only exception among the exterior scenes is near the end of the film as Hiroko faces the mountain where her ex-fiance' Itsuki died in a climbing accident two years earlier. Although the house where she spent the night is actually on Hokkaido, the view from it in the film is of Mt. Yatsugadake. She is standing before it on the Nobeyama Highland at sunrise. Yatsugadake literally means "eight peaks" and the peak she is addressing is named "Aka-dake" or "red peak" which is the highest of the eight peaks at 2896 meters. This volcanic peak lies about 120 kms northwest of Tokyo and is in fact frequented by climbers. There is a magnificent view of Mt. Fuji from the summit.