Deliveries from the Heart - True stories from Mercari

Six dramatized stories based on true-life events connected to the popular Japanese flea market service Mercari explores the lives of ordinary folk in the country – and how family, friends, and more stay connected in modern society. Riku (Marie Iitoyo) is a delivery operator for a major logistics firm named Elephant Express. She is contracted to make a series of deliveries to some very different households. In the first story, Riku delivers an unusual package full of memories to a new owner. Secondly, a soon-to-be-divorced couple decides to have a final meal together before going on their separate ways – but could this final, civilized act have far-reaching consequences? In the third story, a hobbyist who enjoys making small trinkets to sell for minor sums on the Mercari marketplace runs into a buyer at a railway station. In story number four, a neighbor takes objection to a mother of four whose exasperated scolding of her offspring raises the noise levels unacceptably high. In the penultimate story, a family that has moved to the countryside starts growing flowers in an empty field – and starts gaining interest from potential buyers on the Mercari platform. And in the final episode, Riku’s father is hospitalized – and he asks her to watch a videotape featuring footage of her late grandparents. “Deliveries from the Heart – True Stories from Mercari” is a 2020 Japanese drama series that was directed by Kenji Katagiri.