Antarctica

Drama

In February 1958, the Second Cross-Winter Expedition for the Japanese Antarctic Surveying Team rode on the icebreaker Souya to take over from the 11-man First Cross-Winter Expedition. Due to the extreme weather conditions in Antarctica, Souya could not get near enough to the Shouwa Base and they decided not to proceed with the stay-over.

The First Cross-Winter Expedition retreated by helicopter, but they had to leave 15 Sakhalin Huskies at the unmanned Shouwa Base. The dogs were left chained at the base, as the team thought that they would be returning, but they did not due to fuel shortages. The team was worried about the dogs, as the weather was extremely cold and only one week of food was available.

Nearly a year later, on 14 January 1959, Kitagawa, one of the dog handlers in the first expedition, returned with the Third Cross-Winter Expedition, wanting to bury his beloved dogs. To everyone's surprise, they were greeted warmly at the base by two dogs, Taro and Jiro, brothers who were born on Antarctica.

The movie took over three years to make. It was filmed at the northern tip of Hokkaido.