They both deal with music being the means by which you find your real passion. While Solanin has the more heavy topic of dealing with the death of a loved one, Cape No.7 also has the melancholy tone of "what if?" in its message. What if that love had survived and prospered? Would your life be happier now if you had just taken that leap of faith and loved without restraint?
On a spring day Munakata Ikujou visited an old temple to view a 1000 years old sakura tree. There Ikujou discovered a 3-year-old girl and adopted her as his own daughter. 16 years later, Sakurako has grown up to become a beautiful woman. Sakurako then has a fateful meeting with Takanashi Hiroto. Their pure love begin.
In the 1940s, near the end of the Japanese era of Taiwan, an unnamed teacher dispatched to the southernmost town of Hengchun falls in love with a local girl with the Japanese name Tomoko. After the Surrender of Japan, the teacher is forced to return home. On his trip back, he pens seven love letters to express his regret for leaving Tomoko.
More than 60 years after the teacher left Tomoko, Aga is introduced as a struggling young Hengchun-native rock band singer who could not find success in Taipei. After returning to his hometown, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the sender; the daughter of the now-deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them. Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to discover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Koushun District, Takao Prefecture can no longer be found.
Meantime a local resort hotel inside nearby Kenting National Park is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari, but Aga's stepfather makes use of his official position to insist that the opening band be composed of locals. Tomoko, an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Hengchun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather particular backgrounds.
More than 60 years after the teacher left Tomoko, Aga is introduced as a struggling young Hengchun-native rock band singer who could not find success in Taipei. After returning to his hometown, Aga comes across an undeliverable piece of mail that was supposed to be returned to the sender; the daughter of the now-deceased Japanese teacher has decided to mail the unsent love letters to Taiwan after discovering them. Aga unlawfully keeps and opens the package to discover its contents, but the old Japanese-style address Cape No. 7, Koushun District, Takao Prefecture can no longer be found.
Meantime a local resort hotel inside nearby Kenting National Park is organizing a beach concert featuring Japanese pop singer Kousuke Atari, but Aga's stepfather makes use of his official position to insist that the opening band be composed of locals. Tomoko, an over-the-hill Mandarin-speaking Japanese fashion model dispatched to Hengchun, is assigned the difficult task of managing this hastily assembled band, led by Aga along with six other locals of rather particular backgrounds.
