Asako in Ruby Shoes

Between Japan and Korea, Tokyo and Seoul, two people are living parallel lives: U-In is a civil servant who works in the City Hall recycling and rubbish collection department. Recycling is for life, as is his job. Aya is a student struggling to come to terms with adulthood while studying for her college entrance exams. Having recently lost her grandmother and admiring her grandfather's suicide by holding his breath, she begins to fantasize about taking her own life. For this she needs money. U-In is a loner, with a palpable indifference to his job and his life in general. He turns to the internet for companionship. Aya too turns to the internet, by posting herself on a personals site and changing her name to Asako. Somehow they meet both on and offline.