On November 8, 1956, the Sōya, carrying her team of fifty-three Japanese crew members and 22 sled dogs disembarked from the docks of Japan and headed south for the continent of Antarctica.
To make matters worse, a series of violent hurricanes battered the Icebreaker vessel, inflicting damage on both the crew members and the ship.
After a brief discussion with the government and also with the ship's crew, Shirosaki finally decided that after setting up the Japanese base, the First Cross-Winter Antarctic Expedition will be permitted to winter in Antarctica.
The team members spend the next few weeks building the new Showa Station, but during that time, several tragic events apparently slowed things down and left the men frustrated and stressed.
A few days later, three of the sled dogs (Moku, Tomu, and Mime) end up suffering serious injuries and are forced to return to Japan with the rest of the Sōya crew.
"Farewell, Our Beloved Friend" The Showa Station was finally completed and the Sōya set sail for Japan, leaving behind a team of eleven Japanese scientists and nineteen Sakhalin huskies to winter in Antarctica for a year.
To fix this situation, the men started ice-fishing and began catching a good number of gobies to replenish their shrunken food supply.
To make up for his mistakes, Inuzuka decided to accompany Kuramochi and Himuro on their most difficult challenge yet; to journey across the Antarctic wilderness and climb to the top of Botnnuten.
"Death of a Comrade" Kuramochi, joined by Himuro and Inuzuka, began his journey to fulfill the team's mission of climbing to the top of Mt.
With time constraints and the worsening weather conditions, the expedition team was forced to be quickly evacuated from the base back to the icebreaker Sōya.
As a result of miscalculations however, the ship did not have enough reserve fuel in its tanks to send in the second expedition team or bring back the fifteen Sakhalin huskies left behind at the station.
Himuro and Kuramochi both angrily and desperately begged Shirasaki and the icebreaker crew to go back for the dogs, reminding them that they had saved their lives during the expedition to Mt.
With the harsh weather conditions, badly damaged parts on the ship, and a shortage of fuel, the crew had no choice but to abandon the huskies at the base.
As Sōya sailed away from the continent bound for Japan, Riki and three other dogs (Deri, Anko, and Jiro) managed to loosen their collars and break free.
Kuramochi quit his university job and went on a mission to Hokkaido to meet with the owners of the abandoned Sakhalin huskies to share with them about the contributions made by their dogs in the expedition.
Within several days, the seven chained dogs (Goro, Moku, Aka, Kuro, Pochi, Pesu, and Kuma from Monbetsu) succumbed to hunger, bitter cold, and raw wounds around their necks from chafing at their tightened collars and died.
"The Curtain Falls...A Miracle Happens" Six months had already passed since the fifteen Sakhalin huskies had been stranded at the Showa research station in Antarctica.
Only five dogs were left alive (Riki, Kuma from Furen, Taro, Jiro, and Anko) as they continued to survive the harsh winter conditions in Antarctica.
Though the five dogs continued to survive in the harsh conditions of the brutal Antarctic winter and the coming of spring, hunting for food became difficult for them on the ice shelves.
Riki, Taro, and Jiro become devastated when Anko runs off into the darkness one spring night and disappears, while Kuma from Furen drifts out to sea on a small ice floe.
The Third Japanese Antarctic Expedition was launched with as much grandeur as the first, bound for Antarctica with the hopes of rescuing the sled dogs stranded at the Showa Base.
Upon arriving on the outskirts of Showa Base, Riki collapsed on a small hill nearby and thought back to the good memories he had with the Furutachi children, Kuramochi, and the other sled dogs as he lay dying.
Meanwhile, during the Third Japanese Antarctic Expedition, before the disembarkation of the team members and unloading of the equipment, Kuramochi was flown out by helicopter to check out the situation of the research station and the abandoned huskies.
He gave the deceased huskies an honorable send off linked via radio communication to the crew members aboard the icebreaker Sōya and the people of Japan.
Fifty years later, an elderly Kuramochi returned to Antarctica to visit the burial place of the sled dogs he had left behind in Japan, remembering the good times he had had with each of them.