accompanied by the dog Chibi, whom he and Sayo found abandoned and injured. Marino Kuwashima as Sayo Arima, Sota's soulmate and best friend. She is a member of the wealthy Arima family, and thus her father opposes her relationship with Sota. Teruyuki Kagawa as Masamitsu Arima, Sayo's father. He is a rich merchant in the village, and Sota's grandfather works for him. He strongly opposes the relationship between Sota and his daughter Sayo because he hopes that she will marry into a rich family. Rei Dan as Kiyo Arima, Sayo's mother. She is caught between her husband's resistance to Sota and her belief in romantic love. Maiko as Yasuko Hasegawa, Sayo's granddaughter in the present. Manabu Yamamoto as the old man, who delivers the letter which sparks the flashback of this incident. He is also Sota's half-brother and Haigo's son. Tadanobu Asano as the circus clown, Haigo. He is also Sota's father, but does not tell him. He helps Sota find the legendary "night-sky" paint, and tells Sota to paint whatever his heart desires. Katsuo Nakamura as Masayoshi Harada, Sota's grandfather. He gives many words of wisdom to Sota, and gently advises Sota not to hate anyone or bear any grudges for the circumstances and predicaments in his life. He later dies due to a long-running illness. Keiko Kishi as Sayo in the present. Production Development Snow Prince was directed by Joji Matsuoka, whose previous works include the films Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (2007) and Sayonara, Kuro (2003). Kundō Koyama wrote the screenplay of his film. Snow Prince is Kundo Koyama's second work, after his work on the Departures, which won the Best Foreign Language Film award at the 81st Academy Awards. The film was inspired by the 1872 English novel A Dog of Flanders, written by Marie Louise de la Ramée, and by the film Small Love Melody, both of which were popular with Japanese audiences and well known in Japan. In the movie, an Akita dog was used instead of the Flemish breed used in the novel, and the setting was moved to Yamagata Prefecture in Japan instead of Flanders, Belgium. When asked about these changes, director Joji Matsuoka said that "this film is not specifically shot at any location" and that he used an Akita because it is "representative of Japan". Asahi Shinbun reported that Snow Prince's script was also partly inspired by