108 Bells

Every New Year's Eve at midnight, 108 strikes of the bell are heard in all Japanese temples – the number of earthly sins that prevent humanity from achieving happiness and finding harmony. Each strike of the bell releases one of these sins, symbolizing that with the arrival of the new year, a new life will begin, free from burdens and suffering.

Sohara Mamoru was born on the smallest of all Japanese islands on New Year's Eve with the last strike of the bell, and this circumstance changed his entire life. He learned early on to fix everything that went wrong. And Sohara fixed not only things – with an encouraging smile, a kind word, or a sympathetic silence, he selflessly tried to support the people around him and ease their pain. Sohara did not know that by merely existing, he brought faith in small miracles to the lives of his neighbors. He had no idea how much he meant to the villagers until a letter that arrived on the eve of yet another New Year turned his whole life upside down – and until all the islanders united to repay him for all the good he had done.