@mario thanks for the translation of the title of Maborosi! I saw it for the first time last night. I find his later films much more obvious and approachable. Maborosi and Distance were both a little too subtle for me. I wonder if it's the films or something about the cultural or literal translation.

Both were featured prominently in this video essay, https://kogonada.com/portfolio/the-world-according-to-koreeda-hirokazu and I thought the themes raised by #Kogonada in that video were not the ones you'd pick from the later career of #KoreEda. So yes, I'll have to rewatch them both with a different perspective in mind.