Japanese food in films, 5 movies worth your attention

What comes in your mind when we talk about 'food'? The image of your favorite food? Or the figure of your mom's back cooking at the kitchen? For me, it's the heavenly taste of shrimp dumpling I ate back then at a Chinese Muslims restaurant. Unconsciously, it also reminds me of the people whom I spent together at the restaurant. I enjoy food hunting with my small circle of friends, whether it be a coffee to pastry, cheese naan to chicken tandoori or even the best nasi kerabu in town.

Apart from being obsessed in taking food photos and eating good food, I have fun spending my time seating through mouthwatering Japanese food films. Their story are not merely about the food, it is also about how food actually bringing the people together. If you are familiar with Japanese dramas or movies, they are probably the best at producing slice of life based films. Recently, I go through my curious cat account and I realized that there are quite a number of people who ask for my recommendation on Japanese dramas and movies. I feel the need to share some of the food genre films I have encountered so far, so let's go through this in no specific order. You can click on the title for the trailer.

1. Little Forest; Summer and Autumn / Winter and Spring (2015)

Taking into account that this is a recommendation, I will give you a glimpse of what the story is about without going deeper into it. Based on a manga written by Daisuke Igarashi, Little Forest is a two parts food genre film, it covers all four seasons of the year. It begins with Summer and Autumn, follow up by Winter and Spring in the second part. Set in a small village named Komori (means Little Forest) surrounded by rivers, trees, fruits and vegetables, it will bring you to a whole new experience of living in rural Japan. The story revolves around Ichiko (Ai Hashimoto) who goes back to her small hometown leaving the big city life.

I had a great time watching it, it took me quite a while to finish the movie. It offers you breathtaking scenery, detail food preparations, friendship and a little bit of family content. There are some recipes that you can try at home considering the ingredients needed. At some point, I feel the closeness of living in a rural area where most of the organic ingredients are freshly available at the back of your house. Little Forest go through a remarkable recipes includes homemade Nutella and bread jam. If you are a foodie looking for a pleasure food-related movie with lines of wisdom, then you don't want to miss this.

2. Udon (2006)

I was first introduced to Udon by Tofu when there are days that I need a recommendation myself. And guess what, the film is a revelation for me! Just to make sure that you will not end up licking your television or laptop screen, fill up your stomach before hitting the play button. Udon is a story of Kosuke (Yusuke Santamaria) a failed stand-up comedian at New York who goes back to his hometown and end up engaging himself with Udon. As the title given, the story involves around Udon, the soupy noodle, the udon-eating show and the craze happened because of the udon. Again, it is not merely about the food but it also covers the relationship between Kosuke and his father which is pretty moving in my view. Filmed in a rural area of Sanuki, Udon introduces you to a family, friends and the community connection to the food.

p/s: I can't seem to find the trailer for udon.

3. Bread of Happiness (2012)

Another gem in the Japanese film industry starring the veteran combination Tomoyo Harada and Yo Oizumi, Shiawase no Pan (Bread of Happiness) is a story of a married couple who open up a bakery restaurant named Mani. The plot involves around the bakery where it connects the owners and their customers who come during Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. The interesting part of the story is the range of ages among the customers they received. From young adults to middle school student and old married couple, all of them leave the restaurant in a happy state. Simplicity yet comforted you in some way, astonishing setting, lovely characters and currently waiting for you to discover it by yourself.

4. Sweet Bean (2015)

If some of the films listed above makes you feel hungry, warm and comfort, Sweet Bean will gives you an emotional ride through the story. I discovered the story in twitter while stumbling over Vic's screencap of the film. The characters are alive and I always respect the details given in Japanese films. Kirin Kiki slowly leads the story and as it goes on you can feel the sentimental element of the movie. It begins at the dorayaki bakery store owned by an ex-prisoner Sentarou. One day, a gray hair woman, Tokue (Kirin Kiki), come over to the store and she is getting hired. They make delicious dorayaki with the help of Tokue who seems to be an expert in making homemade sweet bean. The plot takes turn in the middle of the story. The casts truly deliver, Tokue becomes such an inspiring figure and here's one of my favorite line from the film "I don't have a phone, I send letters". A simple line yet it brings much impact to me. Sweet Bean touches various aspect of Japanese and modern society also some things for us to ponder upon.

5. Kamome Diner (2006)

Filmed in the land of the midnight sun, Finland, Kamome Diner (translated as Seagull Diner) is a light-hearted food genre movie wrote and directed by Naoko Ogigami. Sachie (Satomi Kobayashi), a 38 year old Japanese woman decided to open a small diner at Helsinki, Finland instead of her own country Japan. Well, according to Sachie when being asked about the reason to open up her store there, she said it is because the Finnish and Japanese shared the same interest in salmon. The main menu of the diner is onigiri known as the all time Japanese soul food. The story takes a slow pace of Sachie and the changes happen at her diner. She later meets two other Japanese women who turn out helping her at her place.The film highlights different kind of customers-owner interaction, the humor, the silence, the details in food preparation and serving also the calm summer scenery in Finland. It is somehow refreshing to see the people connecting with each other based on different circumstances and incidents. A satisfying movie about warm food and interesting people!

With that, it is the end of the list, I hope you enjoy reading about the film! This is my first time writing a recommendation this long, so I feel a little bit insecure about it. And of course there are a lot more films that I have yet to watch, do let me know if you have some good ones. Leave me some comments if you have any requests or questions or anything you would like to say! My curious cat account is always open. Thank you for dropping by by the way :) Have a blessing day.

*Images are not mine