The Charm of Japanese-Style Comfort Food in Kamo-me Diner

This film does not have much dialogue, but the story unfolds naturally.

The acting is calm, but it is not bland.

Rather, the performances that carry emotion stand out.

This is a film where you can feel the director’s sensibility, and it tells the story of people with their own histories meeting, sharing their worries and pain.

Set in a Japanese restaurant called Kamo-me in Helsinki, the film depicts the stories that unfold there.

The material is extremely ordinary, but within it are each person’s life stories.

This film is not boring; it contains an interesting story, and the actors’ performances, which convey emotions naturally, also stand out.

I think works like this are truly precious and special.

One day, when Sachi Koba Satomi was dozing in the empty restaurant, the first customer finally came in.

That customer was Tomi, a Japanese manga otaku.

Satomi gave Tomi a lifelong free coffee pass, and Tomi explained why he had visited the shop.

He had not come to eat, but because he was curious about the theme song of the Eagle Brothers’ Gatchaman.

He also had questions about whether he was really an otaku.

He had tried to remember the theme song from a manga he had seen in the past, but could not recall it well.

So he went to a bookstore to look for it, but he could not find it.

At that time, a Japanese woman he met there, Midori Kata Kirihouri, kindly wrote out the lyrics for him.

Now Tomi thought he should go find the manga theme song.

Midori, who had come to Finland by pointing her finger at a place on a world map and landing on Finland, had no particular purpose for being there, so Sachi suggested that she live together with them until she returned to Japan.

The restaurant mainly serves Japanese rice balls, onigiri, but since that was unfamiliar food, they began selling Japanese-style tonkatsu and other items based on Midori’s advice, and the number of customers slowly started to grow.

Then Masako Notai, who had watched a TV program imitating guitar sounds and, after spending nearly 20 years caring for her parents, came to Finland after their passing, joined them. People with their own stories came together to run the shop, and there was no sense of excessive theatrics.

The way they gather, share their stories, understand one another, and live together is impressive.

This place feels like more than just a commercial space; it feels like a place filled with precious stories and love.