Finding something small and quiet and intelligent that outshines just about everything else in its orbit is no small triumph. Which may be why some people call The Midnight Diner, Tokyo Stories a hidden treasure in the Netflix galaxy of video amusements. Premiering in 2016, the series is enjoying a fifth season of telling simple and captivating stories about a delightful menagerie of people who frequent the city’s make believe diner.
To American eyes and sensibilities, everything about the series is different, foreign; almost alien in all the best ways. Despite all the cultural similarities a globally connected world creates, the dissimilarities in our individual societies can be striking. As far as this diner is concerned, it’s very hard to decide which to like most; the people or the food. The people usually win out.
The diner’s a one-man shop. Accommodating, completely without pretense, immensely honest. Its chef proprietor enjoys those same attributes and is always simply addressed as “Master” by everyone who enters his lair. There’s only one thing on the menu, pork miso soup, but he’ll make anything you ask for if he has the ingredients. He often does. The food is usually simple and focuses on the kind of things people make at home. Rustic but finely prepared. Things like Tan Men, ramen soup with stir-fried pork, wood ear mushrooms and other assorted vegetables. Or perfectly prepared butter rice. Or maybe sautéed yams and ham katsu, ham cutlets in a panko pocket. At the end of many of the series’ episodes, one of the character’s gives a run down on how to make a dish pervading that segment’s story line. There are even cookbooks centered on the meals prepared at the diner.
At its peak ten years ago, Tokyo’s population blew past the 13 million mark. It’s down to just over 7 million now. Clarence Avant nailed it. People just want two things out of life, sex and success. We see those desires play out again and again in the cavalcade of customers who float into the diner from Tokyo’s sea of souls. Often the food reminds them of when they were young. Food that was tied to a happier, purer time in their lives. It doesn’t really matter where they find themselves now. Life exacts its costs on all of us and food can act as a balm to sooth many ills.
The Midnight Diner is a magical show with its low lights, oddly appealing characters and wonderfully not so familiar food. The sometimes sweet, sometimes monumental stories are steeped in the essence of a Japanese point of view but are instantly understood by any human being. The panorama of personalities is as colorful as an Andy Warhol painting. And they’re all looking for what people everywhere seek beyond sex and success; redemption, acceptance, forgiveness, and a touch of joy.
The Midnight Diner, Tokyo Stories
Netflix
