Last night, R. and I sat down to a nice evening movie. We rented a few things
at the start of the weekend, and I was actually pretty excited to watch a
Japanese-only movie with her, one of her choosing. She chose Kamome Shokudo, a
Japanese comedy set in Helsinki.

The big surprise for me was that it had English subtitles. While I really
wanted to listen only in Japanese, when the subtitles are there it is just too
easy to read. I was glad for them too; some portions of the dialogue are in
Finnish.

The movie is really nice; a slow-paced, dialogue-based ambiance-drama. It
explores questions about living in a foreign land, which is of course very
interesting to me, as a foreigner in a foreign land. A critical claim of the
movie is that Japanese people prefer Japanese food (and possibly that Japanese
food is the best kind of food.) That actually comes up a lot here, and I am
sure that R. would back it up. Since I like Japanese food, this isn’t really a
problem, but it is always a little surprising to me when the idea of having say,
Italian food for lunch and then also dinner is shot down. I don’t actually
consider pizza Italian food, or spaghetti for that matter, but that’s ok. I’m
pretty used to eating Japanese food twice in a day by now, so I guess I’ve
become used to things here. I do sometimes want to have American food once or
twice a day. Guess I have to start cooking more.

There is also a character in there that is the typical Japan-obsessed kid who
studies the language a bit and tries to speak Japanese whenever possible. It is
interesting seeing that character portrayed from the Japanese point of view.

An interesting parallel they draw is between the Japanese and Finnish cultures,
portraying Japan as busy and stressful while Finland is laid-back and
easy-going. The discussion around that concept, and why the characters thought
they would be better off in Finland is interesting.

It was a fun movie; I recommend it.