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Episodes
Radio deejay Shimada has been diagnosed with normal weight obesity by a doctor; while this concerns him, he cannot give up his beloved tan-men. One day he meets a taxi driver Harumi, who eats tan-men without the noodles, and his interest is piqued. Before long, Shimada realizes Harumi is the actress who played the popular ranger character he idolized as a child.
Asakusa entertainer Serao Que-Será frequents the diner to enjoy the corndog Master makes. Serao's popularity wanes as time goes by. Instead his former attendant Hajime Moriwaki has started to get attention. Discontent with the situation, Serao ends his relationship with Hajime because of the squabble about a woman. Ever since, Serao has indulged in alcohol, and been distant from the stage.
Real estate agent Shigemi knits sweaters for her crushes. but they are always unrequited. However she falls in love again. Her current crush is her junior coworker, Kurihara. She brings him to the diner and treats him to his favorite, tonteki. A week later, she gives him the sweater she knitted, but she cannot read Kurihara's feelings, which makes her anxious. Another junior coworker, Shirano, approaches Shigemi asking her for knitting lessons.
One rainy night, Physicist Amamiya meets Yuna, a Korean woman known as Rei, at the diner and they become close.Yuna learns the recipe of omelet rice from Master for Amamiya. Eventually they become serious enough to think about marriage, but his parents are against the idea. It turns out that Yuna has been working in Japan to pay back her parents' debt. Once it is paid in full, she leaves a letter for Amamiya and returns to Seoul.
Mahjong player Ogami appears at the diner, after a year-long absence, with his six-year-old son, Daizo. Ogami claims an ex-girlfriend thrust the boy on him and he has no father-like feelings for the boy, but there is no doubt they are father and son when they sit side by side eating their favorite, egg tofu. Cabaret club hostess Midori likes to dote on Daizo, but Midori is attached to vicious boyfriend Kazuma, a former host turned wannabe mahjong player.
The vegetable store owner, Yoichi that Master patronizes is hospitalized with diabetes. It seems he has neglected his health since his mother passed away four years ago. After Yoichi is released from the hospital, he appears at the diner complaining that his dead mother's ghost visits him every night telling him he's forgotten something. Eventually the grocer guesses the forgotten item is the plum wine his mother made; however, even after he remembers the wine, his mother's ghost continues to appear.
Chu's childhood friend Kae stops by the diner on her way home from work and orders a hot pot for one. The beautiful daughter of a Japanese shoemaker, Kae was once scouted as an actress and then married into wealth; however, these days she leads a desolate, lonely life cleaning rooms at a love hotel to make ends meet. Her nephew Teppei has come to stay and sponge off her. Her over-40, unemployed nephew proves to be a good-for-nothing yet Kae seems happy.
One night the regular customer Rumi showed up at the diner with Hisamatsu, president of a printing company, and his wife, Fujiko.Happily married for 23 years,Hisamatsu enjoyed sauted yam cooked by the Master while mentioning that no one cooks better than his wife, Fujiko. Another regular customer Elect Oki walks into the diner and Fujiko acts odd and disturbed. Erectro Oki, a legendary adult film star and Fujiko shared a past, which they kept secret for a long time..
Lawyer Nakatsuka who owns a small law firm has very special memories regarding ham cutlets. Those memories involve the younger stepbrother, Kenta, he gained as a boy after his father remarried. However, their parents divorced and it has now been decades since he last saw Kenta. One day, the TV news features a story about a public housing project that is scheduled to be torn down, where one person is refusing to move out. Seeing the face of the resident creating the stir, Nakatsuka realizes that it is his stepbrother Kenta.
It is New Year's Eve at the diner. The familiar faces reflect on the events that happened at the diner over the year. In spring, Komichi won big at the horse races and treated everyone at the diner. In summer, when the diner lost power over the summer, gangster Ryu was frightened by Kanemoto's ghost story. In autumn, the ramen shop's Tsutae made a passionate move on Officer Kogure. This year, once again, the diner's regular customers gather two and three at a time to eat Master's New Year's Eve noodles.
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories Photos
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Critic Reviews for Midnight Diner Tokyo Stories
All Critics (9) | Top Critics (5) | Fresh (9) | Rotten (0)
Finding the joy and personal happiness through duty and expectation is what makes Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories both a cultural phenomenon and as easily palatable as those New Year's soba noodles.
Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories is just as woozy and narcoleptic as you would imagine.
Like Japanese food itself it's easy to digest, but contains substantive depth.
While not exactly haute cinematic cuisine, Matsuoka's film offers a plain and fulfilling supper.
The show instills a sense of peace that you won't likely find anywhere else on television.
Midnight Diner puts the guts and meaning of friendship among bar-mates up on screen with authenticity and empathy.
Midnight Diner is almost meditative in its languid narrative and it might not be something you'd like to binge all night but savour one bite at a time.
What I'm saying: come for the decent-enough narratives. But stay for that steaming hot bowl of delicious-looking miso.
Why is it so special? Even with English subtitles, the answer will be obvious to anyone peeking through this window into Japanese culture. One of the keys is the powerful bond that the Master forges between himself, his food and his patrons.
Audience Reviews for Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories
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Mar 07, 2021Simple genius. Ordinary people living amid life's crossfire share gossip and news over a bowl of food that can be 'anything you want'.
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Feb 08, 2021Comfort food in the form of television. Every episode pulls you deeper into the feeling of friendship, security, a world that makes sense.
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Dec 04, 2020I love this show, the actors, the stories, the music. It's the kind of show that lets you settle in and just enjoy.
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Nov 25, 2020Feel good series, heart warming ♥️
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Nov 06, 2020The storytelling is so warm. I could imagine eating at the diner and making friends with them. Watching it makes me miss Japan even more.
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Dec 14, 2018In a current world of "hard and edgy" western series I'm glad i came across this healing and warm hearted series, just with a right amount of cliché
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Jul 10, 2018What a surprise this series turned out to be! Every episode was an absolute gem! Please, another season, I beg of you!
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Jun 25, 2018Midnight dinEr delivers SoMe of the most heartwarming food for SOUL i ever haD.
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Apr 12, 2018A delightful suprise. A calming show for a relaxing night.
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Feb 18, 2018Oh this is a beautiful series. Have seen season 1 & 2 and I just loved it, but it was all way too short. How I so wish that further seasons will be screened.
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