This low-budget, subtly evoked independent film was the sleeper success story of 2006 in Japan. Mainly through word-of-mouth and other grassroots advertising (I heard about it via a flyer I found at Moomin Café & Bakery in Korakuen) this film enjoyed a quite sizable audience during its limited run in theatres.

In December, Kamome shokudo (Seagull Diner) made its appearance in Japanese rental shops. As the DVD has English subtitles for both the Japanese and Finnish dialogue, I could no longer resist the allure of the quirky image of three pleasant-looking, smartly dressed, middle-aged ladies making onigiri (rice balls) in a sleek modern kitchen that looks straight out of a Muji catalogue.

We are first introduced to Sachie (Satomi Kobayashi/小林聡美), an independent-minded single woman on the young side of that murky category known as middle-aged. She has chosen to open a diner specializing in Japanese “soul food” in Helsinki. The centerpiece of her menu is onigiri (rice balls), which I personally consider to be more the Japanese equivalent of a sandwich rather than “soul food” (I would give my Japanese soul food vote to nabemono), but it works well in the film.

Unfortunately, the Finns do not seem to be of an adventurous nature when it comes to trying out new things, and for the first month Sachie and her spotless diner wait in vain for customers to enter the premises. Three elderly ladies come by every day to peek in the window, but scurry away as soon as Sachie spots them and tries to offer them a welcoming smile.

Finally, her first customer, Tommi (Jarkko Niemi) enters and orders a coffee. Tommi is a fledgling student of Japanese, which he tentatively tries out on Sachie. As he warms up to her, he asks her if she knows the words to the Gatchaman song – the theme tune from a popular 1970s anime, Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (科学忍者隊ガッチャマン). 

Sachie recalls the tune but not the lyrics and they continue to haunt her after their meeting. Fortunately, she spots fellow ex-pat Midori (Hairi Katagiri/ 片桐はいり) sitting alone in the café of a bookstore.

Midori has only just recently arrived in Finland on a whim (the old close your eyes and point at the map trick), and fortuitously knows the Gatchaman song by heart. In gratitude for her help with the lyrics, Sachie invites Midori to stay with her for the duration of her time in Finland. In return, Midori offers to lend a hand in the café and soon realizes that Sachie has only one customer, Tommi, who actually causes her to lose money as she insists on giving him coffee for free indefinitely in honour of his being her first customer.