Every night the darkest, saddest depths of the epidemic, one TV show, which I watched over and over again, helped me through. Midnight Dinerthe Netflix series set in a Tokyo restaurant, became a healing balm and a reminder of the warmth of being among people.
The chef of this izakaya, called “King,” only cooks surrounded by a service counter on three sides, where faithful ordinary people sit and bathe together. Perhaps he is thought of as an odd cousin to the 1980s NBC sitcom Happinessevery episode tells a happy, sad, or sometimes sad story. The Master, a man of few words with a mysterious scar on his face, is like their conscience and a confidant, helping to understand the world. The characters are kind, quirky, and honest.
As the taxi drifts dreamily through the Shinjuku area in the opening credits, Master utters a small voice: “When people finish their day and rush home, my day begins … My restaurant is open from midnight to seven in the morning. They call it the ‘Midnight Diner.’ Do I have clients? More than you would expect.”
A little research confirmed that the izakaya in the show is completely fictional, however I wanted to believe a place with that kind of food and that real feeling. On a recent trip to Tokyo, I started experiencing something like this.
“Good Thing in Your Heart”
I’m starting to see aspects of what I was hoping for surprisingly quickly. I quickly find a pub the size of a postage stamp in my neighborhood where the people are friendly and curious. At my first dinner at an izakaya in the Nakano area, the food is surprisingly good for a casual setting: generous and undemanding sashimi, fish collar, sesame-crusted pickles, sautéed mushrooms, and an Asahi Super Dry or two. The busy, cheerful waitstaff still takes the time to help me navigate the menu.
About 24 hours into my trip, I meet restaurant reviewer Mackey Makimoto at Toranomon Yokocho, a multi-restaurant project he helped put together that resembles a food court in heaven. He’s sporting a short-brimmed fedora and talking to the chef when I arrive with my fixer and translator, Mai Nomura. Over fried chicken, fried sardines, fried oysters, and fried tofu, we bond over the love of Midnight Dinerbut my first real question to him is if there is a place like that.
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