Irasshaimase 🙋‍♂️!

Kamome Diner is a slow, quiet, funny ( makes you smile kinda ) movie that is the definition of a slice of life. About the story, wait, there is no story; this movie is a pure slice of life that revolves around a diner. A Japanese diner located in Finland. The 1h 42m goes through the people at this diner.

Starting with the owner, Sachie, an ultimate improviser. Throughout the film, whenever she is faced with an unexpected question or needs to make a decision, she creates reasons, explanations, or philosophies entirely on the spot. My favourite philosophy of hers is

The Gatchaman Trust Rule: Midori asks Sachie how she let a total stranger stay with her. Sachie says, “Anyone who knows the Gatchaman song perfectly cannot be a bad person.”

Then, the first customer joins. A local Finnish boy, Tommi Hiltunen, who is obsessed with the Japanese language and culture, throughout the movie, he wears Japanese T-shirts featuring Japanese cartoons.

Sachie tries to find Gatchaman’s theme music and spots Midori, who knows the full song. Midori is a soul-searching traveler who arrived in Helsinki with absolutely no fixed plans. When asked why she chose Finland, she reveals her hilariously unique method: back in Japan, she closed her eyes, spun a world map, and pointed her finger randomly at a spot—which happened to be Finland. She admits she simply felt an overwhelming urge to go "somewhere far away."

Masako, the 3rd Japanese woman to join the central trio at Kamome Diner. Masako represents the quiet, mystical soul of the film. She ended up in Finland, unlike (totally) Midori, after watching a Finnish air guitar championship on TV, she was drawn to how free and unselfconscious the people looked.

Then the 4th, a grieving local woman, Liisa, who shows that sadness and loneliness are universal, regardless of location, even within the seemingly perfect, happy exterior of Finnish society.

This goes on as more people come to Kamome Diner with their own stories, lives, until

Kamome Diner is full at last.