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Did Bong Joon-ho Almost Direct This Japanese Movie About Soup?
Would you watch a show that’s nothing but a guy eating food? Many in Japan and the world already do.
There’s no doubt that Japan’s a country that loves food. Food-focused manga abound, and clips of Japanese variety show hosts exclaiming “Oishii!” and “Umai!!” as they dig into a popular local delicacy have reached meme status both here and abroad.
Perhaps no show better typifies this in recent times than Kodoku no Gurume (孤独のグルメ), or The Solitary Gourmet. Based on an equally popular manga by Kusumi Masayuki and Taniguchi Jiro that ran for 21 years, the story follows Inogashira Goro (井之頭五郎). Goro runs his own independent import business and travels around Japan, making sales before quelling his hunger at a local food joint.
As happens with most good manga series, Kodoku became a TV show that ran for 10 seasons and spawned numerous specials. Like the manga, there’s almost no plot to the series’ stories. Instead, each episode depicts Inogashira — played with a sweet down-home likeability by veteran actor Matsushige Yutaka — eating his dishes with relish. Goro generally eats alone, making the show one of the influences behind Japan’s growing singles culture.
A Taiwanese version of the show also aired for a single season in 2012. And yes, the restaurants in the series…
