Nordic Nippon Nights: Kamome Diner

The Japan Foundation, Toronto
Nordic Nights of the Consulates of Iceland and Finland
in cooperation with
The University of Toronto Department of East Asian Studies and Innis Town Hall present

Nordic Nippon Nights
at Innis Town Hall

This summer, escape the heat with two films in which Japanese protagonists travel to cooler climes for international adventure, Nordic style!

Kamome Diner

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Directed by Naoko Ogigami  (Japan/Finland)
2006, 102 min.

In Kamome Diner, the first Japanese film to be shot entirely in Finland, 38-year-old Sachie moves from Japan to Helsinki, Finland by herself to open a café serving Japanese comfort food, with a focus on onigiri (rice balls). For some time, her only customer is a young Finnish anime otaku, but a small community gradually forms around the café as she is joined by two more Japanese expats, also women on their own. The neighbours start to warm up as Sachie begins selling cinnamon buns, and a mysterious stranger teaches Sachie how to make the best coffee. But will she ever convince the locals to try her onigiri?

This stylish film celebrates Finnish and Japanese culture, aesthetics and humour at a relaxed pace, leisurely exploring the growth of friendship and community among solitary eccentrics.