is a Japanese film about the art of food
and eating and the central place it occupies in our lives. It starts
unpromisingly (from a vegetarian point of view) with a tour of a Tokyo fish
market and some traders who have been there for ever and ever. They see the
over-consumption of fish and how people want it all the time, even what is not
in season and does not taste good.

Filmmaker Yuri Nomura then turns her lens to rural Japan, so
different from the high-tech gadgetry and neon lights from the usual images of
urban Japan. In Okinawa a mother raises her two kids in the purity of the outdoors,
growing all of their own food and enjoying traditional, simple tastes. In other
scenes a singer trades her homegrown brown rice for freshly-laid eggs, an actor
experiences the nuances of the tea ceremony and a Buddhist priest laughs about
all of the food he loves. For them food is part of a complete lifestyle which
included sharing with friends. In some ways it is a slight film but it is
beautiful and the sentiments are thoughtful and heartfelt.

This trailer is in Japanese but the film is really about images (look for the lovely bread being kneaded) so watch it anyway.