Hitomi Honda: "Hokuo Kojirase Nikki" drama, episode two recap

 

 Air Dates: October 5th until the 26th, 2022 on TV-Tokyo at 12:30 am on Wednesdays

Four episodes at ~22 minutes each, subs done by Masssterchief

Main Cast: Very small cast and Hitomi is on screen 100% of the time, wrote this up after the first episode and did learn more about all in this show.

Hitomi Honda as Shimako Ootori.... 23 year old woman who is so smitten by the country of Finland. She's been that way since she was eight years old and as a college freshman Shimako did visit the country. Her whole apartment is like being in Helsinki(!) from the food she eats and how the place is decorated. In the first show Shimako lost her job at a travel agency as it went bankrupt, at the beginning of the second episode she'll be working at a temp company. 

Riku Hagiwara as Hiroto Miyazaki.... Shimako's 25 year old boyfriend who seems like a very serious man and can't understand her fascination with Finland, perhaps no one can!

Hikohiko Sugiyama as Mamoru Fukuda.... Hiring agent/manager at the temp agency Job N. He hired Shimako at the end of the first show and she had no clue why as she seemed to bomb the interview though Fukuda seems to be a bit of a fatherly figure.

Nozomi Hanayagi as Mahiro Saeki.... Shimako's Japanese friend who also is a bit of a Scandinavian fanatic though we didn't see her in the first episode, we did in the second show.

 No need to rehash what took place in the first episode as I'm sure you've read it. That was a superb opening show and this was even better, now I'm wishing this series was longer than four episodes. That previous show ended with Shimako getting a position at the Job N staffing agency, she thought the interview was a bust but the manager at the agency Fukuda sees some potential in Shimoka. To her dismay the assignment for a while will be making cold calls, a hundred a day is expected of her and Shimako's jaw dropped to the floor!  Fukuda knows what he's doing, though 98% of calls are failures he wants to expand Shimako's world and in this case she'll be talking to so many different kinds of peoples, her goal is to get places to sign up for their staffing service. Fukuda had told Shimako at the end of the last show that by expanding her activities and knowledge they can open the door to doing several other things and make deciding what to do in the future so much easier.

 Shimako really took that advice to heart and has opened up a blog about Finland. Of course this drama is about the country and most of what happens from here on out will be about Finland and on occasion other Scandinavian countries. So Fukuda's advice did pay off as for the first time Shimako has taken the steps to doing something, such as that blog. She's been an internet geek for a decade and as you can see in an above screenshot that's her geeky user nickname. Shimako's goal is to meet other Japanese people who are fanatics about Finland but how many could possibly share her passion? Not many but the goal should be just to meet a few and that's eventually what will happen. Her blog wasn't too popular but it did attract some visitors, what should Shimako's next step be? She does have some 'friends' in Finland who have been posting photos on the social media site Shimako visits. Many of the photos have been outdoor ones and her friends said that it being September Winter is right around the corner which means the days become extremely short in Finland so everyone tries to get outside often before that happens, many of the photos were of picnics.

 Seeing those picnic photos has given Shimako a bright idea, why not hold her own?! So on her blog Shimako asked who would be interested in a Finnish picnic, to her surprise five others were and life is suddenly looking up for our Scandinavian fanatic! Shimako had to arrange the time, place and order food plus do some other things, first time she's ever had the motivation to do something along those lines. So there could be an underlying theme besides Finland in this drama. That's of Fukuda's advice on Shimako expanding her world/interests and it's really working. By starting a blog she's about to meet some new people, had to organize an event and she may not realize how her life is improving but her boss is as Shimako has finally been able to sign a few new clients up. Shimako did order a box of Finnish goodies from wherever, the best looking thing was that bottle of very dark Vodka.

 Haven't mentioned Shimako's boyfriend Hiroto yet and that could be because he doesn't share her passion for Finland. But he is quietly proud of her working so hard at something and it was his urging that made Shimako get a job. It's the night before the picnic and Shimako is preparing some food early. Such as what's in the fourth screenshot which is Lihapullat, they're similar to Swedish Meatballs. They do look tasty and an odd thing to do is serve it with Finnish jelly, there's many other treats which her new friends brought. But I think the one close friend Shimako met is right above whose name is Mahiro. In real life her name is Nozomi Hanayagi and though she's 27 in age she just got into acting two years ago. I think she looks so darn good so need to investigate her a bit more closely. Mahiro was the first to arrive at the picnic and helped Shimako finish setting up, before long the other four Finnish addicts arrived on the scene.

 As you can see in that second screenshot above the small group had quite a feast. Everyone brought something and now I'm even more curious about Finland but odds are zero there's a store in the area that sells that kind of food. All had different reasons for being so passionate about Finland and Scandinavia, a woman in her forties named Noru had spent a month there and like Shimako really wants to return. A man also in his forties named Toca has been there twice for a famous rock music festival while Mahiro is so in love with their designs. That picnic lasted for over six hours(!) though of course it had only about seven minutes of screen time but it was a grand event for all who attended!

 Think we'll be seeing more of Mahiro who is close to Shimako in age but not sure if we'll see the other four. Shimako had such a fun time and now she's wondering will it sadly just be a one time event? So she started thinking how can she meet other Finnish fanatics on a regular basis and as the episode ended you can see above what her grand idea is! She had called her boyfriend Hiroto at work, he's a salaryman, and told him her next goal is to open a Finnish cafe by a lake!!!! That left Hiroto speechless and that's how this second episode ended, will the next show begin off with Shimako's next dream? Plenty of screenshots below and do recommend viewing them as they show many other tidbits and food about Finland. Wasn't going to have the next two pair of recaps for about a week but I'm really enjoying this show so the plan is to have those final two recaps in three days and wish me luck with it.