Hitomi Honda: "Hokuo Kojirase Nikki" drama, episode three 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.

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 began 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 don't see enough of her.

Previous recaps: Episode one .... Episode two

 Even though this was just a four episode series am going to miss it and wish it was twice as long. Have been learning many things about Finland and now I'm really curious about the place. Food is the main topic we've been learning about but also a few words, phrases and some of the different ways on how they live. The first two recaps were just done a few days ago but still have the links to them above as I won't be referring back too much on what happened and they're not long posts.

 I have been enjoying Hitomi in this drama, don't think she's a terrific actress but these days am beginning to wonder who is? One problem Idols and other actresses have is overacting and going a bit overboard at times. Hitomi's screen presence has been so pleasant, she has this calmful way about her and wouldn't mind seeing her star in some future shows. So on with this recap and haven't viewed the final episode yet which is the next post.

 Once again food is the main theme to this show, not regular food but Coffee. Besides being the happiest people on the planet the Finnish are also #1 in coffee consumption, above Shimako is on a chat room with some of her Finnish friends and is amazed at how much coffee they drink. That's gotten her into the mood to become a connoisseur too as she begins each day with brewing a pot. She starts from scratch too as she grinds her own beans and of course they're from Finland. If you've seen how Japanese brew their coffee it's so much different than here in America. At the end of the last show Shimako had a picnic for other Scandinavian fanatics and that was a smash. She wants those good times with other lovers of Finland to continue but how can that possibly happen?

 Shimako came up with the idea of opening her own Finnish cafe by a lake and that is one longshot dream. Her boyfriend Hiroto didn't help her as he has a way of looking at the practical side of things. For instance he said Shimako has never worked at a restaurant, does she have any idea how to run one? Plus he added in about getting the money, ordering supplies, hiring help, etc. and that was a slap in the face to Shimako. But she hasn't given up on opening a cafe and her friend above Mahiro said she knew a cafe owner looking for weekend help, sadly that was the only scene we saw Mahiro in. So Shimako did inquire about the job and to her surprise she was hired on the spot, the owner is a middle aged lady named Chizuru. As you can see above Shimako said to herself working at a restaurant is not an easy task, didn't help that she was the only waitress! But to her credit Shimako is a fast learner and before long was a top notch waitress though still has so far to go if she wants to open her own place.

 However working at the cafe on the weekends is soon going to catch up with Shimako. During the week she works five days at the Job N staffing company making cold calls to recruit new clients. In the last episode Shimako was really improving at the agency but her work has begun to slip in this episode. Working seven days a week is bound to have an effect, her supportive boss Fukuda noticed the difference in Shimako but kept his mouth shut. Keeping your mouth shut is something Shimako couldn't do as she was constantly yawning all day at the office. Also noticed she's drinking a lot of coffee at the office as she's trying to keep up with her Finnish friend's consumption! Eventually there was a holiday so Shimako finally had a day off and spent it doing zero! That's a common activity in Finland on days off and Shimako seems more like a Finnish person now than a Japanese/

 One thing she did on that day off was to make a few varieties of coffee which you can see above. The Finnish prefer slightly weaker coffee and perhaps that's because they drink it all day long. According to Shimako the Japanese prefer their coffee to be bitter and strong, she did make a cup that included cheese which I had never seen before. Her boyfriend Hiroto did come to spend the day but doing nothing drove him out of his mind! During this quiet day we heard Shimako's thoughts and what she was thinking it's been eons since the two spent the night together!!!! That bottom screenshot above shows the cafe owner Chizuru, name of the place is the Mellow Cafe. One slow day a party of six had tried entering but Chizuru told Shimako to turn them away. She has a rule that parties of six or more are not allowed, even during a slow stretch Chizuru would rather not take their money.

 Chizuru explained her cafe is open for a regular crowd, one that's a bit older and quiet. The group turned away was of young people and even though there was space for them she'd rather save those tables for any regulars who may wander in. At first Shimako didn't understand but those rules did sink in, it also made her think 'Would I turn away anyone at my cafe if they were into Scandinavia?'. So that dream of opening a Finnish cafe by a lake is still the number one thing in Shimako's life but after a while is beginning to realize reality triumphs over her dreams. So if Shimako can't open a cafe in Japan what about opening one in Finland?! She even went as far as asking her boss Fukuda how that would be possible, he said the best plan at first was to move to that country!

 Easier said then done and Shimako began to scour the Finnish want ads, zero luck with that as there's nothing she could do better than someone who already lives there. For once the usually upbeat Shimako was becoming a bit gloomy about her prospects when it seemed the Gods above smiled down on her. She noticed an ad on a Finnish job site looking for a Sushi chef and prefers a person from Japan! So as the episode ended you can see above what Shimako's next plan of action will be, a move to Finland(?) but don't know if she knows the first thing about making sushi. So that story should comprise most of the final episode, will make a prediction which is that we'll see her on a plane at the end of the next show heading to Finland! We'll see if I'm correct and the recap for the final show is the next post.