Eating Women (食べる女)

Hear that?

Trickle trickle.

You do?

Nope. I'm just saying that.

Come on.

But it is kind of magical.

Yeah.

I mean, there's water running below our feet.

My mom says...

there are rivers under Tokyo no one remembers.

Your mom knows a lot of neat stuff.

Let's go home.

"Bookshop Mochi Tree"

"Open"

Shiratama.

Hey.

Back from your walk? Come.

Good kitty.

Did you have a good walk?

You're filthy.

My blood flows a bright red through my body

Even the worms, even the crickets, even the water striders

How can you cut with those nails?

Nails make the woman.

In school, you colored them with a highlighter.

Did I?

Yup. It caused a scandal.

You got highlighters banned.

Even in grade school, I understood womanhood.

What's cooking?

Yum. You two are kitchen magicians.

Stop snitching and help.

Fine fine.

"Tonight's Menu"

Horse mackerel in sour cream, grilled wings with rock salt...

potato salad, simmered ground beef and vermicelli chinois...

homemade rice bran pickles and mini sake sweet buns.

Set the table, Tamiko!

Coming!

Lovely.

"Eating Women"

What is it?

Your face really brightens when you're eating.

You think so?

I was hoping to get your manuscript today.

How's it going?

Time to serve the sweet buns.

Hey! Tonko!

So Mifuyu, which one did you "devour"?

Really want to know?

Both.

Seriously?

I felt bad having to choose. They were both so cute.

Cradle robber.

So how old were those part-timers?

20 and 24.

That's criminal.

Wow. That blows my mind.

I cook up a mean lunch.

And the way to the heart is through the stomach.

And yet she's always looking for new part-timers.

It keeps things lively.

Know any good boys, Tamiko?

You'll just prey on them. How about a girl?

Boring. I prefer a tasty boy, please.

See, you're devouring him already.

Where do you get the energy?

Dodo, what about you?

Unlike you, I can't be bothered with men.

I'm good.

Wait much longer and they won't want to bother with you.

I just find it easier to be alone. The freedom.

I'm fully satisfied without men.

You did just buy a condo with hotel-like hallways.

So sue me.

An ivory tower to keep out run-of-the-mill men.

A co-worker said it best.

For every year a woman ages...

she adds another condition to the man she'll accept.

Not subtracts.

If you're too choosy, you'll miss out.

Never mind me. What about you, Tamiko?

Yeah, the guy who can cook.

That one.

Uh-oh.

You broke up?

No...

You cheated? He cheated?

Nothing like that.

Then what?

He asked me to marry him.

Is that all? Congrats.

I'm not accepting.

Why not try it once.

I'm just not feeling it.

Him? Or marriage?

Both I guess.

He's an illustrator with time for you.

You have the same taste in music.

He can cook, the sex seems fine. What's the downside here?

It's lukewarm.

Lukewarm.

There's no tingle of heat.

Like sitting in a warm bath with your clothes on.

I get that, and don't get that.

What's more, men have stopped hitting on me completely.

Ever since I've been with him.

I'm no longer secreting pheromones.

Pheromones.

I figured we were a one-night fling.

I screamed aloud when I awoke the next morning.

A naked man was sleeping next to me.

What guy has sex and then stays till morning?

Before I knew it, two years had passed.

Poor Tamiko.

Illicit love affairs was all you'd ever known.

You say that so sentimentally.

You're right. I'm being sentimental. Here, drink up!

Pour me some wine.

Filled to the brim.

Bottoms up!

Drink, drink!

That was delicious. I mean, when is it not delicious?

I should hope so.

Made by a restaurant owner and a professional food critic...

who'll miss a deadline, but never a meal.

I'm letting you off this time.

Try to make your deadlines, okay?

Get home safely, you all!

See you next month?

What? Let's keep drinking.

Sorry, early food prep tomorrow. I just lost my young staff.

Forget her then. It's you and me, Babe.

I'm renewing my driver's license in the morning.

Don't get too smashed.

"Kyoko Koizumi"

"Erika Sawajiri"

"Atsuko Maeda"

"Alice Hirose"

"Yu Yamada"

"Mitsu Dan"

"Charlotte Kate Fox"

"Kyoka Suzuki"

"Story and screenplay by Tomomi Tsutsui"

"Directed by Jiro Shono"

I don't know who named it "The Mochi House"...

but it's old and has a mochi tree out front.

The owner goes by the name "Tonko." "Eating Women"

From the Natsume Soseki novel,

"I Am a Cat."

The Mochi House is a quiet perch for free and lonely women...

fluttering through the Tokyo cityscape.

One such woman, Tamiko, finding herself alone on the streets...

beats her wings in search of her next source of light.

Evening, Tamiko.

My friends abandoned me.

You're getting big.

How far along?

Eight months.

"Mommy" is a worker.

I saw your TV drama up through your name in the credits.

Thanks for sticking it out.

What does an "assistant producer" do, anyway?

Well, to put it simply...

I keep the peace between egotistical directors, inflexible writers...

spoiled actors, angry sponsors and producers who...

run from responsibility.

Not simple at all.

Your dark rum soda.

Thanks a million.

My pleasure.

Hors d'oeuvre?

Pretty!

My latest creation... pickled beets.

Let me see.

Drum roll.

Mm, wonderful!

- Really? - Mmm!

Mmm!

I should've made him a steak.

My darling Sabu!

Made who a steak?

She thinks her ex dumped her for always cooking with ground beef.

That's ridiculous.

Thanks.

Forgive me.

She's hammered.

I tried to cut her off

but she gave me such a sad puppy look.

Shinozaki, one more drink please.

Enough is enough. You're starting to leak alcohol from your skin.

Ouch. That hurts.

Check!

Hers, too.

Oh, okay.

Welcome.

Evening.

Shiraishi! Long time!

Good evening.

This is my castle.