When people finish their day and hurry home,
my day starts.
My diner is open from midnight to 7:00 in the morning.
They call it "Midnight Diner."
Do I even have customers?
More than you would expect.
MIDNIGHT DINER: TOKYO STORIES
YAKISOBA DOG
We don't keep bread, because we mainly serve rice.
If some customers really want to eat sandwiches,
they bring their own bread.
Here you go.
Welcome.
Master, make me the usual with these, please.
You brought so many again today.
Please serve some to everyone if they want.
Okay.
Here you are.
This is the one!
Mr. Kotani is a successful businessman who runs cat cafés and dog cafés,
but somehow he always orders this yakisoba sandwich here.
What's the point of putting yakisoba noodles between bread?
They both contain carbohydrates, right?
I agree. Just looking at it makes me full.
That's why it's great.
Meat and carbohydrates are essential to our youth, right?
Our youth.
Mr. Kotani, you seem to be so happy today.
Has anything good happened to you?
Thank you for asking!
My high school will participate
in the Spring National Invitational High School Baseball Tournament.
For the first time in 40 years!
Congratulations.
Well done!
They did their best.
Were you in the baseball club?
Yeah, as a substitute, though.
One of my classmates back then is the manager now.
Please give him a glass.
Congrats. Would you like some?
Yes, please.
Ryu doesn't look like it, but he played baseball in high school.
So I guess he understands very well how he feels.
That manager promised me once
that he'd make sure to take his students to Koshien Stadium one day.
He kept his promise for sure.
Yes.
No need to cry.
Let's celebrate!
Master, beer for everyone. They're on me!
Sure.
Mr. Kotani!
Long time no see!
Let's go for a drink!
He must be so happy that he's been drinking every day since.
He was so drunk.
He stood up and started singing his school song.
He made a mess at my bar, too.
At your place, too?
That's right.
He kept talking to other customers persistently,
so I told him off, saying, "Stop it!"
You should've told him off, too, Master.
Next time he comes around.
Give him a break.
He works hard as the head of the company.
He must feel so pleased and nostalgic.
I like high school baseball games.
Young baseball players tickle my motherly instinct.
I want to treat them with lots of food.
But they're the ones who achieved the result, right?
Do high school baseball games make adults get excited so much?
In spring and summer.
Isn't it one of the Japanese traditions?
What's wrong with getting excited twice a year?
You're consistently excited throughout the year.
Isn't that so?
What's wrong with Mr. Kotani?
He'd never been that drunk before.
Crap.
Thanks for the other night.
You're good!
Have you played baseball before?
You're so bad. Is it true you were in the club?
Were you watching me?
I haven't played at all since I was a high school student.
I've got some blisters on my hand.
But it's so nice to play sometimes, isn't it?
It reminds me of high school days.
Nice batting!
Your form is not right.
What?
If you keep batting, you'll get the right feeling back.
You won't easily forget what you learned kinesthetically.
Here.
I'm sorry for being so drunk the other day.
I understand how happy you are,
but don't you think you drink too much lately?
Look at this.
MANAGER YOKOKAWA
"Keep making small efforts.
I want my students to believe in themselves
and to play their baseball games to the fullest."
He's a good manager, Mr. Yokokawa.
Right?
We both went to the university here after graduating from high school.
During summer vacation, when we were 20,
he told me to walk home to our hometown in Kōchi prefecture. So I walked with him.
On foot? Why?
He played baseball in university,
but he injured his shoulder.
I think he was thinking about his choices ahead.
It was when we were walking a straight road along Suruga Bay,
if I remember correctly.
We bought a yakisoba sandwich, the last one at a shop, and we shared it.
Yokokawa!
Let's take a break!
Hey!
Shut up and keep walking!
Then he told me...
"If I can make it home, I'd continue playing baseball.
As I can't be a professional baseball player any more,
I'll be a high school teacher and take my students to Koshien Stadium."
You told me the other day.
He made it home on foot, but I couldn't.
I got diarrhea on the way and went back to Tokyo by myself.
I see.
But I felt for sure at that time
that I should do something.
Because I couldn't live like Yokokawa.
Do you still see him?
Not at all after he graduated from university and went back to our hometown.
I haven't paid him back
the money I owe him.
I see.
In that case, why don't you donate the money to his school?
It'd cost a lot of money to go to the national tournament, wouldn't it?
Donation.
That's not a bad idea.
Hello?
Are you Kotani?
It's me.
I talked to Yokokawa for the first time in 30 years.
He called me because he learned about my donation.
That's great.
Thanks to you, Master.
I didn't do anything. I just thought of an idea.
He remembered, too.
He said to me on the phone...
I finally kept my promise.
Here.
I wrapped them all up as you told me. Do you want something to eat?
No, thank you. I'm going somewhere far away.
Here. I don't need the change. Please keep it.
Okay. Thank you.
Master, thank you.
By the way,
when I walked past Mr. Kotani's cat café, it was closed.
Really?
I thought it was popular, wasn't it?
I heard so, too,
but according to the note, a new Taiwanese tapioca shop will open next month.
Tapioca? What's that?
Don't you know? Tapioca.
Tapioca?
Tapioca.
Welcome.
Has the guy called Kotani been around?
Mr. Kotani?
I haven't seen him lately.
I see. That's fine.
What was that about?
A loan shark.
They're not very nice.
Kotani, come out!
You're there, aren't you?
According to Ryu, Mr. Kotani...
OVERDUE PAYMENT REMINDER LETTER
...his business had gone bad,
and he borrowed one million yen from the company
and disappeared.
Come out, you! Hey!
Looking back at how drunk he was getting, he might have felt desperate.
He looked so happy when he talked about his donation to his school.
Maybe the money also came from...
Probably.
He can't come back to this town.
It must be nearly the end of the hay fever season, right?
I'm allergic to Japanese cypress, not to Japanese cedar.
I'm fed up with this.
Welcome.
Good evening.
Are you, perhaps...
I'm Yokokawa. Nice to meet you.
This is the classmate of Mr. Kotani and the manager he was talking about.
Is that so?
I learned about the donation from Kotani.
He told me this diner's Master had suggested he do it.
Yeah.
Thank you very much.
Is beer okay for you?
Yes.
It's on me.
To celebrate the participation in the tournament.
Thank you, but...
Excuse me.
That was a close game, wasn't it?
We lost badly.
We managed to hit back and score in the last inning at least,
and avoided a shutout game.
It's wonderful just to participate in the tournament.
That's right.
Thank you.
I wish Mr. Kotani were as honest as you are, even 10% as much as you.
You know about...
his debt, is that correct?
He came all the way to the stadium.
Did you see him?
Yes. He told me about the debt at the time.
I haven't seen him since then.
We made a promise to meet up here.
Meet him? Here?
Yes.
Ryu!
Master, make me the usual with these, please.
Sure.
This is Mr. Kenzaki.
He helped me so much with the recent event.
This is Yokokawa.
The manager of my high school team I told you about the other day.
I wish your team good luck for the summer tournament.
Thank you.
I thought about killing myself by jumping off a cliff after watching their game.
He told me off, saying, "It's so silly to die because of money."
That's why I came back here.
Then I bumped into him in a batting cage.
Then, he sorted things out for you?
Yes, he did.
After Mr. Kenzaki talked to them,
they postponed the due date
and they even reduced the interest.
Thank you so much for saving my life.
You should choose your friends.
For your students, too.
I'll make sure that he keeps his promise to you.
Hey...
Yokokawa, what do you mean by that?
Mr. Kotani...
you're so clueless.
If you miss paying back your debt,
Ryu also needs to take responsibility, as he protected you.
Ryu is too nice.
I was so happy about your donation.
I'd be happier if the money wasn't from the loan company.
Here you are.
Mr. Kotani always orders this.
When I was in university, we tried to walk to our hometown.
We shared this on the way.
Yes, he told me about it.
At first, he said, "I won't eat it.
I don't get hungry, because I don't play sports as much as you do."
A weird theory.
But his stomach was rumbling.
So, I asked him to cut it in half, and then he did...
Like this.
It's not even at all.
He looked at me like a puppy.
He gave me...
the bigger one.
That's a nice story.
That's the time when you were depressed...
because you couldn't play baseball any more.
At that time...
when I saw the wistful look on your face,
I felt so much better.
I felt like thinking about my future a little, like,
"Even not as a player,
I can be involved with baseball in different ways."
You made us go to Koshien Stadium.
I'm sure you can get over this.
It's my turn to support you.
Eat this.
THIS STORY IS A WORK OF FICTION
Subtitle translation by Akemi Okaji