Madadayo - Asian Movie

Madadayo - Asian Movie

1. What did you learn about the relationship of food and culture from watching the movie?  In this movie Japanese people eat most of the time in groups while sitting on the floor over cushions wile folding their knees.  They also serve their meals from serving dishes to the bowl.  Usually they eat rice or noodles out of a bowl that they bring it close to their mouth with one hand and they eat the meal with chopsticks with the other hand. There is a part of the movie when they celebrate the professor’s birthday and this takes place in a banquet hall where they eat in normal table sizes with silverware and chinaware.

2. Were you tempted to try any foods shown or were you turned off by the food habits of another culture?  Actually, I was tempted to eat what they were eating because I love Japanese food.  My daughter and I love to go to a Japanese restaurant that is close to our house and we enjoy taking off our shoes to enter the little dinning room as well as to eat sitting on the cushions on the floor. 

3. Is the film making political comments about the consumption or production of food?  Well the first time that the students gathered at the professor’s house, the professor said that the meat they were going to eat is from horse and he makes some comments and jokes about it, the students just laugh and eat.

4. Are there gender issues raised about who makes or eats the food?  No, there aren’t any issues at all.

5. Did you learn about cultural traditions?  One of the traditions is that nobody starts eating until the host asked them to do it.  They bow to show respect and to salute, they don’t shake hands or kiss like us.  Every time the professor bowed to other people his wife also bowed with him.  Also the professor’s wife serves him a drink from a container to a little cup that he keep on drinking and the wife continues serving after every swallow.  

6. What was your favorite scene in the movie?  My favorite scene was the last part when the professor is dreaming that he is a kid and he is playing hide and seek  with his friend and he is looking for a place where to hide and the other kids are asking if he is ready yet and he keeps on answering “MADADAYO” that means “Not Yet”.

7. Would you recommend that your classmates see the movie? I’d definitely recommend it. It is very touching, sentimental there is a lot of respect, consideration and kindness.  The professor is a wise and humorous man and very beloved by his wife and ex-students.