Japanese gay drama, “What Did You Eat Yesterday?” enlightens us to move forward

“What Did You Eat Yesterday?” (original title: “Kinou Nani Tabeta?”), based on the manga series with the same title written and illustrated by Fumi Yoshinaga is a heartwarming Japanese TV drama series that portrays a slice of life of a middle-aged gay couple living in Tokyo.

The series is composed of twelve 30 min. short chapters, and mainly focuses on the relationship of a gay couple: Shiro (played by Hidetoshi Nishijima) and Kenji (Seiyo Uchino), while touching upon the issues of LGBTQ rights and their life in Japan. Shiro, a lawyer, and an excellent cook, lives with his partner Kenji, a charismatic hairstylist. Shiro cooks meals for himself and Kenji daily and lives happily, but he still feels uncomfortable being seen as gay.

Many scenes to empathize with regardless of gender

The story develops with a slow and comfortable tempo but has various cute and sweet scenes, just like a major rom-com of a different gendered couple. Because Kenji’s worried that Shiro may find him annoying, he hesitates to ask Shiro not to meet up with another gay friend. In another scene, Kenji says, “it’s like a dream, going to my boyfriend’s parents’ house and eating with them. I thought a day like this would never ever come” after they meet with Shiro’s parents. Numerous audiences might empathize with these scenes regardless of gender and age.

Openly gay or closeted gay? Invisible issues regarding LGBTQs

However, the drama also helped me realize how hard it is for sexual minorities to live in Japan. Shiro and Kenji sometimes fight over their different ways of being gay: Shiro is a closeted gay who hates if random people know that he is gay, while Kenji is openly gay. When Kenji laments that it’s so unfair that he’s not allowed to talk about his partner to anyone else when his boss talks about his family to the customers, I remember my gay friend being reluctant to talk about his partner at our high school reunion. It also seems quite realistic when Shiro’s parents say, “I’m prepared to accept everything about you whether you’re a gay or a criminal,” showing their struggle to understand his identity.

This drama is too sweet to categorize it as a social issues drama but too moving for a rom-com at the same time. We probably need more “normal (in a good sense)” LGBTQ dramas to make sexual minorities “not a minority” in modern society, where sexual minorities still need to pretend and lie that they are straight. I believe this drama may usher in a new generation in which all of us never get hurt just because of our sexual orientations or gender identities.

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