Now a television series. The short ten-episode 2009 Japanese series Osen has kept me busy for a couple weeks earlier this year. It’s the story of a very traditional Japanese restaurant in Tokyo and its charismatic proprietress and a young man wanting to learn traditional Japanese cuisine.
Here’s the first episode, with English subtitles, on YouTube:
All the episodes are available on YouTube and make for some addictive watching, even with the over-the-top ways in which the food is proclaimed delicious! Each episode focuses on one particular Japanese dish and they prepare it with enough detail in the show that you feel like you can put together a similar version at home. Hambagu, here I come!
Tamarind and Thyme 
Wed, 23 Apr, 2014 at 21:40
Thanks for the heads up! Sounds really interesting.
Wed, 23 Apr, 2014 at 22:32
Video not available
Wed, 23 Apr, 2014 at 22:49
Dammit! OK, will see if I can find another. Will be next week at the earliest.
Mon, 28 Apr, 2014 at 10:17
Now updated!
Mon, 28 Apr, 2014 at 12:17
Wow! I’ve just watched the whole episode with interest even though I have a short attention span.
I really felt like I was in Japan as a bystander. And the brief explanation of terms up the top enriched my watching. I shall seek out the rest to watch.
Thanks for finding the video. Worth the wait.
Sun, 4 May, 2014 at 05:11
I remember watching TV in a cramped restaurant in the tiny seaside town of Yugawara, Hakone. Shoeless we wondered into someone’s living room set up with low tables and watched the chef/owner help himself to pint after pint of Asahi before leaping up, bowing and rushing back to the kitchen to check on our food.
The TV in the corner blibbled on with crazy graphics, overbearing cuteness and techno-Nintendo sounds. It was bemusing and fascinating and stunningly odd. In short, brilliant!
Thu, 8 May, 2014 at 17:44
Japanese television shows are really quite unique! If you’re ever in London, head to Kiraku in Ealing Common as they too have that television in the corner, with Japanese tv shows!