MMMMM, I'm HUNGRYYYYY
Mikage delivered this food to Yuichi after work to mend their relationship.
What is Katsudon?
“I have this incredible craving for tea” (75)
Who is Mikage?
This room in the Tanabes’ house becomes Mikage’s sanctuary as she recovers emotionally through food
What is the Tanabes’ kitchen?
This central theme is explored through Mikage’s loss of her grandmother and Yuichi’s mourning of his mother, shaping the emotional journey of the novel
This piece of furniture helps give Mikage a new sense of “home” when she moves in with the Tanabes
What is couch?
This food takes Mikage back to the first breakfast that she cooked for Eriko and Yuichi after Eriko’s death
What is Soupy Rice
“Of course, no doubt about it, you’re in love” (84)
Who is Chika?
Yuichi works here and it is surrounded by beauty, much like the novel's reflection on life and loss
What is the flower shop?
This became an everyday source of comfort and fulfillment for Mikage, symbolizing warmth and comfort.
What is Cooking/Food?
Eriko’s wife is symbolically tied to this plant
What is the pinapple plant?
Eriko gets this machine that makes your skin look youthful
Juicer
It’s not easy being a woman” (41)
Who is Eriko?
This place had yellow tiles that irritated Mikage
What is The Apartment?
Mikage and Yuichi struggle with this emotion a lot after the loss of their family members.
What is loneliness?
Yuichi’s cycle of grief and alcoholism prevents him from using this object to reach out to Mikage
What is the Telephone?
Yuichi’s food habit that he picked up after his mother's death. Mikage is concerned after seeing this in his shopping bag.
Instant Meals
“A lot of people would say you learn a lot from the toilet” (9)
Who is Yuichi?
This is the place where Okuno has a generational crashout over Mikage staying over at Yuichi’s place
What is the Cafeteria?
The novel was known as a progressive novel for focusing on this theme in 1988 through characters like Yuichi’s mother.
What is gender & sexuality?
Yuichi and Mikage share this; Mikage describes it as “at once a miracle and the most natural thing in the world
What is Dreams?
Down on his luck, Yuichi picks up this rather deplorable habit of consuming this drink
Wine
“That really would suit you, wouldn’t it, to leave things undecided forever?” (72)
This quiet location is the background for a meaningful conversation between Mikage and Yuichi late in the story
What is the tea shop?
This theme is portrayed when Mikage realizes that Eriko is a trans woman.
What is acceptance?
This “tugged at [Mikage’s] heart” while she was reading Eriko’s letter.
What is Eriko’s Perfume?