manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
series written and illustrated by
Fumi Yoshinaga
is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and boys' love works.
Life
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She discovered amateur manga, doujinshi, in junior high school, when a friend showed her a doujinshi depicting a romant ...
. The
slice of life
Slice of life is a depiction of mundane experiences in art and entertainment. In theater, slice of life refers to Naturalism (theatre), naturalism, while in literary parlance it is a narrative technique in which a seemingly arbitrary sequence ...
series focuses on the relationship between Shiro Kakei and Kenji Yabuki, a middle-aged gay couple living in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
, Japan. The manga has been serialized in the
manga magazine
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics an ...
''
Morning
Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...
Shochiku
is a Japanese entertainment company. Founded in 1895, it initially managed '' kabuki'' theaters in Kyoto; in 1914, it also acquired ownership of the Kabuki-za theater in Tokyo. In 1920, Shochiku entered the film production industry and establis ...
that aired on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Kodansha Manga Award
is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977.
Categories
The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...
, a Galaxy Award, and multiple Television Drama Academy Awards.
Synopsis
''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' follows Shiro Kakei and Kenji Yabuki, a middle aged gay couple living in Tokyo, Japan. Shiro is a serious and reserved
lawyer
A lawyer is a person who is qualified to offer advice about the law, draft legal documents, or represent individuals in legal matters.
The exact nature of a lawyer's work varies depending on the legal jurisdiction and the legal system, as w ...
, while Kenji is cheerful and outgoing
hairdresser
A hairdresser is a person whose occupation is to cut or style hair in order to change or maintain a person's image. This is achieved using a combination of hair coloring, haircutting, and hair texturing techniques. A hairdresser may also be re ...
. Each chapter in the series focuses on Shiro and Kenji as they encounter a particular comedic or dramatic scenario, often focused around issues of domestic life, workplace humor, and
LGBT rights in Japan
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people in Japan have fewer legal protections than in most other developed countries, although some developments towards stronger rights have been made in the 2020s. Same-sex sexual acti ...
.
Many of the chapters depict a sequence in which Shiro, a
gourmand
A gourmand is a person who takes great pleasure and interest in consuming particularly good food and drink. ''Gourmand'' originally referred to a person who was "a glutton for food and drink", a person who eats and drinks excessively.
Etymolo ...
, purchases food and prepares a meal for himself and Kenji. Shiro narrates the steps to create each dish through his
internal monologue
Intrapersonal communication (also known as autocommunication or inner speech) is communication with oneself or self-to-self communication. Examples are thinking to oneself "I will do better next time" after having made a mistake or imagining a ...
, and frequently prepares meals that have significance in relation to the plot or themes of the chapter. The collected '' tankobon'' editions of the series contain the recipe for the main dish prepared in each edition.
The events of the series progress in real time: Shiro and Kenji were respectively 43 and 41 years old when the series began, and as of chapter 101, are 52 and 50 years old.
Media
Manga
''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'', written and illustrated by
Fumi Yoshinaga
is a Japanese manga artist known for her shōjo and boys' love works.
Life
Fumi Yoshinaga was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1971. She discovered amateur manga, doujinshi, in junior high school, when a friend showed her a doujinshi depicting a romant ...
, has been serialized in
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
Morning
Morning is either the period from sunrise to noon, or the period from midnight to noon. In the first definition it is preceded by the twilight period of dawn, and there are no exact times for when morning begins (also true of evening and nigh ...
'' since February 22, 2007, and has been collected into
tankōbon
A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
volumes published by
Kodansha
is a Japanese privately held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha publishes manga magazines which include ''Nakayoshi'', ''Morning (magazine), Morning'', ''Afternoon (magazine), Afternoon'', ''Evening (magazine), Eveni ...
. In North America, an English language translation of the series has been licensed by Vertical since 2014.
Television drama & film
A live-action television drama adaptation of ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' was announced in ''Morning'' magazine on January 23, 2019. That same day,
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Hidetoshi Nishijima as Shiro and
Seiyō Uchino
is a Japanese actor who is represented by Stardust Promotion
is a leading Japanese talent agency, headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was founded in 1979 and invests in entertainment forms including music, cinema, and modelling.
The agency h ...
as Kenji, with as screenwriter and Kazuhito Nakae, Katsumi Nojiri, and Kenji Katagiri as directors. The series aired on TV Tokyo's Drama24 programming block from April 5, 2019 to June 28, 2019, with a 90-minute special aired on January 1, 2020. performed the series' opening theme song "Kaerimichi" ("The Way Back Home"), while
Friends
''Friends'' is an American television sitcom created by David Crane (producer), David Crane and Marta Kauffman, which aired on NBC from September 22, 1994, to May 6, 2004, lasting List of Friends episodes, ten seasons. With an ensemble cast ...
performed the closing theme "i o you".
On March 27, 2020,
Toho
is a Japanese entertainment company that primarily engages in producing and distributing films and exhibiting stage plays. It is headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. ...
announced that it would produce a live-action
feature film
A feature film or feature-length film (often abbreviated to feature), also called a theatrical film, is a film (Film, motion picture, "movie" or simply “picture”) with a running time long enough to be considered the principal or sole present ...
sequel to the television drama, with the original cast of the television drama reprising their roles and Nakae and Adachi returning as director and scriptwriter, respectively. The film was released on November 3, 2021. A second season of the television drama was announced in May 2023, and ran from October to December 2023.
Other media
A spin-off
yaoi
, also known by its abbreviation , is a genre of fictional media originating in Japan that depicts homoerotic relationships between male characters. It is typically created by women for a female audience, distinguishing it from the equivale ...
''
dōjinshi
, also Romanization of Japanese, romanized as ', is the Japanese term for self-published print works, such as magazines, manga, and novels. Part of a wider category of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, ''doujinshi'' are often derivative of exi ...
'' series, , has been published by Fumi Yoshinaga since 2015. The series depicts scenes alluded to in the original manga, as well as sexual encounters between Kenji and Shiro. Issues of the series have been released by Yoshinaga at
Comiket
, more commonly known as or , is a semiannual Doujinshi convention, ''doujinshi'' convention in Tokyo, Japan. A grassroots market focused on the sale of ''doujin'' (self-published) works, Comiket is a not-for-profit fan convention administered ...
.
A
cookbook
A cookbook or cookery book is a kitchen reference containing recipes.
Cookbooks may be general, or may specialize in a particular cuisine or category of food.
Recipes in cookbooks are organized in various ways: by course (food), course (appetize ...
featuring recipes prepared in the television drama, , was published by Kodansha in April 2019.
An
exhibition
An exhibition, in the most general sense, is an organized presentation and display of a selection of items. In practice, exhibitions usually occur within a cultural or educational setting such as a museum, art gallery, park, library, exhibiti ...
featuring sets and props from the television drama, as well as reproductions of pages from the original manga, toured Japan in 2019. The exhibition was displayed in
Tokyo
Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...
from June to July,
Nagoya
is the largest city in the Chūbu region of Japan. It is the list of cities in Japan, fourth-most populous city in Japan, with a population of 2.3million in 2020, and the principal city of the Chūkyō metropolitan area, which is the List of ...
from August to September, and
Osaka
is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...
in September.
Reception
Manga
Five million copies of the Japanese edition of ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' were in print as of January 2019 and 8.4 million copies as of October 2022.
The series has received positive reviews from critics, particularly for its realistic depiction of gay life in Japan, and is noted as being one of the first pieces of mainstream Japanese media to substantially portray a
cohabiting
Cohabitation is an arrangement where people who are not legally married live together as a couple. They are often involved in a romantic or sexually intimate relationship on a long-term or permanent basis. Such arrangements have become incr ...
gay male couple. Writing for ''Manga Bookshelf'', Katherine Dacey praised the series for showcasing "the realities of gay life in Japan depicted in such a matter-of-fact way," while not being "preachy or dreary." Writing for ''
ComicsVerse
ComicsVerse was a comics journalism website covering comics news, reviews, analysis, and interviews with artists and writers. In addition to original written content, the site produced podcasts, videos, original webcomics, and covers news related ...
'', Melissa Padilla cited ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' as a series that subverts typical LGBTQ manga and anime tropes, noting that it includes a "realistic depiction of a gay couple who are adults rather than high school or college students" and that it "tackles gay issues while still maintaining a leisurely, slice-of-life pace."
''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' was a nominee for the inaugural Manga Taishō Award in 2008, and a jury recommendation at the 13th
Japan Media Arts Festival
The Japan Media Arts Festival was an annual festival held since 1997 by Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs. The festival begins with an open competition and culminates with the awarding of several prizes and an exhibition.
Based on judging by ...
in 2009. In 2019, the series won the
Kodansha Manga Award
is one of Japan's major manga awards. The event is sponsored by publisher Kodansha. It has been awarded annually for serialized manga in its third iteration since 1977.
Categories
The award was originally called the until 1968. In 1970, it was ...
for Best General Manga. It has been listed for Book of the Year three times by
Media Factory
, formerly known as , was a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing.
History
The company was founded on December 1, 1986, and was a subsidiary of Recruit (Japanese company), Recruit Co., Ltd., based in Shibuya, Tokyo. ...
's ''Da Vinci'', placing sixth in 2014, fiftieth in 2016, and second in 2020.
Television drama
''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' was the most-awarded series at the 101st awarded by
Kadokawa Kadokawa may refer to:
*Kadokawa Corporation, the holding company of the Kadokawa Group
**Kadokawa Content Gate and Kadokawa Mobile, both former names for BookWalker
**Kadokawa Future Publishing, a subsidiary of Kadokawa Corporation and the publis ...
, winning Best TV Series; Best Actor in a Leading Role for Seiyō Uchino (with Hidetoshi Nishijima placing second); Best Screenplay for Naoko Adachi; and Best Director for Kazuhito Nakae, Katsumi Nojiri, and Kenshi Katagiri. The 16th given by
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics
Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...
was awarded to ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' for Best TV Series and Best Actor in a Leading Role, the later of which was won by both Nishijima and Uchino. The series was additionally awarded the July 2019 Galaxy Award, given by the Japan Council for Better Radio and Television.
Analysis
Portrayal of gay domestic life
Writing for ''
Culture, Society and Masculinities
''Culture, Society and Masculinities'' was a peer-reviewed journal first published in early 2009 as the fifth published by Men's Studies Press, and closing at the end of 2016.
Culture, Society and Masculinities complements the field's pioneering ...
'', Katsuhiko Suganuma notes that the relationship between Shiro and Kenji is depicted as largely non-sexual, contrasting stereotypical media portrayals of gay men as
hypersexual
Hypersexuality is a proposed medical condition said to cause unwanted or excessive sexual arousal, causing people to engage in or think about sexual activity to a point of distress or impairment., according to the website of ''Psychology Toda ...
or sexually deviant. Far from reinforcing equally permissive stereotypes of gay men as emasculated, Suganuma argues that by not depicting Shiro and Kenji's sex life, the series "intentionally ignores the expectations of the curiosity-ridden heteronormative public" to focus on the domestic lives of gay men. Consequently, he cautions against interpreting ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' as being merely
assimilationist
Cultural assimilation is the process in which a minority group or culture comes to resemble a society's majority group or fully adopts the values, behaviors, and beliefs of another group. The melting pot model is based on this concept. A relat ...
or homonormative, arguing that it "provides readers with occasional instances of modification of gender and sexuality norms in contemporary Japanese society."
Portrayal of masculinity
Xuan Bach Tran has noted that while cooking media featuring men in Japan typically foregrounds competition and pursuits of excellence, as in series such as ''
Iron Chef
is a Japanese television cooking show produced by Fuji Television. The series, which premiered on October 10, 1993, is a stylized cook-off featuring guest chefs challenging one of the show's resident "Iron Chefs" in a timed cooking battle buil ...
'' and ''
Oishinbo
is a long-running Japanese cooking manga series written by Tetsu Kariya and drawn by . The manga's title is a portmanteau of the Japanese word for "delicious", , and the word for someone who loves to eat, . The series depicts the adventur ...
'', ''What Did You Eat Yesterday?'' depicts cooking as merely a hobby and a necessity for life. While Shiro embodies many of the traits of the " herbivore man"—he is unambitious in his career, and largely socially withdrawn—he falls out of this category through his love of cooking, and derives his masculinity from "self-care and expressions of selfhood". Suganuma concurs in ''Culture, Society and Masculinities'' that as Shiro's utilitarian cooking style is neither archetypically masculine nor archetypically feminine, it " istancesitself from a polarized gender binary."