Wakako Zake

On her way home from work, Wakako heads to her usual place, Oraku, but unfortunately it is closed due to a training trip. She sees a sign for Hida Izakaya and decides to go in. As she eats grilled Hida beef with miso paste on a hoba leaf, Wakako hears about the sake breweries in the Hida region from the staff. Since she has some paid leave saved up, she decides to take some time off and go there. When she gets lost in Takayama city, a Vietnamese woman calls out to her. Her name is Nguyen and she says she works at a brewery. After touring the seven sake breweries in Takayama, Wakako finally visits the brewery where Nguyen works and they decide to have dinner together. Then Nguyen's boyfriend, Tetsuya, shows up...

Wakako happens to meet the chef and the rest of the Oraku crew at the Miyagawa morning market and enjoys some midarashi dango and morning sake. The chef accompanies Wakako on her tour of the sake breweries in Hida-Furukawa, and they enjoy a trip together. Wakako is concerned about the chef, who seems to have a secret, but in the afternoon they part ways and head to Shirakawa-go. After touring the Gassho-style village and enjoying some river fish, Wakako returns to Takayama and finds Nguyen, who says she skipped her date with Tetsuya...

After a hard day of work Wakako stops off for some salt-grilled salmon and cold sake.

After narrowly escaping an extra day of work Wakoko sets out on the town for some garlic gyoza and a cold beer.

While toiling over a bad day at work, Wakako consoles herself with some warm sake and some oderiferous monkfish liver in ponzu.

Wakako has fried mackerel, cold draft beer, yamakake tuna and mokkiri sake.

Wakako has some warm sake to top off a heartwarming day.

Wakako finds a shop that serves food from her home of Hiroshima. As luck would have it, she finds a Hiroshima food restaurant in the middle of Tokyo, too.

With the start of spring, Wakako has been put in charge of training new employee Ito. After work tonight, she wanders the bars alone in search of good sake and tasty snacks. "The best thing about being a working adult is that I can drink what I want, when I want..." Tonight's snacks are butter-grilled scallops and draft beer. First, Wakako enjoys the springy texture of the scallops with the draft beer. Next, she enjoys the crunchy texture of the strings and the liver, each of which has its own distinct taste. And this time, Wakako is reminded of something related to the training of new employees at her familiar bar, Oraku...

One night at work, while everyone was engrossed in the conversation about "What would you like to eat for the last time in your life?", Wakako came across a typical Chinese restaurant in Town. Wakako fell in love with the restaurant's atmosphere and started to visit every day... She enjoyed the slightly sweet and complex Chinese flavors of "stir-fried green peppers and pork" and bottled beer... the spicy "chili shrimp" with a delicate taste of shrimp shell stock and Shaoxing wine, "the true pleasure of eating out for Chinese food". And, having become friends with the middle-aged man and woman working at the restaurant who were regular customers, Wakako was asked the question, "What would you like to eat for the last time in your life?"...

Born with a drinker's tongue, tonight too she wanders around in search of a place to belong, a woman drinking alone. Spring, a new season. A new discovery with thick-sliced ​​bacon! In spring, Wakako goes to a teppanyaki restaurant, which is common in her hometown of Hiroshima. She orders "thick-sliced ​​bacon," thinking it goes perfectly with beer. The crispy exterior and juicy interior of the bacon, cooked on the teppanyaki plate, and the beer go "whoosh." Wakako has a blissful time. Wakako loves reading. Even after work, she "want to read and drink." It's a bit of a stretch, but she goes into a soba restaurant thinking she can quietly drink while reading a book. She has cold sake and kinpira as an appetizer. She also wants some snacks, so she orders "ten-sui."

Wakako (Takeda Rina), who is in a good mood because of the growth of new employee Ito-kun (Hasegawa Shinya) and Mii-san's (Yamada Kinuo) pregnancy, is drawn to the office when she sees a poster advertising a tuna cutting show. The excitement grows as she sips on a cold draft beer. The tuna is brought out and the cutting show begins. With the deft hands of the craftsman, the tuna, which was once a fish, is transformed into a food ingredient. The freshly cut sashimi is paired with hot sake.

"How about ramen?" Shiraishi　asks, to which Hasegawa　replies, "I had a quick drink at a ramen shop yesterday." The men get excited talking about the trendy quick drink thing. When Chief Okada says, "Ramen shops are great, aren't they?", Wakako passes by and can't help but reply, "That's true!". Deciding to have a quick drink at a ramen shop, Wakako discovers a nice-looking place on her way home from work. She goes in. Her eyes are drawn to the braised pork on top of the ramen brought to her by the person next to her, and she eats it with a Tsingtao beer. With the base ready, she moves on to chive dumplings and Shaoxing wine. This time, the office is in a heated discussion about what flavor the ramen should be. Wakako, who can't get ramen out of her head, goes to another ramen shop. It's a place connected to Tokiwa-so, and there are many autographs of manga artists on the wall. You have to pick up your own bottled beer. Wakako orders a 100 yen bamboo shoot. Then, who comes along...?

New employee Ito-kun (Hasegawa Shinya) speaks passionately, but Chief Okada (Shiotsuka Kohei) brushes it off by saying, "What's right isn't always the right answer." Wakako (Takeda Rina) thinks, "There are certainly some things you can only understand after time has passed." And so, today, I'm drinking alone again. I go into a restaurant with two U-shaped counters. When the thick-sliced ​​ham cutlet is brought to me, I order it without hesitation. I pair it with draft beer. When I was a student, I thought ham cutlets were thin. I didn't understand back then, but I do now. Both thin and thick cuts have their own merits. On my way home, Wakako is in a hurry because she really wants to eat Atka mackerel. At Oraku, the chef (Nozoe Yoshihiro) and others welcome her as usual. While waiting for the Atka mackerel to be grilled, she orders... cold sake and snacks.

Wakako (Takeda Rina) and her friends get excited when they see a photo of Mii-san's (Yamada Kinuo) daughter in the office. After hearing Chief Okada's (Shiotsuka Kohei) words, "We have to make the most of this time," she goes alone to an oyster shack in Tsukiji. Wakako spots the familiar Ganganyaki on the menu and orders it right away. She opens and eats, eats and opens again, enjoying the pleasure of the moment. However, after a while, Wakako is busy at work and feels tense and tired, so she goes to her familiar Oraku. There, she hears a conversation between the head chef (Nozoe Yoshihiro) and a regular customer (LaSalle Ishii)...

Lunch break. Chinese bento from a recently opened bento shop is popular in Wakako's (Takeda Rina) office. Newcomer Kuramoto (Niwa Norimoto) has been coming for three days in a row. Eating her homemade bento, Wakako listens to the conversation of Chief Okada (Shiotsuka Kohei) and others, and her mind is completely filled with Chinese food. On her way home from work, Wakako spots a sign for a Chinese home-cooking restaurant and decides to go in. The customer next to her is eating delicious-looking dumplings with wings. Suppressing her excitement, she orders pickled mustard greens and enjoys the fizz with Shaoxing wine and soda. The next day, despite having gone in for a Chinese meal, Wakako goes to buy a Chinese bento, but Chief Okada and his team get there first, and it's sold out, so she can't buy one. Chief Okada feels sorry for her and asks her for some recommended restaurants in Takadanobaba...

Wakako (Takeda Rina) is on her way home after making a delivery for Chief Okada (Shiotsuka Kohei) when she finds a nice-looking Western restaurant and decides to go in. She has a vegetable salad and drinks a wine spritzer recommended by the owner. Her eye is caught by the restaurant's specialty minced cutlet on the blackboard. Just then, the minced cutlet ordered by the couple next to her arrives. Though surprised by its size, Wakako also orders one. On her way home, feeling energized for the next day by the happiness of eating delicious food, Wakako spots a sign for "Touya Sakadokoro" and comes back another day. It is a restaurant serving Kyushu cuisine, and the conversation between the manager and part-time staff is amusing...

During work hours, Wakako (Takeda Rina) is surprised when an eraser she dropped miraculously stands up again, and tries to tell someone about it, but everyone seems busy and she misses the chance. On her way home, Wakako finds a clam specialty store and enjoys clam shabu-shabu and sake. Watching the clams opening in the pot, Wakako feels like talking to someone, and remembers that the head chef of Oraku (Nozoe Yoshihiro) had contacted her saying he had something to say, so she decides to stop by Oraku right away...

Wakako (Takeda Rina) is heading home straight after a meeting outside the office and happens to come across a good-looking Chinese restaurant. She orders fried shrimp dumplings and a bottle of beer. She also adds mapo vermicelli. The next day, back at the office, Ito (Hasegawa Shinya) is handing out rice crackers that he received from his parents' home. As they start talking about family, Wakako remembers an email she received from her mother. On her way home, she comes across a restaurant called Shumai Mania and, feeling nostalgic for the shumai her mother used to make for her, decides to go in. When she asks what shumai is available this month...

Wakako (Takeda Rina) sees a poster for Hyogo Terroir Travel in front of a store where she went shopping and decides to stop by on her way back to her parents' house. After taking a tour to see the auction at Akashiura Fisheries Cooperative, she goes to Uonotana Shopping Street, where the fish that have been auctioned are lined up. There, she spots a shop curtain hanging next to a liquor store and, thinking it must be a bar, she goes in. Wakako orders Akashi local beer and octopus tempura. She adds some local sake to her sashimi platter and enjoys the fresh seafood. She decides to stop by Himeji the next day...

Murazaki Wakako (Takeda Rina) and Mii-san (Yamada Kinuo) have their fortunes read by a colleague at work, and are confused when they are told, "You might have to fight!" On her way home from work, Wakako is drawn to a "Miyazaki Chicken Nanban" restaurant. She is confused by the wide variety of options, including breast and thigh meat, with or without tartar sauce, but what will she choose? Sitting next to Wakako is a male customer (Hide (Penalty)) who catches her eye... On another day, when Wakako goes to her favorite restaurant, "Oraku," she finds Aoyagi (Kamakari Kenta), who was supposed to have quit.

When Wakako (Takeda Rina) asks the depressed Chief Okada (Shiotsuka Kohei) why, he says that his daughter called him old-fashioned for a certain reason. From there, the conversation turns to "Showaism"... Obsessed with the Showa era, Wakako finds a retro izakaya on her way home from work and stops in. She enjoys simple dishes like pickled vegetables and ham cutlets with draft beer, but is captivated by something a nearby customer is eating with relish. Completely engrossed in Showa retro, Wakako goes on a special Showa-era hopping spree in Oimachi, which Okada had told her about, on another day.

Wakako (Takeda Rina) is inspired to cook after eating Mii-san's (Yamada Kinuo) homemade dish, pork trotters, for lunch, and heads to a Chinese food store in Ikebukuro. There she discovers an authentic Chinese food court next door, and decides to go in. ▼She is unsure what to do as there are a variety of Chinese restaurants lined up, including those from Shanghai, Sichuan, and Taiwan, but she starts by ordering some cold Sichuan skewers and a Chinese beer, and continues to enjoy new flavors. ▼On another day, she visits a local Chinese restaurant and enjoys a delicious dish along with a bottle of Japanese beer - what is this sure-fire dish?!