There was a 30-min Q & A session featuring Matsushige Yutaka i.e. the director, scriptwriter and lead actor of the movie "Gekieiga Kodoku no Gurume" (The Solitary Gourmet) at the Singapore premiere held on 19 March 2025. Note that the following is not a word-for-word transcript of the session but rather highlights. Some questions and answers have been edited/rephrased and additional information included for the sake of clarity and context.
Before the screening, there was a QR code flashed on screen for the audience to submit questions. You could either choose to stay anonymous or include your name. As such, during the actual Q & A, some of those who had provided their names were called upon to ask Matsushige their questions directly. Otherwise, the host was the one who asked the questions. As some questions were either similar in nature or asked about the same thing, it was clear that the staff had organised the questions to be asked beforehand rather than going through all the questions that were submitted through the QR code.
While questions raised here were largely in English, save for some Japanese greetings here and there, Matsushige had an interpreter with him onsite in Japan. As such, there were some gaps in the session as the translations were taking place both ways.
Although I felt that it was a good arrangement to submit questions beforehand rather than have awkward pauses in between the session and waste precious time waiting for people to raise their hands, it would be good to let the audience know beforehand that they had a chance to talk to Matsushige directly by submitting questions with their names. It was obvious that those who were called were quite taken by surprise so they were obviously nervous and fumbled with their questions. It was inevitable that the questions came out a bit messy and lacking in context than what I actually saw on the submission site. I also submitted a number of questions which were addressed during the session but without providing my name since it was a hassle to type that repeatedly before the screening was about to start.
Disclaimer: As I was seated very far at the back, there were some points when the audio from Japan was slightly muffled and I may have misheard certain parts. If you notice any discrepancies below, please feel free to let me know.
Questions are in bold/italics:
Matsushige-san, the "Kodoku no Gurume" series which is based on a manga has been made popular around the world after 10 seasons on TV. This time in the movie, you are not only acting as the lead character Inogashira Goro but also taking on the roles of the director and scriptwriter. How do you feel about this?
It's been about 13 years since we started with the TV drama series on a very small scale with a small number of staff members. As the only person who has been a constant in this series all these years, it was a natural move for me to lead the production of the movie.
As travel content creators on social media, we love sharing great food spots in Japan. However, we constantly worry about these places getting overwhelmed by tourists due to the tourism boom in Japan and whether these shops can handle the influx of customers. What are your thoughts about this issue when introducing food spots in Japan through the "Kodoku no Gurume" series? (question from audience)
There are indeed a lot more tourists in Japan these days especially from South Korea, China and Taiwan. While there are many places nationwide especially outside the major cities which may be pretty unknown even to the Japanese, we are very pleased to see that these delicious restaurants have received attention and favour from the fans as seen from the long queues that have formed.
Have you been to Singapore and what is your favourite dish here? (question from audience)
I used to work part-time in a Chinese restaurant so I'm quite familiar with Chinese cuisine. I have the impression that Singapore has plenty of delicious Chinese food as well as other Asian cuisine to offer. While I may not know about a lot about these, the first thing I can think of is Hainanese chicken rice. It would be great if you can share more with me about the delicious food in Singapore which I should try.
Hi Matsushige-san, thank you very much for featuring my family's restaurant i.e. the chanpon place in Goto Islands. I was very excited to see this on screen and wanted to take this opportunity to say hi and thank you. (question from audience)* The speaker is the eldest son of the family which owns the chanpon restaurant featured in the Goto Islands arc of the movie. His grandparents are running the place and he is currently based in Singapore with his family.
You should have told me earlier! (laughing) Wow, it's amazing to have this connection all the way from Singapore!
Due to the location of Goto Islands, the food and culture there have been heavily influenced by foreign nations such as China and South Korea so it has evolved into something which is uniquely different from that of the rest of Japan. The chanpon is an example of such a special dish.
I would like to ask how you manage to make eating look so appetising! I remember that there was a season of 5 episodes where you had to eat rather "adventurous" food so how did you manage to do that even for such foods? And please come to Singapore for a special season, thank you. (question from audience)
Oh, that should be about the "misadventures" in Season 5, right? Although I cannot recall all the dishes from then at this moment, there was a wasabi-don which was especially memorable. And of course, if you have any special food or those to be eaten in an unusual way at places not frequented by Japanese tourists, please share that with me too.
Since we deal with a variety of ingredients and dishes in the series, we usually ask the restaurant owners about the best way to enjoy the dishes so this helps me to show that to the viewers.
In Singapore, we sometimes have disputes with our neighbour Malaysia over the origin/birth rights of popular dishes. What are your thoughts about this issue when there are controversies of a similar nature surrounding Japanese food? (question from audience)
* The speaker used the term "being attacked by Malaysia" multiple times in this question. From what it seems, the question's context is probably with reference to controversies or arguments to date over which place was the origin of popular dishes such as chicken rice and chili crab.
I'm not sure if I understand this question correctly because we don't seem to see this kind of terminology used here in Japan.
In Japan's case, we do have some disputes (both historical and ongoing) with our neighbours at times. However, I think that at least through food, there is a lot that we can share with one another
as seen from how the women from different places co-exist in harmony on the remote island featured in the movie as they work towards the common goal of food research.
What is the next project that you are working on that we can look forward to seeing in future? (question from audience)
I think there is a need to discuss with related parties such as TV Tokyo on our next step so I do not know for now what's coming up. Our initial goal for this movie was for it to be well-received by the domestic audience so for this to go international and be loved by the world, this has been an amazing and unexpected adventure. In any case, I hope to continue the engagement with food through this series and that there will be an opportunity for us to share it with all of you in Singapore.
