THE television series Midnight Diner begins with the routine activities of ‘Master’, the owner and cook at the titular diner: peeling radishes, slicing them, sautéing pieces of pork, adding chopped vegetables and stock, melting miso extract, cleaning the table, setting up the noren, and lighting up a lantern that says “Meshiya.” At midnight, the diner opens, and it stays open until 7 in the morning.

Shinjuku at nig