The Restaurant of Many Orders

Book review for The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa. Following on from my previous review of The Ainu Wolf Carving, another picture book I got to borrow from a hotel in Hokkaido was The Restaurant of Many Orders by Kenji Miyazawa. I grew up in Australia so I had absolutely no idea who Kenji Miyazawa was. Apparently though he is a very famous Japanese author - schoolkids learn about him in primary school, so my husband had heard of his name. As the story comes in a picture book format, you’d assume it’s a cozy book that you can read to your children. (A visit to a restaurant in the woods, how delightful!) Looking closer at the cover though, you can see a cat’s face leering down at the two people approaching its entrance. The original story was written in 1924, and its English translation can be read online for free on Wikisource. In short, it’s about two selfish, greedy hunters who find a restaurant in the middle of the forest. As they pass through the rooms, signs instruct…