Netflix Shares Release Date for Japanese Drama Series ‘The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House’

Netflix just added to its January 2023 streaming shows a new Japanese series, The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House. 

The show is written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda as an adaptation of Aiko Koyama’s Maiko-san Chi No Makanai-san Maiko-san, an original award-winning Manga. 

Netflix acquired the show sometime back and recently offered it a January 2023 premiere date.

Set in a district in Kyoto, the first season of The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House tells the story of Sumire (a geisha under training) and Kiyo (a cook at the maiko house). The show dives deeper into the lives of the best friends who relocated to Kyoto as geishas. 

One excels in the field, while the other fails and is expelled from the training. Fortunately, her newly discovered cooking talent keeps her in Kyoto, as she becomes a chef at the maiko house where they all stay.

Yes! A month after sharing the main teaser, Netflix uploaded the official trailer for its upcoming Japanese series. The trailer is relatively broad than its counterpart, lasting 2 minutes and 26 seconds. It kicks off with the two friends being welcomed in Kyoto, alongside their luggage and readiness to train to become geishas.

The journey becomes unfortunate for Kiyo, who gets cut off from the training. Luckily, everyone recognizes Kiyo’s cooking talent, resulting in her getting hired as a chef for the maiko house.

The Netflix upcoming show is written and directed by Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who also serves as the showrunner alongside Hiroshi Okuyama, Takuma Sato, and Megumi Tsuno.

The show boasts many actors of Japanese origin, including Nana Mori (Kiyo Nozuki), Natsuki Deguchi (Sumire Herai), Keiko Matsuzaka (Chiyo), Aju Makita (Ryoko), Ai Hashimoto 9Momoko), Takako Tokiwa (Azusa), Mayu Matsouka (Yoshino), and Kairi Jyo (Kenta Nakanowatari). 

Other stars are Arata Iura (Masahiro), Kayoko Shiraishi (Kiyo’s grandmother), Keiko Toda (Kimie), Kanji Furutachi (Kanjiro), Toshinori Omi (Seino), Yukiya Kitamura (Takeshi), and Lily Franky (Ren). Kotona Minami, Kotoko Wakayanagi, and Momoko Fukuchi will join the season as Kotono, Kikuno, and Tsurukoma, respectively.

Season one of The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House will launch on Thursday, January 12 2023, on Netflix.