On 24 July 2024, about twenty people were waiting before a long-established eel restaurant opened in Ichibancho, Sendai. It was the midsummer Day of the Ox, when a custom of eating eel concentrates demand on a date in the traditional calendar.
The restaurant began preparation at 5 a.m., roughly three hours earlier than usual. It made 400 meals for dining in and 1,000 takeaway boxes—about three times its normal output. The queue shifted the kitchen's clock as well as the customers' arrival time.
A seasonal food custom is more than a choice of dish. It synchronises when buyers appear and when cooks begin work. This line was the visible result of a calendar date starting one urban kitchen at five in the morning.