It’s about time I think?! Final part of the A Time of Love series in Japan – with Aaron Yan, Naomi Watanabe and Wong Cho Lam!
Legend says 300 years ago, a type of mysterious wagashi appeared known as ‘Wada No. 1’. From the King, the Prince, the Army General, the Geishas, to the lower class commoners, they all longed for the wagashi. The legend says when you eat it, you will be able to capture the happiest memory of your life. But no one knows, the wagashi was made by a pair of fat hands….
Original translation by dearaaronyan – minor edits by me.
The narrator, Wong Cho Lam continues to explain not many people have actually seen the Wada No.1, let alone eat it. So in recent years, many people want to obtain the recipe. One of them is Chen Da Tian (Aaron Yan)…
Aaron looking rather colourful there! He asks a couple of kids directions, but they’re both pointing in different directions. He asks a drunken guy which wasn’t much help either. He then asks a pair of school girls, who thinks he’s Aaron Yan (LOL) and proceeded to chase after him.
A man runs away from a wedding venue. He’s already the sixth one. If Wada Yoshiko (Naomi Watanabe) doesn’t get married by the end of the month, the company will be inherited by her uncle (Ben Wong).
Yoshiko is running away from home. She accidentally bumps into Da Tian. She recognises him but he’s scared and doesn’t recognise her. She asks him to marry her, but he just runs away.
Da Tian is in Japan for a reason – his mission is to get the Wada No. 1 recipe for a Hong Kong company – Cake King. In return, he’ll get enough money to open his own bakery shop.
He finally arrives at the Wada house in the middle of a tasting ceremony. Behind a curtain, the ‘master’ tasted a whole bunch of wagashi. The master asks Da Tian what he’s doing there. he introduces himself as Chen Da Tian from Taiwan, wanting the recipe for the Cake King Corporation in Hong Kong. They refuses him, so he thinks he is not sincere enough.
Cho Lam (who plays different parts here, so it’s just easier to use his real name) tells him there’s only one way to gain the recipe and that is to marry Yoshiko. The family rule is that if she doesn’t get married by the age of 30 (which is next week), the ‘Master’ title and the Wada No. 1 recipe will both fall into her uncle’s hands. She shows him all the pictures of her ancestors, all of them married handsome guys (The pics include Bosco!) so she has to continue the tradition.
She begs him. They negotiate down to only one week of fake marriage. He lays down the conditions, no holding hands and no kissing… and of course no sex lol.
Her uncle interrogates them how they are getting married so quickly. She explains they have known each other for a long time and just bumped into each other again. To stop her uncle asking more questions, Yoshiko says they will have to get ready for their honeymoon, but they will be back for the confirmation ceremony (where she will be officially become the ‘master’ of the Wada house) next week.
When alone, Da Tian signs the marriage certificate. He reminds himself he needs to do everything possible to get the recipe. We see a flashback where on the streets, he meets a beautiful girl and sells her a roasted sweet potato. Some thugs took the money since his father owes them. The girl takes out the handkerchief to wipe the blood off his face. Da Tian looks at it.
At a hotel, Da Tian and Yoshiko arrive for their honeymoon. But her uncle is also there to spy on them. They’re all so colourful here it’s so cute!
During their honeymoon trip, they go to a temple to make a wish. Da Tian makes the wish that he won’t be called a ‘third grade baker’ anymore. While Yoshiko makes the wish that even though they will only be married for 7 days, she hopes there will still be good memories from this marriage. And she also hopes he will never forget her.
‘Peter’ calls him and Da Tian tells him once he gets married, he’ll get the recipe. Da Tian reminds me of their deal.
Yoshiko’s uncle meets Da Tian at a bar. They speak in Mandarin. The uncle, reveals himself to be Peter and gives him $40,000,000. He doesn’t care about the recipe and is more interested in the land that the Wada house is built on. To get the $40 million, ‘Peter’ / the uncle tells Da Tian he only needs to announce at the Wada family ceremony (where they confirm Yoshiko as the successor) that it was a fake marriage. Da Tian takes the envelope with the cheque inside.
Da Tian wanders along the streets thinking about what he should do. Should he keep the cheque? But suddenly a gush of wind blows the cheque away and he steps on a banana peel, falling flat on the ground.
Yoshiko finds him and tries to help. However, he becomes angry and tells her no one is around so she doesn’t have to pretend anymore. She tries to wipe the wound on his face with a handkerchief but he rejects her. So she just give the handkerchief to him so he can wipe it himself. As she was helping him, he proclaims he will never fall in love with her…
PIGGYBACK SCENE!!!! OMG this is funny, cute and a little sweet at the same time. (Aaron is the one being carried again! Like in Just You LOL.)
That night when Yoshiko is asleep, Da Tian receives a message from the uncle reminding him he took the cheque and once his job is done, he should leave quietly. He’s not the first groom the uncle had bribed. As he takes a closer look at the handkerchief Yoshiko gave him earlier, he notices it’s the same as the one the beautiful young girl gave to him years ago…
Da Tian is taking some wedding photos (by himself) when the wedding photographer shows him some photos of Yoshiko’s mum, who looks exactly like Yoshiko. But a photo drops out of the album and Da Tian immediately recognises it as the young girl who saved her. The wedding photographer tells him that’s Yoshiko, who was very beautiful when she was young!
When Yoshiko was 13 years old, her mother named her the 10th generation ‘master’, destined to protect the family recipe and the family property. Since she has to taste many wagashis everyday, she eventually became fat like she is today…
On the last night of their fake marriage, Yoshiko makes him the Wada No. 1. Whoever eats it can capture / relive the happiest moment in their life. As Da Tian takes a bite, he remembers he ate it before, when the young girl gave it to him – that was the happiest moment of his life. Da Tian sheds a tear as he eats the Wada No. 1.
The next day at the Wada family ceremony, one of the elders asks Da TIan whether he really wants to marry Yoshiko and defend the family tradition. However, the uncle exposes him as a fraud and only wants to marry Yoshiko for the recipe. Before the uncle can continue, Da Tian plays the conversation they had earlier, revealing the uncle’s true colours. Da Tian also tears up the $40 million (yen) cheque.
Da Tian confesses because of Wada No.1, he was able to learn how to capture his own happiness. He decides to marry Yoshiko for real.
Da Tian and Yoshiko opens a shop so they can share the Wada No.1 with others. They of course live happily ever after!
THE END!
If the Mandarin/Cantonese combination and the Cantonese/Korean/English was confusing in Parts 1 and 3 of A Time of Love, then the final part continues on with a combination of Japanese/Mandarin/Cantonese. It was cute to see Aaron in a TVB production (and hearing him speak at least one of two phrases of Cantonese!) The story… well, it was enjoyable enough but since there was only 40 odd minutes to tell it, it’s hard to feel for the characters. Pity it was filmed in Japan but not much of the actual scenery was shown. The costumes on Aaron and Naomi though were so colourful which fits well with the cartoon theme. Also, there’s no theme song for this part since I guess TVB doesn’t want to pay the copyright for Aaron’s songs?! LOL.
Oh well, A Time of Love had been a fun, cute, fluffy ride. If you like any of the leads, of course you should watch it! But even if you have a coupe of hours to spare, 45 minutes x 4 isn’t a big commitment.
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