Ishigaki, Japan - Dinner and Music

Our first dinner in Ishigaki was at a restaurant, Funakura no Sato, just around the corner from our Airbnb. We could have walked but we still had a misty rain to contend with. The restaurant was spread out with several venues in which to eat. We were led to one that had a long table for all of us to gather around. When you get into the real Japan, you will find that there are restaurants that have the low traditional Zashiki seating.

When you arrive, you take off your shoes and step onto the tatami floor. The table is surrounded with mats to sit on. Most Japanese either kneel around the table or sit with their legs bent or crossed beneath them. Now we Westerners have some trouble with this especially if we have knee replacements. My sweet daughter-in-law made sure each time we were faced with this type of seating that there was a very short chair that I could sit in. It helped tremendously.

After being in several of these situations, I noticed that the attendants would make sure that our shoes were pointing away from the tatami floor so that when we left all we had to do was slip into them. I might mention that if you are planning to visit Japan, you might want to get a pair of shoes that are easy to get off and on as you will undoubtedly encounter many occasions where you will need to remove your shoes. All of the places we stayed asked for shoes to be removed as well,

Our meal was was a variety of Okinawan dishes including the sea grape seaweed that I had read about. It was a little like putting pop candy in your mouth.

As we were finishing our meal, a man stepped up to a raised platform and began to sing and play some traditional Okinawan songs. Here's a bit of what it sounded like.