The restaurant scene in Tokyo has been in the doldrums for a decade, a victim of the slow economy, but restaurants that serve Okinawan cuisine have lately been experiencing a mini-boom. In the past seven years, the number of Okinawan restaurants in Tokyo has soared from 100 to 300, according to Asao Oshiro, vice chairman of the Okinawan Association in Tokyo and author of restaurant guidebooks. The restaurants serve Okinawan drinks and authentic dishes using air-shipped ingredients, and some even entertain customers with traditional music and dances.
Scientists long ago established that their balanced diet with fresh local produce is the principal reason that Okinawa’s population of 1.3 million includes 600 centenarians, the highest per capita in the world. Mozuku, a seaweed that Okinawans commonly eat, contains fucoidan, a substance thought to prevent cancer and slow aging. Tofu contains powerful antioxidants called flavonoids. And shiikuwasa, Okinawan citrus fruit, contains a substance called nobiletin that may prevent cancer and rheumatism. On the menu at Taketomijima is rafuti, Okinawan pork stewed in soy sauce, sugar and awamori, a local distilled liquor, which is rich in collagen, thought to be good for the skin. The most popular dish, though, is goya champuru, a mixture of stir-fried goya (bitter melon), tofu, pork and egg.
Just as Tokyo residents are catching on to the health benefits of traditional dishes, Okinawan youths are turning to junk food, and they’re not expected to live as long as their grandparents. “It is good to know that the rest of Japan knows about our food,” says Okinawan nutritionist Yoshie Arakaki. “What we have to do now is to educate the Okinawan youngsters.” Or send them to Tokyo.
