Eating out

We found this really lovely authentic Japanese restaurant in Takayama where we could have a variety of fresh seafood. We had shellfish cooked in sake, grilled fish, calamari in pepper sauce...we had loads. It was delicious and hardly made a dent in our pockets, which was a little bit of a surprise since everything is so expensive in Japan. Its good to find a bargain! These Japanese women were sitting at the table behind us, smoking and chatting away. The place had such a good atmosphere, and the chef was really friendly, he came out and chatted to us though we couldnt actually say a lot. We just told him to cook us whatever fish he wanted to and that was how we ended up with our little feast. I got a dead leg from sitting with them folded underneath me Japanese-style for the duration of the meal, it still baffles me how the Japanese can look so elegant and poised doing it, and still be able to gracefully get up afterwards without their legs buckling.