The most laid-back place in Japan

If you ever find yourself driving through rural Japan on Route 457, keep your eyes open for a little restaurant called Rice Field. The name is appropriate—there’s nothing but rice fields around. It’s about twenty minutes outside of Taiwa and it’s possibly my favorite place here.

When you walk inside, you’re greeted by wood-paneling, Hawaiian shirts and guitars hanging on the wall, and the most laid-back people in all of Japan. I believe I’ve written about the harried lifestyle of most Japanese. This appears to not apply to the owners and workers of Rice Field.

The menu is small but the food is delicious. And about once per month they have a live music night. They call it Aloha night and wearing a Hawaiian shirt gets you a free drink. They set out some free snack food and you merely aught to buy some drinks (I highly recommend the oolong tea).

Last Saturday I met a couple friends at Rice Field for the live music night. Several musicians drove in from around Miyagi. As some nasty wind raged outside, the wood stove kept the small crowd nice and warm and spirits were high.

The music was entertaining. Toward the end of the night, several musicians decided to play together—or perhaps a few roped the other ones into it. During one song, my friend Alia and I got up to dance. The owner was also up and dancing and in the span of a couple minutes, we turned the entire place into a short little dance party. Everyone who wasn’t playing an instrument at the time was dancing thanks to Alia and me.

When the music ended, that didn’t mean it was time to go home. On the contrary, the staff of Rice Field, some friends, and the Gaijin-san (us foreigners) hung out in one corner talking and laughing. (The owner passed out at one of the tables). We ended up hanging out till 3 am. At which point everyone decided the weather was so bad that they would all spend the night in the restaurant…except us crazy foreigners who weren’t afraid of some wind and snow. We drove home despite all the worry and offers to spend the night. And we were told that if anything happened on the way home to call and those guys would come help us.

Those of you coming to visit will definitely be having dinner at Rice Field.