Miyanchi Studio & Coffee serves soba that’s music to the taste buds

If you’ve ever visited Okinawa, you’ve probably heard the song “Shima Uta,” or “Island Song,” by the Japanese band The Boom.

Since its release in 1992, the song has become synonymous with the tropical Japanese prefecture, and its trademark sanshin licks can be heard everywhere from tourist attractions to festivals and karaoke parlors.

But “Shima Uta” singer and songwriter Kazufumi Miyazawa isn’t from Okinawa at all; he hails from Yamanashi prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.

The ballad tells the story of a man and a woman separated by fighting in World War II. Miyazawa supposedly wrote it after he visited the island and talked with the war’s aging survivors.

Read more at: https://www.stripes.com/1.622192