[Eric in the Ozarks]

We went to a sushi restaurant in Tulsa a few weeks ago and I noticed a party room just off the main dining area. A neon sign identified it as the "Tatami Room."
I asked the waitress, "Where's the tatami ?"
You're in it.., she said.
"Tatami is a 2 foot by 6 foot woven fiber floor panel in a Japanese house. People take off their shoes on tatami," I said.
Learn somthin new everyday, she said...

[snowsislander]

We went to a sushi restaurant in Tulsa a few weeks ago and I noticed a party room just off the main dining area. A neon sign identified it as the "Tatami Room."

I haven't been to many sushi places in the middle of the U.S., but 15 or so years ago I went to a kaiten sushi place in Minneapolis, and I was pleasantly surprised at how good it was.

[snowsislander]

My favorite "not quite Japanese" story is when I went into a "Japanese" restaurant in Florida.

I spent some time trying out my Japanese on the folks working, but they seemed to be very reticient. After a few minutes, one of them blurted out in English "we aren't Japanese, we're Korean".

Food was good, though.