An Adventure in Shopping Mall Lunch

So here's a funny story from last Saturday's shopping trip. We went to the mall to look for a dress with sleeves (a rare find in the US), and got there around lunch time. We made our way to the McDonalds and avoided all the Japanese eateries. We got our food and sat down at the nearest table next to a cute little Japanese girl. We noticed this girl was eating Takoyaki (fried Octopus) and sitting seiza style in a wooden high chair like thing for kids. Sitting seiza style is pretty uncomfortable (for a westerner) anyway, but on a wooden chair it looked pretty painful. However she had a perfectly content look on her face and was thouroughly enjoying her octupus lunch. I was thinking that this girl must be from a pretty traditional family, when all of the sudden her father (or possibly grandfather, not really sure) sat down with her and proceeded to scarf down his KFC meal. It was pretty funny, needless to say. I only wish I had taken a picture!

(The pictures are of Takoyaki and a Japanese child sitting seiza style)