Indulgences

1. あわもり

   A-wa-mo-ri

   Awamori (Okinawan rice spirit)

   Usage

   Okinawa's own distilled spirit, made from Thai indica rice with black koji. 25-43% ABV, drunk with water, hot water or over ice

   Grammar Note

   Note that the Okinawan form is ?aamui "awamori; ordinarily just called saki" (あーむい【泡盛】). Awamori is the Japanese form, but it is what every bottle and menu says

2. くーす

   Kuu-su

   Kuusu (awamori aged three years or more)

   Usage

   Awamori aged three years or more — rounder and more fragrant, opened for gifts and celebrations. In souvenir shops the price swings with the age and the strength

   Grammar Note

   Kuusu 【古酒】 is aged awamori, a rice spirit aged for at least three years; also kuusju "aged awamori; some are over a hundred years old and greatly prized, kept sealed in Nanban jars and topped up as they are drunk". Kuusuu is a different word entirely (a tree lizard, Tomigusuku)

3. ゆーちゅー

   Yuu-chuu

   Yuuchuu (awamori cut with water and warmed)

   Usage

   Awamori cut with water and warmed — what you are offered in winter, or when you are under the weather

   Grammar Note

   'juucuu "cutting awamori with water and warming it, and the drink itself". The vessel for it is 'juucuuzuukaa

4. んみざき

   N-mi-za-ki

   Nmizaki (plums and sugar steeped in awamori)

   Usage

   Plum liqueur on an awamori base — Okinawa steeps its plums in awamori rather than in mainland shochu or neutral spirit

   Grammar Note

   ?NmiZaki "awamori with plums and sugar added". Nmi is "plum" and -zaki is the voiced form of saki, "sake"

5. んむざき

   N-mu-za-ki

   Nmuzaki (sweet-potato spirit)

   Usage

   Spirit distilled from sweet potato — a different thing from awamori, which is made from rice. Useful for telling the two apart when ordering

   Grammar Note

   ?NmuZaki "spirit made from sweet potato; imo shochu". Nmu is "potato" and -zaki is "sake". Note it differs from nmizaki (plum liqueur) by a single vowel

6. うざき

   U-za-ki

   Uzaki (the honorific word for sake)

   Usage

   Used when offering a drink to someone senior, and for the sake offered at a prayer site. The plain word is saki

   Grammar Note

   ?uZaki "honorific for sake". The plain word is saki

7. からからー

   Ka-ra-ka-raa

   Karakaraa (the traditional awamori decanter)

   Usage

   The flat decanter awamori arrives in at an izakaya. It is shaped so that it rarely tips, and spills little when it does. Also a common souvenir

   Grammar Note

   karakaraa "a vessel for sake: round and flat, filled at the centre and poured from a spout on the side, hard to knock over and slow to spill". The saying mitaN karakaraa, "a half-filled karakaraa", describes a person who is not quite all there

8. たばく

   Ta-ba-ku

   Tobacco, cigarettes

   Usage

   Note that restaurants in Okinawa Prefecture are non-smoking indoors as a rule; ask the shop before lighting up

   Grammar Note

   tabaku "tobacco", with the examples "to smoke" and "please have a smoke". The nursery word is paakuu. It is an old naturalised loan, also written in kana in Japanese, so it is not written in katakana

9. ちしり

   Chi-shi-ri

   Chishiri (a kiseru pipe)

   Usage

   A smoking pipe you meet in museums, antique shops and preserved houses rather than in use. Point at it to ask about it

   Grammar Note

   cisiri "kiseru pipe"; the stem is cisiriZoo. It illustrates the Okinawan rule that Japanese tsu appears as chi, as in teesici (taisetsu) and siNziCi (shinsetsu)

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