Before the ferry to Taketomi or Iriomote or any of the outer Yaeyama islands, stop at the market. The covered arcade near Ishigaki's public market is where the island chain concentrates its flavors, and understanding those flavors before you travel further changes what you notice when you arrive. Yaeyama soba noodles are flatter and lighter than Okinawan soba — a distinction that matters to the people who make them. Island tofu is firmer and denser than mainland varieties, surviving without refrigeration for the hours that traveling between islands requires. Sea grapes look implausible and taste precisely like the sea. These things are specific. The specificity is the point. The vendors have occupied their stalls for years or decades. The market exists for the community that uses it daily. Visitors who arrive in the morning and shop the way locals do — pointing and asking questions — will find it works. The market is the grammar of Yaeyama cuisine. Everything you eat on the outer islands becomes more legible after you have been here first.