EASTER ISLAND, Chile — Francisco Xavier, who studied cooking in Japan for 10 years, has been running a Japanese-style restaurant on Easter Island in the South Pacific, best known for its "moai" statues, since February 2007, providing sushi to local residents and tourists alike.

Xavier, a 33-year-old Chilean married to a second-generation Japanese-Chilean, named the restaurant Izakaya Kotaro after their son. It has a red lantern and a bamboo lattice door. There is also a Japanese-style guest room toward the back.

"I am producing a real Japanese taste," Xavier said in fluent Japanese.