Dancing squid bowl dish in Hakodate

A seafood bowl I ate in Hakodate in Hokkaido, Japan. It had salmon roe and seaweed and some other things, with the highlight being the "dancing" squid on top.

Dancing squid dishes seem to be at many restaurants in Hakodate, but this particular one may have been the only one with this bowl set. The place was located in the seafood restaurant arcade across the parking lot from Hakodate Station if anyone is interested.

Edit: I added some information in a reply comment but it's now buried somewhere. The basic idea behind the sodium in the soy sauce causing the legs to move has been covered in the comments, but there's still some question as to whether or not it's officially "dead" at the time of serving. The brain is probably still in the body, but a significant part of its nervous system, the giant axon, I believe extends into the mantle, which has been cut. I'm not an expert on squids so I can't really come to a definite conclusion about that.
As you can see in the beginning, it's not moving at all when it's brought out so I assume that signals around the body have stopped, whereas a fresh intact squid out of water would constantly move around. This doesn't necessarily mean that it's "dead" but it seems to me that it's at least incapacitated.

Here's an explanation of a similar occurrence using frog legs:

I filmed this strange dish myself in Hakodate, and I am the original copyright owner. Please feel free to ask before using. Thank you!

[shandon]

When I die I would like soy sauce to be poured on me so I can wiggle around as well. That is my final request.

[SirBuljo]

Brain was removed before the serving, it is long dead, this is an after action the squid itself has no concious or unconcious participation in, vote this comment up so everyone sees it. I'll start by voting it up myself.

[varavix]

when you're dead but your favorite song comes on

[sparky]

American mom: Don't play with your food!
Japan: food play with you

[DanaTheInsane]

I'm not a vegetarian by any means, but I really want my food to not be moving when I eat it.

[Ereaes]

Biology answer: salt (Na+ Cl-) completed the electrical bridge in the muscles causing random contractions.

[scrumbus]

When there's more comments complaining about people saying the squid's alive than actual comments about thinking the squid is alive

[mozard]

When you're dead but you forgot to clear Chrome history

[iijason]

i love watching the corpse of my food dance before i eat it, it really builds up an appetite

[cbrew]

Squid: is served

Customer: DANCE PEASANT

[thedollfin]

"Anything's a sex toy if ur brave enough"
-Sun Tzu, the art of war

[ViktorScberg]

RIP for those poeple who think that squid is still alive ... Their brain must be dead after that, just like that squid

[JDogVids]

The squid was already dead peeps although it was still moving, think of it like this, imagine playing your gamecube without a memory card in it, at least somewhat like that lol

[Johnny-Thunder]

Even the dead squid try their hardest to make Japan look as strange as possible...

[Alienboividsandstuff]

Now this takes playing with your food to a whole nother level

[derpywaffle]

When you dead af and still turn up
ayy

[humha]

Squid: ☠
Sauce: "I'm soy."
Squid: 👾

[gillsnotlora]

Any last words Squid?







**Squid dances in fear*

[liljay]

I only see comments about people telling other people that they’re wrong and the squid is dead, but I haven’t seen one comment that the squid is

[Invicibus]

guys... relax... tis squid doesnt feel pain and it's brain is removed. all that is just soy sauce reacting to it's nerves and cause it to dance...