Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

nippon.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 408 posts

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#31

Post by univerio »

frereubu wrote: post #27
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it means that you're digging up food that is under other food?

Yeah, could be - that's kind of what I mean in terms of being lost in translation. It feels like there's missing information / context in quite a few of them. Edit: In fact I think you're completely right - "picking out" something near the bottom of the dish does suggest that.

I think just written in an ambiguous way: "dish" here refers to the food contained in the vessel and not the vessel itself.

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#33

Post by frereubu »

cthalupa wrote: post #4

Interesting. Some of these are big deals (particularly the ones mentioned as important) but others I have seen Japanese people in Tokyo do quite consistently. Soroebashi - not on the table, but I've seen chopsticks aligned by pushing them against the plate hundreds of time. I've also seen them used to stir miso soup, etc. plenty. Others I don't know that I would have much of an inclination to do and haven't seen but…

I've seen those too. I was going to say that I've seen people put the bowl to their mouth and shovel food in with chopsticks, but now that I come to think about it that might well actually be from the series Tokyo Diner and Takeshi Kitano films, and may be deliberately uncouth characterisations...

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#35

Post by SpecialistK »

emursebrian wrote: post #5

Most of these are common sense. As a tourist foreigner, you also aren't expected to know all the customs but it's appreciated when you try. The one about which direction to NOT point the chopsticks in was new to me. If you just watch what other people are doing, then try to do the same thing, you're probably on the right track. Related to eating, one pro-tip I got from a local is that when you're ready to close your…

> The one about which direction to NOT point the chopsticks in was new to me.

I suspect it mostly affects left handed people.

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#37

Post by dgxyz »

0x3f wrote: post #29
wagwang wrote: post #9

Always interesting to see the analogs of island vs continental culture when comparing UK America and Japan China. Seems like islanders, due to their reliance on trade, naturally get specialized and autistic about their craft so they can have a comparative advantage, and their obsessions carry over into stuffy traditional practices.

I counter with the American swap-the-fork-hand-after-you-cut thing. Diabolical.

That’s just mental. Does my head in when I see it.

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#38

Post by themaninthedark »

frereubu wrote: post #27
FartyMcFarter wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it means that you're digging up food that is under other food?

Yeah, could be - that's kind of what I mean in terms of being lost in translation. It feels like there's missing information / context in quite a few of them. Edit: In fact I think you're completely right - "picking out" something near the bottom of the dish does suggest that.

Let me check but I think it refers to a shared dish; at an izakaiya you often order a bunch of shared food plates and then serve yourself from them.

It is definitely rude to use chopsticks that you just put in your mouth to go rooting around for something in those. You are supposed to take from the top and ideally turn them around using the back end. Some people frown on using the back ends however as it may have been touched by your hand...

Edit add: It means to dig food out, either from your own dish or a shared one. Like mixing the food up to look for something you like in it.

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#39

Post by unsignedint »

The article does a good job calling out the more serious offenses, although I’d personally argue that nigiribashi is just as bad as the other two. Most Japanese people would probably react with a bit of shock to those.

That said, chopstick etiquette is definitely evolving. Something like chobujubashi isn’t enforced as strictly anymore, especially with more awareness around left-handed users. Kaeshibashi, on the other hand, is becoming more common, and in some social circles, not doing it can actually come across as rude.

Re: A Japanese glossary of chopsticks faux pas (2022)

#40

Post by waffletower »

cthalupa wrote: post #22
WorldPeas wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

right? What's the right way? I don't want splinters on the most sensitive surface in my body..

The splinters come from where they break apart and there's not really any reason to have that part of the chopsticks touching your skin. But you move away from break apart disposable chopsticks in Japan long before you get to high etiquette dining. In my experience, basically every restaurant in Japan that isn't of, like, fast food tier, provides actual chopsticks instead of disposable ones.

I had mostly disposables but they were actually lathed wood. The crude rectangular cut chopsticks are terrible -- usually not for splinters, but they often break imperfectly, leaving you with two sticks with different lengths.
Post reply on HN