How Do I Use Chopsticks Correctly?

There are certain manners that should be followed when using chopsticks in Japan. Learn basic chopstick etiquette before you travel to Japan!

Before eating, do not rub your wooden chopsticks together to remove possible splinters as this implies that the chopsticks are low quality and that the restaurant is cheap. Remove chopsticks from the paper sleeve and place them on the chopstick holder when not in use. If there is no holder, make one out of the paper sleeve.

Do not make gestures using your chopsticks or stick your chopsticks into a communal dish; instead, turn them around so that you pick up food with the opposite end.

An absolute ‘no no’ is to stick your chopsticks into a bowl of rice and leave them there upright or to pass food to someone else from your chopsticks to theirs - these are gestures used during traditional funeral rites in Japan when mourners use chopsticks to pass the bones of the deceased from relative to relative. Therefore replicating these gestures at the dinner table would be regarded as very bad taste.

Of course, as in any culture, there are rude people as well as polite people. During your travels throughout Japan, you may encounter Japanese teenagers shovelling down their food, but for the most part, the Japanese follow a strict dining code.