Tofugu Comments - Latest Comments in Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Random — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 13:01:22 -0000

My thoughts while reading:

"If you are eating with people that aren’t really close friends or family, then yes, it’s important you turn your chopsticks around to grab the food."
ME: Crap I don't know how to use chopsticks...

"If you don’t know how to use chopsticks, then you should probably turn your fork around"
ME: That sounds hard. Maybe I should just try the chopsticks..

"and look like the idiot you are for going to Japan without learning how to use chopsticks beforehand."
ME: /Dies]

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

shukumei — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 19:35:31 -0000

ha ha. i went on a student exchange program to japan as well. ^_^
i had no idea about the chopstick flipping thing or the tipping, so thanks for those tidbits. before i went, i did a lot of research on customs. now i'm learning the language. =__= oy.
have any suggestions on memorizing kanji???? x____x i can recognize what some of them say, but i cannot write them from memory.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

daifuku — Sat, 30 May 2009 01:57:01 -0000

I'm loving this site! YAY! Hawaii IS as Japanese as America gets, that's why I want to go there(I have other reasons as well). I don't think I'll ever get the chance to visit Japan, but it seems like a nice place. I didn't know they didn't tip-I decpise tipping-In my Country we don't tip either. Thanks for your informative posts.:)

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Siddiqua — Tue, 17 Feb 2009 00:57:29 -0000

Everyone has his/her own opinion, perception regarding different matters.. Every country has its own culture and they represent themselves accordingly... Someone want waiter to come and ask for their order while dinning and other doesn't want this... So this doesn't mean that we ll change our ways and wont go and visit there just because we don't like their ways of presenting themselves... Do go all those places you are getting chances for and try to find out the things that you like among them instead of criticizing them always..

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Adam F — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 23:43:54 -0000

Exactly. Often when an establishment encounters a few rowdy or ignorant or drunk foreigners they decide to ban foreigners from the business. I can understand that since there are very few foreigners in Japan. Those people that make such an impression make all gaijin look bad to many Japanese.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Parker2038 — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 08:47:18 -0000

Why do you drink water when you can have sake? every time I go to a Japanese restaurant I have a portion of sake just for me... Eh Eh Eh... (Don't get yourselves drunk...)
I live in Portugal, here Japanese food are a bit expensive but it totally wort it...

-- I LOVE JAPAN! --
-- Parker2038 --

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Hogawa — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 08:29:06 -0000

If you look asian and you speak Japanese they will let you in. But i never found anything special about them. They have women only bars in Japan I couldnt get in one of those. some body fill me in on that. But i really dont care maybe for the femms that visit this website.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

TannerGrovyle — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 11:57:22 -0000

Uh oh... I'm REALLY dependant on water, especially at the elevation I live at. Thanks for the advice on asking for the water in a beer glass, it's really gonna help.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Raymasaki — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:23:15 -0000

First of all the have the word Foriegner NOT "Gaijin"
it Has Nothing to do with people getting "pissy" or Not folling traditional Rules.
most of the Places are run By Nationlists.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Raymasaki — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:17:01 -0000

make sure they are Japanese, Before speaking ive seen several people say Arigatou & the people are Chinese & of course NEVER respond or Talk, Some people leave the place thinking Japanese people arnt that friendly. Anyone studying Japanese, mandarin, Korean will have a better chance of telling. Remember "Tako" is NOT tortias salsa & meat
its Otopuss Abunai!
-RayMasaki-

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Ashley — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 07:53:44 -0000

My fiance and I have been living here in Japan for a year and a half and we've both studied abroad here before. So, I guess you could say we've been around. Our friend, a complete neophyte in all things Japanese, was actually rather excited about the whole calling out thing but he was worried about his pronunciation of sumimasen. We went over it a few times, telling him to slightly raise his glass when she turned so that he wouldn't even have to resort to grunting to get the message across. He screwed up his courage right as the waitress was turning and shouted "sumi-MASEN" (only masen pronounced like mason XD) and threw his glass up like a salute at a bar. The poor girl nearly killed herself when she tried to turn around suddenly. Laughter was had by all except for the girl who probably got the crap scared out of her.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

globalrs — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 03:36:07 -0000

My favorite is Japanese Curry with Pork Cutlet. It's amazing how the Japanese turned 'curry' a product dominated by the Indians into Japanese curry into something that is flavorful yet unique in it's own taste. More importantly, the Japanese curry has stormed into almost every country in the world.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

lisa lisa — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 05:58:41 -0000

koichi, i just wanted to say - you rule!
love your topix...
btw, my dad's name is koichi too!
=)

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Bobby — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 12:01:40 -0000

You can get square Japanese chopsticks as well, but I think Chinese ones are longer (at least in restaurants).

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Mashimaro — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 01:11:50 -0000

Is it just me,or does fighting for the bill seem rude?I mean,if somebody wants to pay for it,I think it would be rude not to let them!Heh,well that's just me.I guess I'm just not used to customs.
As for not tipping,I think I would tip even if it did seem weird,if the person was real nice or something...
And Koichi,was that host...thingy...for school or what?

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

SaKuRa — Thu, 09 Oct 2008 21:01:48 -0000

haha, fun stuff.
I personally prefered calling out to get something, its soo much faster. Or those little electronic magic button thingys that tell the server your ready. And I know the thing with flipping chopsticks over when with strangers is a little hard. But most people would look at me and be like its okay. Like this one time I went out with my familys tutor (a college kid) and they just shared the same untensils and everthing with me. So I think in that case it also depends on the person you are hanging out with and their personal preferences, just as some people in america don't mind sharing drinks and some do. Though I suppose if your in doubt you should deffinately flip em. Just to be safe...

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

kakapoopy — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 11:50:28 -0000

I dun think i could survive drinking with little cups the size of shot glasses. I drink like a freaking lion at a watering hole i couldnt do that.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

BaKa-NEKO — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:10:16 -0000

The Japanese chopsticks are round, I believe, while the Chinese ones are more square.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

IEatMyPigeon — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 05:31:50 -0000

I hear you, Koichi - especially "if you can't read at least hiragana/katakana, I can't help you." I've seen a lot of foreigners blabbering in English to the waiters like they're in an Asian theme park, not a foreign country. "Kore" is so simple to learn and I think it goes a long way to dispelling the idea that foreigners are too ignorant to learn Japanese. I've never seen a "no Gaijin" sign on a restaurant but the thought that they have existed and still sometimes do is very scary. I went into a sushi restaurant a few months ago and the way everyone looked at me when I entered, you might have thought I was the only foreigner in the history of the world to stop by. Once they realized I could read Japanese, they relaxed and were lovely ...

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Vicky — Sat, 06 Sep 2008 10:04:17 -0000

In England refills are seldom free. In fact, I have only ever come across Pizza Hut that offer free refills. I was told once that you can get free refills in Macdonalds but you have to ask for them and as the British public expect to have to pay for refills no-one has ever (to my knowledge anyway) asked for a refill.

Japanese table manners.

I remember being told once that you must not let the eating end of your chopsticks touch the table and that there are chopstick rests you can make. Also that you never stand your chopsticks upright in your rice, instead you should place the chopsticks side by side resting either on the rest or across the sides of the bowl. I was told this was something to do with death rituals, but I may have been the butt of someones joke there!

As for breaking food apart with chopsticks, I was always under the impression that if food was not small enough to eat with chopsticks, a knife and fork would be used, or (as Erin said) the eater would just bite enough off and continue to hold the remaining with their chopsticks.

But then, as I haven't been to Japan, nor do I know anyone who is Japanese, I could very well (and have on several occasions) be wrong!

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Maciel — Sat, 30 Aug 2008 23:23:40 -0000

haha everytime i look at this picture, the lady on the right with the weird face and the chopsticks on the left look like they go perfect together

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:52:22 -0000

Yeah, my mom is Chinese/Taiwanese and she always yells at me for lack of chopsticks skills. I was never taught how to hold it "the right way" until I was too old to stop the way I did it naturally. Sometimes when something is really far away, I use one chopstick to puncture it and then bring it over to my side of the table. The one thing I can expect is a loud comment from my mom on how weird I am. Still, even I wouldn't try to cut something like that. o__O Talk about weird.

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Izeyhec — Sun, 10 Aug 2008 18:00:10 -0000

i think this would be funny mainly the little water glasses im sher i would be hated if i didnt ask for a big glass because i would drink like 40 of tho's little glasses before my thirst was even close to bein full filled lol

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Bella — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:49:02 -0000

Japanese restaurants in my area, well, there are two and I've been to one. Expensive as hell, but good food. The other just opened (Right down the street from the old one -_-). But what I hate is that if you dive around a bit you'll always find "Chinese-Japanese" restaurant and like they dont list "Chinese meals" and "Japanese meals". Most idiots I know think Chinese and Japanese are the same thing, I had some kid yell "They're the same exact thing!" When I told him the Chinese language and Japanese language arent the same (He thought Konnichiha was chinese for "Goodbye") - and those restaurants only make the two cultural foods seem...I dunno, "The same"

Re: Some Japanese Restaurant Culture

Bella — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 14:40:32 -0000

It means "No foreigners"