Japanese Table Manners

There are so many interesting foods in Japan. When you visit Japan, I strongly recommend you to try various foods. But many people are nervous about Japanese Table Manners. Please do not be nervous! Honestly Japanese Table Manners are very difficult to understand even for Japanese people. Let’s learn basic table manners.

1. Itadakimasu and Gochisosama
Most of the guide books explain that it's important to say "itadaki-masu" before a meal and to say "gochisou-sama" after a meal. But it is not necessary to say, if you are not in a Japanese home. These phrases are common at home.

2. Chopsticks
Japanese people use forks, knives and spoons for western food, but chopsticks are the most frequently used in Japan.

3. How to eat Japanese Food
*It is polite to lift small bowls of rice and bowls of soup when you eat.
*It is polite to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.
*In Japanese custom, it is ok to make noise while eating noodles such as Ramen, Soba and Udon. Especially soba, enjoying the soothing feeling in your throat and the soba fragrance, Japanese people make slurping noises while eating soba.

4. Taboo” bad manners”
*Sticking chopsticks into food, a bowl of rice etc.
*Passing food from your chopsticks to somebody else’s chopsticks.
This action means that the bones of the cremated body are passed in that way from person to person in Japanese funeral.
*Picking up a cup or bowl while your hand is holding chopsticks.