Japanese Cuisine
Foreigners visiting Japan are often bewildered by table manners. They may not be sure how to hold their chopsticks and rice bowls or which to pick up first. But they are not alone. Many present-day Japanese also get confused.

Because Western-style food is becoming more and more popular, opportunities to partake of a traditional Japanese meal are few and far between. As a result many Japanese people have lost or are losing their table manners.

Table manners were originally devised to make meals a medium for human communication. In this sense, there is no great difference between Japan and the west in their rationales for establishing set table manners. Beyond this basic point, however, the two cultures diverge.

Japan was primarily an agricultural society, in contrast to the hunting cultures of Europe. In addition, it has been blessed with a great variety of food sources. Perhaps because of this, cooking has developed since the country's earliest days. Correspondingly, table manners appeared in Japan well before in the West. In fact, table manners are described in documents dating from as early as the Heian Period(794-1191),and the Ogasawara school's table manners were already standard by the middle of the fourteenth century.

Any discussion of Japanese table manners must begin with chopsticks, a simple yet surprisingly versatile utensil, used to hold, to split, or to tear food. Chopsticks are not uniquely Japanese; they are also used in China, Korea and Vietnam. However, people in those countries usually use a spoon along with their chopsticks, whereas Japanese manners" begin with chopsticks." No other utensil is necessary or employed.

Because of the importance attached to chopsticks, minute rules have been determined for their use. These rules. however, are quite reasonable and rational. Regrettably, the number of people who can handle chopsticks with skill is decreasing as Western-style food becomes more popular.