Dining etiquette differs from country to country. Some practices which are usual in your country may be considered rude in another, or vice versa!
Japan is a country which holds great pride in its traditions and customs. If you’re visiting Japan, make sure you read up on essential Japanese food etiquette!
When you try your best to adhere to Japanese table manners and customs, this will help you gain the respect of the locals and enhance your dining experience.
So let’s get learning!
Sitting down to eat
When you sit down at a restaurant in Japan, you will more often than not be served with an oshibori.
Oshibori is a (usually warm) steamed hand towel which you are supposed to use to clean your hands before eating. It is not considered mannerly to wash your face or the table with the oshibori.
When your food arrives at the table, it is customary to show your appreciation for the food you are about to eat by placing your palms together and saying itadakimasu. Then it’s time to dig in!
Japanese table manners
Posture
It is probably universal etiquette that eating with your elbows resting on the table is seen as a display of bad table manners, and Japan is no different!
In addition to this, in Japan, it is also bad manners to lean down to eat from your dish. Obviously, having good posture at the dinner table is a key part of good dining etiquette in Japan!
In order to maintain an upright posture while eating, you can pick up your dish and bring it up to your mouth to eat it. This is considered more elegant in Japan. As a bonus, it’s a bit easier to eat (and perhaps less messy if you were to drop your food from your chopsticks).
It is acceptable to pick up smaller dishes such as bowls of rice or miso soup, but avoid doing so for larger flat dishes or bowls.
Manner of eating
If you are having miso soup, instead of using a spoon like you would a regular soup, you should pick up the bowl and sip the soup as you would a cup of tea.
If there is any solid food in the soup such as tofu or seaweed, you can use your chopsticks to eat them.
As in western culture, it is bad manners to munch on food loudly and burp in the company of others.
But on the other hand, you may have heard that slurping noodles is actually proper etiquette in Japan!
When you are eating a bowl of ramen, it is seen as compliments to the chef to deliciously slurp the noodles. It is also believed that slurping actually enhances the flavour!
Japanese YouTuber Kosuke shows us how and why. I love the cool noodle shop he’s in where you order by machine!
When eating noodles, you shouldn’t bite them, but rather try to slurp up the full noodle. The same goes for smaller foods such as sushi.
Where possible you should eat the food in one mouthful instead of biting it. It is thought that if something enters your mouth it shouldn’t come back out.
Finishing your meal
When it comes to finishing meals, it is of course not super polite to leave a lot of leftovers as it may come across as you not liking or appreciating the meal. This is not only true of Japan, but many other countries hold this belief.
Out of any dish, it is perhaps most important not to leave any leftovers from your bowl of rice… and I mean not even one grain!
It is a custom that has kind of just become a habit for most Japanese people to eat every trace of their rice bowl.
When you are all done with your meal, it is courteous to neatly leave your empty dishes in the same manner that they were served to you, including putting lids back on bowls.
You should ensure that the table is clean and tidy when leaving, with no need to stack your dishes.
It is customary to show gratitude for the meal you just ate by again putting your hands together and saying ‘thank you for the meal’ which is gochisousama deshita! in Japanese.
Chopstick etiquette
Chopsticks, or ohashi in Japanese, are used daily in food preparation and dining in Japan. For non-Japanese, using chopsticks to eat can be a bit tricky!
Don’t be afraid to request a knife and fork instead. In fact, upon noticing that you are a visitor to Japan, restaurant staff may ask you which you would prefer.
But it’s not hard to learn how to use chopsticks. It just takes a couple of minute to learn the technique – and then a bit of practice!
If you do want to give it a go, there are a few formalities that you should abide by when using chopsticks at the dinner table.
First of all, if you are visiting a restaurant which provides the disposable chopsticks (waribashi) in paper packaging, the wooden chopsticks will usually be stuck together so you will find you must break them apart.
Cheap chopsticks will sometimes break unevenly or have some splinters. Some people will rub the chopsticks together to smooth the splinters. However, as doing so implies cheapness, you should refrain from rubbing your chopsticks together so as to not offend the establishment!
A lot of Japanese restaurants provide ohashi oki which is a ‘chopstick rest’. This is where you should leave your chopsticks when not in use.
If there is no chopstick rest, you can fashion a makeshift one out of the paper wrapper which your disposable chopsticks were packaged in!
If you don’t have any other option, you can rest your chopsticks on your plate, but make sure they are not crossed as that is considered to be bad manners.
It is also considered poor etiquette to leave your chopsticks resting by stabbing them into a bowl of rice. This is actually a custom reserved for funerals in Japan, hence why it is inappropriate for everyday dining.
In the same vein, you should avoid passing food via chopsticks to another pair of chopsticks. This is because after the cremation process, the bones of the deceased are collected and passed from chopstick to chopstick by family members.
As both customs signify death, these actions at mealtime can come across as disrespectful and unlucky…
A few other rules to note:
- Do not pull dishes closer to you with your chopsticks
- Do not point with chopsticks
- Do not stab/spear food with your chopsticks
Sushi
Sushi is one of Japan’s most popular traditional foods. Depending on the type of sushi restaurant you visit, it’s good to be aware of some of the unspoken dining rules so you can avoid any awkward situations!
Conveyor belt sushi restaurants, known as kaiten zushi, tend to be more on the casual side, so there are not too many specific rules you need to follow when eating there.
Omakase sushi is a more intimate dining experience where the patron sits at a counter and can actually witness the chef preparing the fish and rice deliciousness right in front of their eyes.
Omakase translates as ‘leave it to you’, or in other words: ‘chef’s choice’. Omakase sushi is very fresh, and the menu may change depending on which fish is in season.
As you are sitting in close proximity to the chef, there are a few rules to follow so as to not offend. For example, try not to drown your sushi in soy sauce! Pour a little bit into the small side dish and dip once.
If you want to add wasabi, you can add a little dollop on top of the sushi, but do not mix it with the soy sauce. In the chef’s eyes, he has curated the perfect mouthful for you, so adding too much wasabi, soy sauce or ginger will spoil the flavour.
In the west, it is common to add ginger to our mouthful of sushi. Although it is tasty, and I myself am guilty of this, it is actually a no-no in omakase dining!
The handmade sushi nigiri are served one by one, so the ginger is actually intended to be a palate cleanser in between each piece.
Ready to dine out in Japan!
As you can see, there are a few unique dining customs and etiquette rules in Japan. But a lot of it simply boils down to good manners!
Are you heading to Japan for a trip? We hope these etiquette tips make your journey goes smoothly. Above all, enjoy the delicious food – it’s what Japan is famous for!
One more tip to make your visit go smoothly is to learn a few basic Japanese phrases before you go. Our top recommended Japanese course is JapanesePod101.
You can learn online, or from your phone, at your own pace. They even have a special course aimed at Japanese for travel.
And you can join for free!
JapanesePod101 is our top recommendation to learn Japanese online. We love the fun, current audio lessons and interactive online tools. Sign up for your free lifetime account and see for yourself!
Related posts
- 30+ Basic Japanese Phrases for Travelers to Japan
- Top Useful Japanese Restaurant Phrases and Vocabulary
- Japanese Etiquette Guide: Essential Do’s and Don’ts
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Hannah is a half Irish/half Japanese girl living in Ireland. Her love for Japan and the Japanese language led her to studying languages and translation in university where she specialised in Japanese. She spent a year studying abroad at Rikkyo University in Tokyo. In her free time, Hannah enjoys using her sewing machine to upcycle clothes and create new pieces!