In Nagoya, they give you the little spatula too - but I don`t think I`ve ever seen anyone use it to eat with. You just cut the okonomiyaki into so many pieces and use the spatula thing to move a chunk of it to a smaller plate where you cut it up into bite sized bits with your chopsticks.
I don`t think I`ve ever butchered anything. My worst Japanese food experience has to have been finding out that I was allergic to ginger... A few hours after eating a big chunk of it.
A few weeks ago, there was some sort of financial documentary on talking about companies in the US... We were only vaguely watching it, but at some point they had a meeting in a sushi place - and EVERY SINGLE person there sat their sushi in little dishes full of soy sauce until the rice was almost black.
My husband nearly choked to death just thinking about it. His words were literally "I`d always thought that was just an urban legend."