Japanese Etiquette
 

Hey guys, just joined and have loved what I've seen so far from this site.

Got a few questions for those in the know...

Me and my partner will be going to our first Japanese restaurant in the next few days and was just after basic etiquette and phrases that may come in handy.

Now, we're not complete idiots and know very basic stuff like greetings, before/after praise, politeness etc. But was just after any other advice somebody could throw in there.
Also, we're both vegetarian so how could we translate that?

Of course.... they're going to speak english since it's a local restaurant and all, but we were just wanting to make it a little more fun by knowing a few additional things :pompoms:

All advice is welcome!

unless your going to a totally americanized japanese restaurant... ._.''''
expect a relatively limited menu selection >.>''''

Soup - bowl or spoon?
 

Once again this issue has crept up on me.
I know that it is acceptable to drink from a bowl of soup, though not by western standards which I consider rather dumb and wasteful on this issue.

But if you are in an Aisan restuarant in the U.S. and a spoon is provided, do you need to use it?

It is provided for the convenience of the gaijin or would the restaurant actually be encouraging you to use spoons and discouraging drinking from the bowl?

"Watashi wa Bejitarian desu."
Since they don't have the "V" sound so they say "Bejitarian".
And you can see this site for other helpful expressions:
Here

I dunno about in restaurants or stuff, but i DO know some about going to some else's to eat.

- don't ever say you had enough, that's to drink or to eat.
- eat everything on your plate
- make alot of annoying slurping-noices when eating any type of noodles, this will tell the host that you're enjoying the food.
- train your chopstick skills, having a poort chopstick-technique will make you sort of an enemy to their culture.

That's a few things that i can come up with atm, it's been a while for me so :p

japanese traditionally don't use spoons x]
you drink the soup from the bowl, using hashi to help.

unless i order shabu shabu or something...
i NEVER touch a spoon in a japanese restaurant x]

chinese and vietnamese restaurants however........
i find spoons totally acceptable~
though with chinese cuisine i prefer to just pick the food off the plate w/ my hashi x] instead having to put them down, grabbing a spoon, then picking them back up again =.=''''
even though the latter is more polite and considerate >.>'''

and at the vietnamese places.....i find it more enjoyable to dual wield a spoon w/ hashi to eat pho x]
or bun bo hue, or whatever ^_^

Thanks, because I have had two encounters with waitstaff that were at oppostie ends of the spectrum, and both in Japanese restaurants.

Once many years ago I asked for a spoon and was "instructed" by the waiter as to how only westerners use them. (grimace) This same jerk also took it upon himself to tell me that as a westerner my knees would not survive the way I was sitting/kneeling. At that point even if it had crippled me I would have not changed my position and I wanted to pour the soup over his swelled head!

Then the other day I was drinking my miso from the bowl and the waitress came over and showed me where the spoon was as if I hadn't seen it. I just nodded and still never picked up anything but the hashi. This one didn't bothered me that much because she is always so nice and we've had a few conversations about mutual tastes in KPop. I guess she never noticed me doing that before.

Huh. Doesn't it get confusing, different restaurants doing things differently?

hashi means chopsticks? I'm still learning, so if I'm wrong, please don't laugh.

Just correct me privately.

haha, if your curious about something, just ask
if you've got something wrong, we'll (or at least i) will correct you x]
if you know something, and would like to share, never hesitate ^_^

anddd...i say screw what the restaurants say =.=
stick with what you believe to be the truth.
(unless...the restaurant has credentials.... >.>'' and also, you're unsure of yourself x].... lolz )

Why would you say that?

Feel free to drink from the bowl in a Japanese restaurant.

hmm x]
now that i actually think about it... no idea xD

buut...i suppose the thought at the moment was that traditional japanese cuisine doesn't carry too many vegetarian dishes....
like...all proper japanese meals include some sort of meat x.x

I did already ask. :)

see?

http://www.japanforum.com/forum/japa...tml#post489658

I think it is easier to get a decent vegetarian meal in a Japanese restaurant than in most American restaurants. Many udon, yakisoba, ramen, udon, and tofu dishes don't use meat.

That's correct.
Its one of the few essential terms I've learned.

Well, appreciate all the information!
We ended up going last night and it was great!

We both ended up getting Tofu Steaks which by the end of it... we were both over tofu for the night lol.
Think I still need a lot of hashi practicing though :confused:

So it is ok to slurp noodles etc? I was trying to find that out when searching the other day but different sites said different things and had a different way of putting it each time so got a little confused, will remember for the future though.

Thank you. I pm'd you, so as to stay as on topic as possible.

and i answered x]
i say screw what the restaurants say and follow what you believe to be true, etc etc.


@kisuke = if your at a french/italian/european restaurant, please use the fork and twirl your noodles
if your at a japanese restaurant..slurp away x]
just dun make a mess~~ (of which i actually find kinda hard to do from slurping x.x')
and DAMN those restaurants that tell you otherwise =.=''
*labels them as ignorant bastards*
x]

**i mean seriously...would you learn 'japanese' etiquette from a korean/chinese/vietnamese owned sushiya that totally disregards the traditional methods and etiquettes?**

It's not "slurping" exactly, and, to be honest, I cannot "suck up" the noodles the same way Japanese guys do. It's like they inhale them, really. I can't do it.

Good point. The restaurant where I was insulted was Japanese (if fact the ex-husband help build the building), but one where I was dismayed at being show the spoon was Korean owned and the waitress was Korean. Though in the latter case, I don't think that really factored in. I think it was more that she has become accustomed to having 99% gaijin customers who don't know and don't care what customs are.

I seem to still expect the ghost of my mother to yell at me if I slurp up the noodles. I practiced it a lot with spaghetti as a kid, when I thought she wasn't looking.

that's why i love it that over 60% of our clientèle are japanese business men over here for conventions and what not x]
just a week or so ago, they had an OTC [Offshore Technology Conference] convention and the place was packed w/ loads of japanese men in black suits x.x''

oh and everyone (cept the occasional gaijin x]) slurps their noodles >.>'
(most people usually come in, order some sashimi, a bit of sushi, some apptizers, then finish the course w/ some good ol' tonkatsu ramen x])

No. Actually you didn't. My question was about chopsticks.

that chopsticks are called 'hashi' in japanese?

>.>'''

last i checked

you asked two questions >.>'

though i took the question about the hashi as more of a statement than a question

x]

Yeah, it was two questions, but the one was for Taln specifically I think, and was answered.

The other was a question, hence the question mark.

Excuse me for going off topic for a second.

Hey, yuujirou, I enjoy reading your posts. Your knowledge in Japanese cuisine is incredible. There's one thing I've been wanting to ask you. I've seen you mention 'tonkatsu ramen' at least twice so far. Do you really mean that or do you mean 'tonkotsu ramen'? Those are two very different kinds of ramen.

tonkatsu = pork cutlet

tonkotsu = pork bone

The former kind is rarely seen in Japan because it's just too volumy, high-calorie, etc... with a pork cutlet on top of the ramen. Maybe people eat it in Texas. I dunno.

The latter kind is seen everywhere in Japan even though it originates in Kyuushuu. You get whitish color soup made from boiling pork bones for many hours.

So which one is it?

by your definition i'd say both

1. the broth for our soup is cooked for 2 days >.>'
2. we add slices of pork to it
and
3. i called it tonkotsu, and the waitress corrected me and said "tonkatsu"
soo yeah x]

bleh x]
if that's the case
then yes~

hashi = chopsticks
hashi = bridge
hashi = end

thus x]

hashi no hashi no hashi = chopsticks at the end of the bridge xDDDD

OK. Thanks. I disagree with that waitress entirely, but hey no foreign intervention. I'm going back to the Language Help section where I belong...

Jyaa kore kara mo ganbatte kudasai!

Tokyo kara...

actually, our waitresses are native of japan...
actually, my boss, his wife, and the waitresses are all native of japan x]
the only gaijin are the ktichen workers (3 latinoes), me, and my bosses son and daughter >.>'''
lolz

tokyo kara desu kaa x]]
iii desu nee? xD
un, ganbarimashou x]

...What are you guys saying to each other? :D

nagoyankee said

Jyaa kore kara mo ganbatte kudasai!
well then, let's do our best from now on

Tokyo kara...
and he's from tokyo


i said

tokyo kara desu kaa x]]
your from tokyo?

iii desu nee? xD
isn't that just dandy?

un, ganbarimashou x]
yeah, let's work hard x]

Ahhh, okay. Thanks for the translation :P

I always get nosy when I see people speaking Japanese. o.o

Actually, as a vegetarian that spent sometime in Japan I had a hard time eating at restaurants in Japan, almost everything has fish stock, and some waiters were actually a bit rude when my j-boyfriend asked if there were any dishes without fish or meat for me.

Arghhh, I got that same phrase from one of the guys at the Japaneese meet-up last night. I was asking my Korean buddy about their word for chopsticks and used the wrong intonation on "hashi" - essentially I ended up asking about bridges. But from context, both of them knew what I meant and quickly corrected me.

Taln wa nihongo shaberu no o.o'