Japan Unwritten

At my first group meal in Japan, I knew the rules were different—I just didn’t know how different. Out of caution, I watched everyone closely. We all had our own beautiful kaiseki sets, but... no one was eating. Eventually, one brave soul took a bite, and I followed. Big mistake. Turns out, there was a pre-meal speech. He got scolded. I wanted to vanish. Everyone forgave us, but that moment stuck with me. The thing about Japanese table manners is—there are a lot of them. Some depend on the setting. Some depend on who you're with. Even my mother-in-law, when I asked for help with this post, said, “There are too many rules—I can’t remember them all.” Below are 12 important table manner rules and other etiquette that will guide you through your stay in Japan.  So, let’s start with the basics–especially the ones that’ll get you side-eyed real fast. 1. Do not use your chopsticks to pass food to each other. (Faux Pas) During a traditional Japanese funeral, after cremation, family and f...

A close family friend once asked me about natto — the infamous Japanese fermented soybean dish. She assumed I had eaten it before, and that assumption alone cracked me up. Although I’ve technically tried a version of it, I’ve never actually eaten raw natto. We’ll get to that later. That led to another question — what do Japanese people eat for breakfast? At first, I laughed. I’d never really thought of Japanese food as having a ‘breakfast’ category. But I was wrong. So wrong. As this post will show, not only do they eat breakfast — it’s often healthier than what we’re used to in the U.S. (But that’s a post for another day.) Let’s talk about natto! Traditionally, natto is made by steaming soybeans and wrapping them in rice straw — which naturally contains the bacteria Bacillus subtilis natto (yes, it sounds like a Roman general). These days, the bacteria is added directly in more modern production. After about 24 hours of fermentation, and a few more days of aging in the fridge, you get...