Ok i need to ask this
 

Well i'm pretty new and all...
But as it is now i'm going to work in japan for half a year
and i wanted to ask do Japanse really use chopsticks everyday or are they just using fork and knife??
(because if they are using chopstick i better pratice a bit before going there)
Please help me out here

My GUESS is chopsticks because my Chinese friend says that only Koreans use forks regularly... but then again she's Chinese... and I really wouldn't know about Japan.

For nearly all their Japanese and other Asian meals, the Japanese eat with chopsticks. But for curry rice and Western food, they use a knife and fork.

Ok thats nice knowing :) thanks for the help guys ^^ but we'll see if the compani finds a host familie for me down there :)

You're welcome and がんばって！

Learn how to use chopsticks, and all the proper etiquette on using them.

Yes, there's etiquette to using them. Learn it, or they'll shove the chopsticks up your ass.

Naw, I'm just kidding.


Maybe.

I would definitely get used to using chopsticks. In Taiwan atleast, everybody uses chopsticks to eat everything pretty much. Japan is probably similar, but I know they use spoons/forks/knives to eat certain things too, like steak XD It's quite difficult to cut a steak with chopsticks, trust me.. >.>

Yes, everyone uses chopsticks most of the time.
Most normal meals are presented in a way that makes it not all that hard to eat with them.
There is pretty much no way of avoiding them... So learn.

Once you`re good at using them, they`re actually much easier to use and make it much easier to manipulate your food than knife and fork.

Most oriental cuisine is 'designed' to be easily consumed with hashi/chopsticks
and even then... hashi can be used to eat western foods as well...

and then again... since your a gaijin... and if you're going to be in a very modern city.... i'm pretty sure they'd just give you a fork anyway >.>''

If you can't use chopsticks then why don't you just ask for a knife and fork?
If you cant do it then.. meh..
Naifu toh fo-ku oh kudasai.. is how you ask..

If you didn't know that (i guess thats why you posted or you would have just asked when you got there) then how are you going to manage working there? Chopsticks will be the least of your worries.

If all else fails just use your hands. I'm sure you'll get dirty looks for fingerpainting the tables with soy sauce but I bet the first dude to pick up a slice of Pizza and stuff his face got the same treatment -> just look at it now though! Good luck.

hmm... actually i think japanese-illiterate gaijin make it alright in japan xD
my gf's brother moved to japan on some teaching program and he's doing fine... i believe he's supposed to start snowboarding lessons next month or so >.>''
but yeah... the guy barely speaks any japanese at all x.x'

I would say that some time learning to use chopsticks would be essential study. About on a par with being able to say a few basic words of Japanese, like, yes, no, please, thank you and excuse me. Beyond that I have a few acquaintenances that manage with almost nothing beyond English. But they are in the larger cities. Smaller towns may be a little more difficult with only English, but there is no better way to learn a foreign language than total immersion.

I agree completely but to WORK under a new language? I couldnt do that now nevermind being a total begginer.

well how i'm gonna work there? well ofc i use my hands and legs its on a farm so i guess i'll use the bit of japanse i can and use body launge for the rest of it :)

But this is really a great help but how is the easiest of learing how to use chopsticks? is it by eating ramen or??
any idea would be welcome :)

dude....
grab a pair of chopsticks and start eating
=.=

you might as well ask yourself 'how do i teach some one how to use a fork?"

and before you think that those are two completely different things,
there are actually various styles of using fork and fork & knife


all you can do is just try it out and see what happens
we can't just keep throwing examples at you if you never take up any of them
and now that i think about it
have you ever even TRIED using hashi?
=.=

Do a search on You Tube on how to use chopsticks. Some are probably helpful, others are presented by lovely Japanese girls, and yet others are very amusing. Always worth a try...:)

Nah.. start with Chips (french fries.. whatever) cuz their big and easy to handle. What you do is hold both chopsticks in your plam, at the thicker end of the sticks, then with the thinner end pointing towards your plate you stab the chips in a "psycho" fashion.

itadakimasu! ;)

nope never tried but lets face it :) i have to start somewhere right? :P
So i'll be starting to eat with chopstiks now ^^
thanks for the advise and help you guys are the best

wow... that method actually sucks....
how about what i did to my friend x]
since the bloke was dependent upon me for food for a short while once upon a time, i took it upon myself to educate him in usage of chopsticks

for his training, for a whole week i prepared nothing but noodles in broth
and he was to eat w/ nothing but hashi >.>''

took him a week to learn ^^

A week? I got it after the first ramen dish i had! Maybe I'm more dependant on food than i thought? :p

don@t worry be happy. i'm living in japan for almost 5ys and i can tell you that you can use both chopsticks @ fork @ knife.

well it's not bad considering we were both 12 years old at the time
and he's a lefty and pretty much had to teach himself x]

(i was pretty sadistic as a kid)
>.>''

I would agree - practice with ramen. It can be the easieist or the hardest thing on the planet to eat with hashi - or any other utensil for that matter. If the ramen has an oily coating, like in my seafood from Nom Shin, the better quality your hashi - the worse its gonna be. At least with cheap, rough bamboo hashi it won't slide around as much.

I was taught with rice, but you have to know someone cooks good sticky rice for that.