eating etiquette
- Do not just walk in and eat
- it is considered rude
- Japanese respect food
- they eat with wooden chop sticks
- hold the chop sticks in halves with one hand, fore finger and middle finger as if holding two pencils, let the middle finger slip between the two sticks
- one stick will rest between the forefinger and middle finger/the other between the middle and ring finger.
- pick up bowl of soup with one hand and sip on the edge
- slurping is a good sign of a good appetite
- dip your chop sticks into your soup to pick up small chunks of beans and seaweed
drinking etiquette
- when you're in a group do not drink until everyone is served
- you pour everyone elses beer but not your own, someone else has to do it for you
- customers pour drinks for each other from bottles of beer as a gesture of companionship
- they raise their glass to salute and shout "kampai"which means cheers
- if someone buys you a drink you have to buy them one too
- a customer may invite you to drink out of his cup and buy you a drink
- it is not appropriate to get drunk
