Japanese Etiquette

There are some very interesting aspects to dining etiquette that is unique to Japanese culture. Could you ever imagine holding your fork in a particular way that it would be believed to cause bad luck? In Japanese culture, chopsticks are an essential aspect of the dining experience, and must be used in the correct manner. There are surprisingly, many rules regarding how one may use their chopsticks. A few of these rules include, “When you are not using your chopsticks, or have finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tips to left”, and “do not spear food with your chopsticks”“. However, chopstick dinner etiquette has rules regarding chopsticks and their association with funerals and bad luck. For example, “do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. This is only done at funerals. with rice that is put onto the altar” and “do not pass food directly from your set of chopsticks to another's. Again, this is a funeral tradition that involves the bones of a cremated body”. During a funeral in Japan, in almost all cases, the body is cremated. During the cremation aspect of the funeral, the relatives of the deceased pick the bones out of the ashes and transfer them into an urn using large chopsticks. At times, two relatives may hold the chopsticks together and transfer the bone. This is seen as the only time that it is proper for two people to hold the same chopsticks at the same time. Thus, using chopsticks in the same manner at the dinner table would be associated with death and therefore, may be considered bad luck and a “social faux pas”.  

            I found this particular fact about Japanese culture to be extremely interesting. I cannot think of anything in Western culture that is equivalent or even similar to this dining etiquette. Of course in Western culture, we have dinner etiquette that includes the use of silverware, and how to use the various silverware during various parts of the meal. However, if one were to accidently use the wrong silverware, or hold the silverware in the wrong manner, although it may be seen as improper, rude or offensive to other people at the dinner table, it would not be considered bad luck to the individual or to the group of diners. Also, in Western culture, we do not truly have something that is considered bad luck for all people that it would then become integrated into society and culture. Belief in bad luck varies greatly from individual to individual. For example, some people may hold their breath driving past a funeral, not walk under a ladder, or conversely, to find a penny with the head facing up may be considered good luck by some. However, not everyone believes in these various superstitions. I think this is an important concept that this idea of bad luck has established importance in Japanese culture. 

http://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2039.html