Still new, only moved to Japan (Okinawa) at the beginning of December from the US. Both my wife and I are enjoying ourselves thus far and working to assimilate more each day into local community. One of the small, but impactful, things we cannot figure out yet is proper strategy when eating out—specifically for ramen or other spicy dishes.
We were quickly told of the proper use of oshibori at the beginning of meals, but struggle with the spicier dishes when we cannot locate anything resembling a napkin, or just find a single ply 5×5 version of them. Do Japanese never deal with some runny noses or splashes on the face during meals, or are we just missing something?
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That’s what the little pack of tissues in the bag that everyone carries around and get handed out at train stations and shops are for. Or your handkerchief.
It depends on the restaurant.
Yes, those flimsy things are napkins. Though they call them tissues, “napkin” in Japanese refers to the sanitary kind. Though, I have seen “paper napkin” be used.
Many people carry a pack of tissues and a hand towel, so the need for heavy duty napkins isn’t so bad.
But, you can buy the kind you’d see at a restaurant in the US and if you want, you could do what my mom does and put some in a zip-loc bag and carry some with you.
I can’t say I’ve run into this issue in Tokyo or during my travels around Japan.
Most ramen shops I’ve been to have boxes of tissue papers. That said, it’s always smart to have a pocket-size pack of tissues on you at all time. If they don’t provide a wet towel, most restaurants have those useless waxed-paper napkins, but they’re still napkins.
If you have an oshibori, use it. If you have little paper things, good luck. Ask if they have tissues, or just look around… many places do, especially if it’s a bar or spicy restaurant, it might just be a box shared at a central location.
In ramen places often they’ll have tissue boxes, but they’ll sometimes be under the table? Like in a hidden place, so you gotta feel around for it.
Yes, but they are endangered species.
When you find one, take a photo, or better tag it with a GPS tracker!