Help settling silly dispute: Is sushi more commonly eaten with chopsticks or hands nowadays?

30 comments

1. In high end places, like 5000 yen per person or more, I have seen people hand eating quite often, though it appears to be mostly older people that do that. I’ve never seen people do it at Sushiro.

2. Chopsticks. Probably even more-so since Covid. It’d probably almost be seen as a faux-pas to eat with hands these days. Your bro is perhaps a little bit too keen-bean about his “Japanese culture” research.

3. Pretty rare to see people eat with their hands. I’ll do it at home sometimes, but never out in public. Japanese friends that visit me use chopsticks, even if I’m gorilla enough to use my hands.

4. Chopsticks. always chopsticks.

5. I think eating with hands only happens at high end restaurants

6. Just let him sit in a sushiro and have him look at the other patrons

7. I eat sushi with my hands and so does my wife but I’m not one to tell others how to eat their food.

   THAT BEING SAID, both hands and chopsticks is fine when eating sushi and there are plenty of web sites in Japanese for Japanese people that confirm this.

   As an advice for if you go to a high end sushi restaurant (10k yen or more), it’s easier to keep proper etiquette when using hands, which is to not overload your neta with soy sauce and keeping the shari soy sauce free.

8. That depends on how much alcohol I have consumed, but both are good.

9. I’m Japanese, my wife is Japanese, and we eat sushi with chopsticks and I’ve honestly never seen anyone except kids eat sushi with their hands. As you say, it’s the “traditional” way, but like, there’s tons of traditional shit that we don’t do today.

   I’ll check with the wife and see what she says since she doesn’t have any western influences and grew up in the boonies.

   Edit: she says it’s not common now days, but it’s also not weird. Also says it’s probably more common in high end sushi restaurants.
   And more common amongst older people. But yeah, overal, less common to eat with your hands.

10. I have only ever hand eaten sushi at really expensive sushi restaurants costing 30000 a person. I remember I got a stare down from the chef for being uncultured for trying to eat it with chopsticks.

    On the other hand you’d be looked at as a barbarian if you ate ordinary sushi with your hands…

    So I guess it just depends on the setting?

11. Less hands these days, especially with the proliferation of cheap, mass market sushi. However, there is a reason for using the hands. By picking up nigiri with your fingers, it’s easy to eat in a way that the fish hits the tongue first. Those who know continue to use this method at high-quality sushi bars. In fact, I was using this technique at an extremely small high-level sushi bar for a very late lunch. I was the only customer in the restaurant. The owner gave me a deep stare and said something to the effect of “you know how to eat sushi” and proceeded to pull up special non-menu items from below the counter and served me an impromptu omakase. Those who know — know.

12. If you look it up online in Japanese most sites will tell you there’s no right way to eat sushi, and that you can use either your hands or chopsticks.

    Lots of these foreign jp culture sites tend to gatekeep with snobby info and will tell you stuff like “never ever mix wasabi with soy sauce!” (Which everyone in Japan does anyway). I dunno why but it happens a lot.

    I’ve used my hands before at nice sushi places where it’s prepared in front of me and other people are eating with their hands, but otherwise I use chopsticks.

13. Originally sushi was much larger too so it was probably easier to eat with hands then.

14. I definitely see people using chopsticks in most settings.

    HOWEVER

    I eat with my hands at favorite sushi restaurant. Let me explain.

    This is because they a kind of waterfall or water fountain directly in front of you meant for washing your hands between picking up different pieces. It’s a bit hard to imagine but this runs along the entire length of the bar underneath where the chef places the sushi.

    The shop is 寿司処 松の in Ishikawa prefecture for anyone who is interested.

15. According to my **Japanese Husband™**, eating sushi by hand is the traditional way, although it’s more of a regional thing these days, so you’re more likely to see it in some areas of Japan than in others. I’ve seen people doing it only rarely in kaitenzushi but more frequently when we go to more expensive traditional sushi restaurants. Either way is ok, it’s just a matter of personal preference.

16. It is traditional to eat with hands. Chopsticks are more popular these days. It does seem to have a generational element to it. I see older people eating with hands even in kaiten sushi places. And as others have said, it is also more common in the high-end places. I don’t think either is considered poor manners or anything.

17. The only item at sushi, I eat with hand is the one that stuff with salmon or tuna with rice + some green onions and also wrapped with nori. Its a quite big in size. So I fold everything , pick up with hand and squeeze inside mouth😂😂.
    [Picture](https://ibb.co/pj4sZBJ)

18. About 15 years ago a master at a midrange sushi joint showed me how to eat sushi by hand. He said it made it easier to not get soy sauce on the rice, which he considered nasty

19. It depends on how fancy-pants the place is. If it’s very high end, the chef is considered to be a genius and obviously very hygienic so of course you can eat with your hands.

    But if you’re at a conveyor belt sushi place, please use your chopsticks.

    Does anyone know what happened to genki sushi , btw?

20. When I was a teen my host dad in Japan ate his sushi that way, so I just emulated him. Makes sense that it’s an older person thing, it’s maybe not standard but I don’t think it’d be weird

21. First of all chopsticks.

    Second, I can relate to your dispute, not necessarily on the topic but more in general of people who know something only by the media/book arguing with others who actually is living/experiencing the whatever “thing” they’re arguing.
    Just, why?? Please do update us when he comes and I really wanna know his reaction…

22. Fork and knife. Just kidding.

23. Do you even live in Japan?

24. I would say it depends on the place. As many have pointed out, it is more common to eat by hand at high end places. These places also provide a small wet cloth placed on a small dish for you to dab your fingers on in between dishes (it is different from the wet towel that is given before the meal).

    So my guess is, if you see the small wet cloth, you may want to use your hands instead of chopsticks. That said, most chefs will still be fine with you using chopsticks.

25. Ask him if he also eats sushi from naked women’s bodies, like in the movies.

26. The proper way to eat sushi is off a naked women.

27. When I studied here 10 years ago, all my Japanese friends ate sushi with chopsticks. Now that I’m working here, exactly 1 coworker eats with his hands.

28. In formal setting I have never seen anyone eating with hand. If you are with friends and family then sometimes hand is used.

29. If you are a place where they serve it piece by piece as if it were course dinner, eat it by hand.

30. At the counter of an upscale restaurant, I think it is correct to eat what is served with your hands and what is served with chopsticks with chopsticks.
    This is because the rice may fall apart if you try to use chopsticks to spin the sushi and put soy sauce on the neta.

    However, this does not matter in restaurants where a machine rolls the rice.

    I think young people are not comfortable with grabbing something with their bare hands and eating it, and, well, I don’t think it matters either way.