A Simple Analysis of Japanese Culture from the Dining Table Details

Meng TAN Lanzhou University of Finance and Economics

Abstract: Food culture plays a vital role in the culture of any country, and it is an intuitive embodiment of the cultural characteristics of a country. The food of each country in the world has its own characteristics. Food can reflect the climate, geography and people’s living environment of a country. Furthermore, it also reflects the ideology and national character of people in different countries. Japan, as a part of the same cultural circle with China since ancient times, it has inherited many Chinese cultural traditions. There are many cultural similarities between the two countries, at the same time, there are still many differences. This paper starts with the details of Japanese dining table, and reflects the Japanese culture behind the diet. Keywords: Food; Table; Japanese culture

DOI: 10.47297/wspciWSP2516-252712.20200408

1. “Stereotypes” of Japanese Food and Diet

efore people really come into contact with a culture, they already have a “Bpreconceived impression of it through some way of understanding, which is the stereotype” (Hu Wenzhong, 1999). When people think of Japanese food, the image that comes to mind can be roughly summarized as “Japanese cuisine, sushi, sashimi, sake, and small portions with fine quantities”. In many people’s mind that Japanese people eat sushi every day and almost every Japanese person knows how to make sushi. But the fact is that the ingredients needed to make a good sushi meal are very delicate and exquisite. The best sashimi is not always a common dish on the table because of its high price. It takes at least 5-6 years to master the art of making authentic sushi. Sushi is also divided into different grades, with the most common ones costing only about 7-8 RMB to buy a plate, while the top grade sushi is extremely expensive. The most authentic sushi restaurants in Japan can be found

About the author: Meng TAN (1988-08), female, Han, the place of origin: Ning Xia Zhong Wei, the School of International Education, Title:Lecture, MA, Research Direction: Intercultural Communication, the Method of Chinese Teaching, Error Analysis.

120 A Simple Analysis of Japanese Culture from the Dining Table Details in Ginza, Tokyo, where just one sushi roll is almost equivalent to 300-400 RMB. People’s stereotypes to Japanese food and diet may highly related to those films and television productions, as well as the Japanese restaurants which outside Japan.

2. The Feast for the Vision

When it comes to the characteristics of Japanese food, people are very familiar with the beauty of its appearance. Japanese cuisine is known as “food with eyes”. In addition to the beauty of the food, Japanese food also has high requirements for tableware. As the so-called food with beautiful utensils, its tableware in different shapes, such as square, round, boat-shaped, pentagonal, antique-shaped, etc., Most of the utensils are made of porcelain and wood, and a small number of them are made of lacquer, which are elegant and ornamental (Wang Yongjuan, Jiang Junyan, 2006). Moreover, Japanese people often eat “set meals”, which is what we call “meal portions”. Each person has a set of tableware and then each person eats his or her own portion. Therefore, there are many sets of tableware in Japanese families. It is also because of Japan’s extreme respect for the freshness and original taste of food and high requirements for the environment, Japanese people also have high requirements for the hygiene of food - even for roadside stalls, the hygiene of their tableware and the environment of the stalls are even good. For the Japanese, food and beautiful utensils with beautiful scenery, sometimes be more like a mood than a meal.

3. Attention to Chopsticks

Japanese chopsticks are not quite the same as Chinese ones, they are thinner and shorter than Chinese ones. The reason for the short length is that person usually has his or her own portion of rice in front of him or her, so there is no need to reach very far. In addition, Japanese chopsticks are thinner and have a more pointed head than Chinese ones, which makes it easier to eat things like sashimi. (1) Placement Chinese chopsticks are usually placed vertically on the right side of the bowl, while Japanese chopsticks are placed horizontally on the side of the bowl near them when they are eating. If you want to put down your chopsticks during a meal, you put them on the table, not on the dishes. (2) Do not serve food by your own chopsticks for others When you are a guest to a Chinese family, it is common to see the host use his or her chopsticks to help the guest serve dishes at the table for the sake of hospitality, while this is rare in Japan. Since everyone has their own portion of meal, it’s more convenient to pick up the food by themselves, so it’s not

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necessary for the host to take care of whether the guests can pick up the dishes. It’s no problem to pick up the dishes between good friends or family members while barbecue. (3) “Dividing chopsticks” In many Japanese families, each family member has his or her own chopsticks, which are not mixed with those of other family members. Generally, men’s chopsticks are slightly longer, women’s slightly shorter, and children’s even shorter, and the chopsticks of the host and the guests are separated. However, the dividing of chopsticks is also related to the habits of different families and family conditions.

3. No “Leftover Packing” at the Table

Japanese people hardly ever “pack” their meals in restaurants. Only in very few cases will they pack away, such as when dining out with children or the elderly, the children may be more playful when eating, so they will take a little back to eat when they are hungry; considering the health of the elderly, they will also pack some back. Other than that, people usually do not pack anything. This is because Japanese people hardly leave any leftovers when they eat in restaurants. There are two superficial reasons for this: first, Japanese people cook a moderate amount of rice and do not make more rice than they actually need, so they can almost finish it. Secondly, Japanese people believe that finishing everything without wasting it is a sign of gratitude and respect to the cook, whether it is the host who cooked it at home or the chef at the restaurant. Another deeper reason is that Japan is an island country with few resources and no bordering countries, and this natural environment makes it more worried, so saving resources and “not wasting” is deeply rooted in Japanese people. Eating less can not only avoid waste, but also help Japanese people to maintain healthy and energetic.

4. Other Eating Habits

(1) Japanese people generally do not eat animal offal, except the cattle. You can often get cattle offal at barbecue shop. In addition, the Japanese do not eat dog meat, cat meat, rabbit meat, and so on., which is related to their deep affection about raising animals. (2) When eating in Japan, you should hold up the bowl , if you put it on the table and eat with your head buried, it will be considered rude. This is exactly the opposite of Korean eating habits. (3) While eating, you don’t make any sound, but when you drink miso soup or eat ramen, you make a sound to show that the soup or noodles taste good and to show your respect and gratitude to the person who made the food.

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5. Conclusion

Like Chinese food culture, Japanese food culture is also very elaborate and rich in connotation. It is evident from the table culture that Japan is a nation that pays close attention to details and is particularly selective in drawing the essence of what they consider to be the best culture. Their food culture is permeated with the Yamato people’s standard of beauty and is a reflection of their way of thinking and values. Today, Japanese food retains its own traditions, but is also open to incorporating elements of other countries’ cuisines into modern Japanese cuisine. Culture is acquired; it is dynamic; it is based on symbols that can be transmitted; it is ethnocentric. When an individual finds something in another country’s culture difficult to accept, there is no right or wrong distinction between these cultural boundaries, and when you encounter various differences and discrepancies, try to be tolerant, understanding and respectful, it is these different cultures that make up the present complex human society, which makes it interesting to experience each other’s culture in a strange country.

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