Sushi is eaten with your hands in Japan. Sometimes chopsticks if you don't want to get your hands dirty or whatever, but usually it's a finger food. The exception is sashimi, which is just raw fish slices with nothing else. That's always eaten with chopsticks.
It is also considered strange to eat sushi in multiple bites unless you have a reason to do so, like a medical condition.
My wife is from Japan. Up until COVID, we spent around 3+ weeks over there, every year, for the past ~18 years. I have never seen her, nor her parents, nor any any of her relatives, nor any friends eat sushi (nigiri and makizushi - the kinds most westerners would be familiar with) with their hands. They (and I, who just follows their lead) always use chopsticks.
The only time I have ever witnessed the whole "with their hands" thing is when we've eaten temaki - it's when there's just a pile of stuff at the table, and you make your own loosely wrapped "cones" yourself - for dinner in her parents' house.
I'm always curious if this whole, "the only true way to eat sushi is with your hands!", thing is regional, just age based, or what.
In any event, they have warmed up a lot to American style sushi, and you will even see stuff inspired by it in some of the "kaiten/conveyor belt" chain places over there, but I've never seen anyone eat it with ketchup.
Edit: Just for the record, I'm no weeb, and not a self proclaimed Japanese cultural expert. I'm just reporting what I've seen.
After some more research, it appears that the most important factors that determine whether you use your hands or not are:
Age. Older Japanese are more likely to use their hands. Tradition and all that.
Region. Because of course.
Price of sushi. High end sushi restaurants often frown on the use of chopsticks because it's not traditional.
The overall consensus in Japan seems to be "eat it however you want". Like many food-related ceremonies, the ones surrounding sushi seem to have largely faded away over time.
Hmm, now that you mention it I remember hearing a top sushi chef say exactly that on TV a few years ago. Ok so maybe that's the traditional "proper" method... but I don't think I've ever seen a real adult in Japan eat that way. To be fair I've never been to a high class sushi restaurant either and don't usually look at how other people are eating, but I'd guess 99% of people eating at Sushiro or Kura are eating with chopsticks.
It honestly seems like a foodie / weeb trend, but I must grudgingly admit the people I saw weren't doing it the "wrong" way then. They were the true connoisseurs all along.
I do all of that at home since it's the obvious way to eat sushi. I also do that in any restaurant where it seems like it would be appreciated rather than causing a scene.
I don't know if they have this problem in Japan, but some American sushi type items (rolls I guess but not exclusively) have too-huge pieces.
Sushi is eaten with your hands in Japan. Sometimes chopsticks if you don't want to get your hands dirty or whatever, but usually it's a finger food. The exception is sashimi, which is just raw fish slices with nothing else. That's always eaten with chopsticks.
It is also considered strange to eat sushi in multiple bites unless you have a reason to do so, like a medical condition.
My wife is from Japan. Up until COVID, we spent around 3+ weeks over there, every year, for the past ~18 years. I have never seen her, nor her parents, nor any any of her relatives, nor any friends eat sushi (nigiri and makizushi - the kinds most westerners would be familiar with) with their hands. They (and I, who just follows their lead) always use chopsticks.
The only time I have ever witnessed the whole "with their hands" thing is when we've eaten temaki - it's when there's just a pile of stuff at the table, and you make your own loosely wrapped "cones" yourself - for dinner in her parents' house.
I'm always curious if this whole, "the only true way to eat sushi is with your hands!", thing is regional, just age based, or what.
In any event, they have warmed up a lot to American style sushi, and you will even see stuff inspired by it in some of the "kaiten/conveyor belt" chain places over there, but I've never seen anyone eat it with ketchup.
Edit: Just for the record, I'm no weeb, and not a self proclaimed Japanese cultural expert. I'm just reporting what I've seen.
After some more research, it appears that the most important factors that determine whether you use your hands or not are:
Age. Older Japanese are more likely to use their hands. Tradition and all that.
Region. Because of course.
Price of sushi. High end sushi restaurants often frown on the use of chopsticks because it's not traditional.
The overall consensus in Japan seems to be "eat it however you want". Like many food-related ceremonies, the ones surrounding sushi seem to have largely faded away over time.
Hmm, now that you mention it I remember hearing a top sushi chef say exactly that on TV a few years ago. Ok so maybe that's the traditional "proper" method... but I don't think I've ever seen a real adult in Japan eat that way. To be fair I've never been to a high class sushi restaurant either and don't usually look at how other people are eating, but I'd guess 99% of people eating at Sushiro or Kura are eating with chopsticks.
It honestly seems like a foodie / weeb trend, but I must grudgingly admit the people I saw weren't doing it the "wrong" way then. They were the true connoisseurs all along.
I do all of that at home since it's the obvious way to eat sushi. I also do that in any restaurant where it seems like it would be appreciated rather than causing a scene.
I don't know if they have this problem in Japan, but some American sushi type items (rolls I guess but not exclusively) have too-huge pieces.