割り箸
Fun little game of sorts you can play when breaking apart a disposable お箸. You can grab the chopsticks as you are about to break them apart, and right before you do, you pick which side is “you” and which side is your “crush”.
If the お箸 split right in the middle, the crush/love is mutual. And if it splits a bit chunkier on on or the other, the bigger side of the chopstick personification has the bigger feeling towards the other person. So in the case of the opening in the youtube video, the one I labeled “me” broke off a bigger chunk than the “crush” side, so the conclusion would be: “I like them but they don’t like me back”.
How to hold お箸
There’s a whole bunch of content out there and I could’t discriminate and pick one.
Soooo, go check out your favorite Japanese content creator or an article and learn some good tips on how to hold お箸 properly 😆
How to NOT hold お箸
- The Fist hold - holding お箸 in a fist. It is a mystery in how things get grabbed 🙈
- The Wrong finger hold - at first glance, it looks like the correct hold, but on closer examination, the top お箸 is being moved by the index finger and a little help from the thumb.
What NOT to do with お箸
- passing food between one pair of お箸 to another
- standing them straight up in rice and other foods
- scooting plates closer to you with お箸
- realigning お箸 on plates while holding them vertically
- and more! (image from this お箸 etiquette site)
How long your お箸 should be
The magical equation is: 一咫 x 1.5
This online お箸 store has a page written in Japanese that talks about measuring your hands to see what the best お箸 length it is for you to use!
If you have any questions, or you use this link to practice some Japanese and have any questions as you are doing so, come stop by our community and ask them there ^^
Here’s a link to our discord: NativShark Community (there is a LBJP channel in there for podcast related discussions)
Recommendations for buying お箸
wooden vs plastic - I personally like how wooden お箸 feel. I especially like the ones with carved designs on them. plastic ones are better for putting into dishwashers.
Look at the tips - ざらざら (rough or bumpy texture) or any kind of square / polygonal shaped tips will be easier to grab things, especially noodles ^^
Different types of お箸
- お手元 - super common for restaurants that use 割り箸. A slight upgrade feeling than the fully wrapped 割り箸 you find at more casual places, like the combini or supermarket
- 柳橋 - rounded on both ends and the wrapper is usually of celebratory decorations like using white, red, and gold
- 菜箸 - the super long お箸 used for cooking. Your hands are further away from the hot cooking.
- character お箸 - You have a favorite anime / manga / game / artist? There’s probably お箸 for sale somewhere (like Pokemon centers, Ghibli merch store, pop-up theme store, etc.) where you can get お箸 with your favorite character on them
How to ask for お箸
お箸一膳ください。