Eating at a Restaurants

 
A Japanese restaurant usually presents its dishes with the prices in a window just in front of the entrance. The presented dishes are made of wax and look very similar to the real ones. When you enter the restaurant, the staff will welcome you with the word "Irashaimase" as it is usual in any Japanese store. The waitresses and waiters are trained for efficiency, politeness, and attentiveness.

 After sitting down, green tea or water will be served for free and later refilled. You also get a wet towel (oshibori) to clean your hands. 

                        In some Japanese restaurants you may eat sitting on tatami mats. In such restaurants you must also take off your shoes before stepping onto the tatami floor.
 

If chopsticks are not already put on the table, you can find them in a box. Often they are wooden chopsticks that must be separated into two chopsticks before usage. The bill will be given you upside-down right after you get the meal. You will pay at the exit when you leave. Do not give a tip. Tipping is not done in Japan. 
In some restaurants, you may have to pay first at the entrance and get a coupon which you exchange for the meal inside.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

How to eat? 

You start eating after saying "Itadakimasu" and finish with "Gochiso sama deshita".

 Slurping is done all the time while eating (soup, noodles, ...), but do not burp.   Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered very rude. Soya sauce is usually not poured over white, cooked rice.
    When drinking alcohol you should remember that the Japanese pour alcohol into each other's cups, but no one pour it into their own glass. You should always check if your friends' cups are getting empty, and then give them more. If someone wants to give you more to drink, you should take your glass and hold it towards that person.

Noodles:    Lead them with the chopsticks step by step into your mouth. Keep the distance between the bowl and your mouth small and slurp loudly.
 Soup:   Either you get a ceramic spoon which makes eating soups no big problem for an inexperienced foreigner, or you do not get one. In that case you drink the soup out of the bowl as it were a cup and fish out the solid stuff with the chopsticks. That's also true for eating noodle soups.
 

Sushi:  Give some soya sauce into a special little plate. The correct way of dipping nigiri sushi is to dip it up-side-down with the fish part into the sauce. Only a few kinds of nigiri sushi should be eaten without being dipped. Hands or chopsticks can be used for eating Sushi. 
 Sashimi:   Give some soya sauce into a special little plate. Add wasabi into the soya sauce and mix it. Use the sauce for dipping the sashimi pieces.
Big pieces of food:  (ex: tempura prawn, futo maki, tofu) Generally, you either separate the piece with your chopsticks, or you just bite a piece off and put the rest back onto your plate.
You may also be interested in the information page about eating at a restaurant.