I’d argue against that. How much energy goes into making them? Reusable wooden or bamboo have to beat cast metal chopsticks by many factors. But I agree non-reusable, disposable wooden ones are a Japanese sin. Hygiene culture gone mad. Live in Japan for more than a month, one ends up with so many of them, one starts to consider building furniture out of them … or something.

Personally, I have only used metal chopstick to move the charcoal on the hibachi but I think the worst to eat with are the big, fat, slippery, blunt plastic “logs” you get at Chinese restaurants.

The “-san” suffix may not be the right honorific to address someone, but it is a polite way of non-Japanese folks to address Japanese folks, so I’d say it’s good enough.

“They have metal chopsticks in Japanese prisons?”
Unfortunately I have not experienced yet.
That is just an image from American movies.

Bingo, Get A Job! You can enjoy the industrial feeling in Seoul.

Tomojiro,

Almost all of Waribashi is made from the trees thinned out to grow other finer trees, etc.
My-hashi (carrying chopsticks) is reported rather against eco in the topic of a magazine as a total.
Anemia will decrease, though.

Mr. Perlow,

You do not have to affix –san as I am called Ken in the US.

“Yaohan Plaza” in Edgewater is now Mitsuwa Marketplace.”
I seldom go to NJ and my colleague missed Yao-han but thanks anyway for detailed information about Mitsuwa.

“There are similar such large Asian shopping centers in New Jersey run by Koreans.”
When I entrered a Korean grocery store in Manhattan, I found use-by date of some kinds of food were expired.
Since then, I never go to Korean grocery stores.
The fish in your uploaded photographs of Han Ah Reum also does not look fresh enough for sashimi, especially the squid.

“Marudaizu grade Yamasa or Kikkoman from Japan, not the american-made versions”
There is Dutch-made versions too!
I recommend Tamari shouyu if you like sashimi as you seem able to taste the difference.

is that the metal chopsticks and tray, plate, cups, bowls etc gives the feeling of eating in a prison environment.
For me, it always feels a bit ‘industrial’, and not like a restaurant should feel.

Then again… Ampontan – you might be having a small joke!

But I’ve gotten so used to seeing (not doing) the Japanese way of eating noodles that I didn’t notice if the Koreans do it too when I was there. The Japanese usually grab an end of the noodle and slurp it up in a string. You’re supposed to make a noise. One woman running an izakaya was concerned when I didn’t slurp.

If the Koreans don’t slurp, perhaps they coil the noodles more before eating them.

Ken: They have metal chopsticks in Japanese prisons? I’m surprised. Things like that can be hidden and used as a weapon.

The issue of Fugu preparation is a difficult one because one must get a Fugu license from a City’s department of health in addition to having the specific sushi master getting the proper certification in Japan. To my knowledge, there are only two restaurants in New York City that can prepare fugu, and both are owned and managed with Japanese sushi chefs.

Ken-San:

“Yaohan Plaza” in Edgewater is now Mitsuwa Marketplace. It has been heavily upgraded and renovated with new stores in it.

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2007/05/28/takoyaki-its-octopussylicious/

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/05/19/nj-dining-mitsuwa-marketplace/

There are similar such large Asian shopping centers in New Jersey run by Koreans. The largest is Han Ah Reum (H-Mart) which has several locations. Generally speaking the price of the goods they sell is cheaper than the Japanese stuff. I still go to Mitsuwa to buy certain things such as superior brands of Shoyu and other Japanese specialty items (such as Marudaizu grade Yamasa or Kikkoman from Japan, not the american-made versions).

http://offthebroiler.wordpress.com/2006/06/22/nj-dining-han-ah-reum-and-kings-noodle/