cshenk wrote:
> "Jean B." wrote
>>> "Julia Altshuler" wrote
>
>>> Interesting! Perhaps it was the area I was in, (Sasebo in south western
>>> Kyushu and Okinawa mostly) but it was always hashi. I saw only small
>>> children eat with the fingers (at least in public).
>
>> I was in Tokyo and didn't see folks using their fingers. That was in the
>> early 80s. I guess the transition from fingers to hashi was pretty much
>> complete by then. And actually, even though my daughter and I eat at
>> Japanese restaurants, frequented by Japanese people, very frequently, I
>> have only once seen a person use their fingers, and that was a gaijin.
>
> It does 'seem' like a finger food! I did see many with it in a bento box
> out at a lunch break use fingers when sitting on the ground outside the
> ship. Sipping green tea (ice cold from the drink machines) or a soda and
> just relaxing with lunch brought from home. I just never noted any doing
> this in a restraunt.
>
> Could well be an area difference or the difference in manners at home vs in
> a restraunt?
>
>
Ahhhhh. I wasn't observing folks outside, and that would make
sense--formal vs. informal. Truth be told, I'd like to eat some
sushi with my fingers. It just seems not the thing to do, so I
refrain.

--
Jean B.