I forget which thread this morphed from, but I got interested in
Japanese table manners and North American table manners when eating
Japanese food. I asked a Japanese friend. She lives most of the time
in Japan, gets work some of the time in the U.S. and Europe, learned
English in school and speaks English fluently, if somewhat accented.


I asked her:

Is sushi or sashimi ever eaten with one's fingers in Japan? I'm not
talking about times when one's willing to make allowances for the
Western idiots. In Japan, amongst people who should know better, in
restaurants and private homes, does one always use chopsticks?


She answered:

It's OK to eat Sushi (not Sashimi) with your fingers. But I would
advise to use chopsticks. If you can't properly eat sushi with fingers,
it can turn ugly.


--Lia