When my daughter was a year and a half old, multiple sushi restaurants in my city have given her free sushi because they took such pleasure watching a child of clearly non-Japanese extraction enjoy her sushi so much, whilst unconsciously following the rules of conduct, except for chopstick use. I freaking LOVE your channel!
Actually, sushi isn’t really meant to be eaten with chopsticks. It’s usually eaten with fingers. So if she picked it up with her fingers, she was unconsciously doing that right as well. I don’t think eating with chopsticks is taboo, but traditionally, from what I understand sushi is a finger food.
I was like this. still am really. I made a comment about it separate to this but when I was younger I ordered sushi instead of burgers. I loved it a lot!
when i was younger i’d love this asian restaurant and would always dance in my seat because i enjoyed the food so much. once i saw one of the employees smiling as i did
I'm addicted to it ! But please be aware eels are endangered all around the world, some places critically. Making you own unagi sauce for other foods can help the craving...
@@redargylesocks Yeah I’ve heard that too so that’s why I try not to order any until I am like desperately craving it but sushi with eel sauce does help the cravings as does oyster sauce
That's easy to say "Not eating it immediately" and "breaking the Sushi". I had a Japanese colleague at a research institute in Germany. When he left, he ordered a huge plate of Sushi for all of us, but insisted that we eat it with chopsticks. That must have been one of the worst Sushi massacres the city had ever seen. Maybe he found the horde of clumsy gaijin fumbling around amusing :P
@@OniLordMiki you would think so but this isn't the case to Japanese. Being a gaijin (foreigner) is not relative to physical location. It's identity. Japanese are Japanese. It doesn't matter where they are...they're still Japanese and those who are not Japanese are gaijin.
When I was in Tokyo at 14yo, I was given free sushi quite a bit. It was my first time eating sushi, and they absolutely loved sharing their culture with an obvious newbie/outsider. Side note, it was the best sushi I had to date. Can't find anything like it here in the States. I got spoiled and didn't even know it
I would so love to visit Japan someday and eat authentic japanese sushi, but I'm worried that any sushi I ate here in my own country afterwards would be a kind of a disappointment.
@@skyeisthebeesknees then why go anywhere on vacation? It's just air rocks and trees, same sky and sun.... IDK if you travel much, but foods taste different in different places.
@@theginganinjaofficial it taste different because of your perception. You’re in a foreign country with a foreign language. You’re still eating the exact same fish with the exact same rice. People romanticize other countries all over the world. It’s a bit disappointing when you realize that the only difference is in the imaginary borders we have created for ourselves.
@@skyeisthebeesknees between the additives that different countries do and don't allow, the proper preparation, proper techniques, even down to the small things, like the wasabi and other ingredients.... maybe it isn't people romanticize it, maybe it's a way for others to cope that won't find out personally. Fresh fruit alone tastes different in different countries, due to differences in soil composition. Meat tastes slightly different due to environmental differences and different countries regulations in feed and what can and cannot be used with livestock.
Number 5 was the only taboo I was aware of and also the only one that I've broken. In my defense, the only time I did so was at a restaurant that served sushi rolls that were enormous: you'd need a mouth like a pelican to eat one whole.
I actually like taking a bite of the sushi piece to make it last longer! If I put the whole thing in my mouth, Mr Sushi Chef, it disappears too fast, and I can't appreciate this fantastic-tasting thing that you've made for me as long.
If the sushi chef does not take your mouth size into consideration when making the roll, they deserve to have the roll bit in two just so I can swallow.
Ive heard of 1 and 2 by a chef from Japan. But he finished his how-to/rule tutorial by saying the most important rule is to eat it how you like it. I wonder if other chefs may feel the same way.
Aside from rule #1, I've definitely committed every other taboo. Especially breaking apart the sushies that are commonly too big here in Montreal. I've often mixed wasabi with my soy sauce to give it a kick and then dipped every sushi I had (nigiri and gunkan alike) haha. But I will try to incorporate this newfound knowledge! Thanks for the video!!
In my case rule #1 and rule #5 is what I do without thinking. Although the presented portion of sauce is too little, I understand that may taste is on the heavy side of the force: Salty, Sugaree, bitterness (like in a heavy coffee taste), sourness, spicy.
To be honest. I only care about rule #1. As it's the one that will effect the quality of the food. Otherwise, I not an etiquette person. I give money, and what I choose to do after that is my choice.
@@meoff7602 Same, it's why i tend to avoid restaurants that have heavy etiquette because I like being let to enjoy the food my own way as I believe that is the best way to compliment a chef's work. Forcing myself to eat it in a way I will enjoy it less feels a bit insulting towards whoever made it because they made it to be enjoyed, not forced
I really appreciate you providing and encouraging the use of subtitles! I have an auditory processing disorder so speech can be hard for me to understand clearly sometimes. I’m glad you put in the extra effort to make your videos more accessible! :)
When I was much younger (20 something years ago) I was training to be a chef and during my apprenticeship, we had a chef from Japan come in and teach us for a few weeks. It was such a great time to learn from such a disciplined chef. His teaching didn't start when the food was on the board, it started when he stepped into the building. The knife work he taught, and how to read what your stock is telling you, was just mind blowing. We did some sushi, but sadly he was only there for 3 weeks and you really can't grasp the fullest extent of what he was feeling of the history he made for us. It's something only years of apprenticeship could do. Still an epic time though.
I LOVE sashimi! But I find some people here in South Africa make the sushi too large, it's really difficult to eat it in one bite without looking like a hamster🤣 I find something in sushi lifts my mood enormously when I get depressed. Dunno if it's the Wasabi, soy sauce or ginger. I think it's an ingredient in the powder wasabi
In Finland we often have the same problem. I learned quite early on that sushi should be eaten whole but sometimes it's just impossible if one doesn't want to risk suffocating.
Never thought those pickled ginger slices actually have its use to "brush" soy sauce on "gunkan" sushi. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I eat sushi So yeah, #2 & #3 are expected to be the most common mistakes for foreigners eating sushi Happy belated birthday, Shogo-san!
me neither. well, there's the fact that i dunk everything straight into soy sauce (mixed with wasabi of course). the sideways trick i picked up in some other video, but i still get the rice wet
Happy birthday! I'm sure many people are wondering "How will I eat one of those gigantic specialty roll pieces in one bite?" As much as I love such rolls, they represent Americanized cuisine that isn't made with this one-bite tradition in mind. I can't say that you would never find such complex rolls in Japan, but I'm sure the chef will take bite-size into consideration when making the rolls. Nigiri is more common because wonderfully fresh fish is the real star and having too many ingredients distracts from the intentionally proportioned fish and rice.
Regarding #4 - I was once in a running sushi restaurant here in Germany, and I dipped the rice of the nigiri into the soy sauce, so the chef actually advised me to separate the fish from the rice to apply the soy sauce instead. Didn't know that was a taboo as well ^^
I think he meant separating it like eating only one or the other, because I was told by a chef that its rude to dip the rice into it, so to remove the topping and then replace it back on the stack when dipping was finished.
@vang-tou Lee True, practicing etiquette in front of the sushi chef shows that you respect their craft. I lived in Japan (first as a military dependent child, and later as a grownup) and I've had plenty of meals with locals who don't really follow the "rules of eating sushi".
@@lhasaapso5076 This may sound a bit ignorant....but isn't the fact that you have chosen their restaurant to eat and spend your hard earned money showing respect?
@@y2k448 choosing their restaurant shows you chose their restaurant, observing etiquette shows you respect the chef's skills in the preparation of your meal. Put it like this, when you go to McDonald's, are you showing respect to the burger flipper? Do you ever compliment them on how well prepared your meal was? Just spending money somewhere doesn't mean you appreciate the work that's gone into making your meal.
Dude for someone who didn’t grow up in America or an English speaking country your English is amazing. You must be a great learner.. Tip of the hat 🎩 to you sir.
Fr! I thought the same thing! When he said 'critical' in the beginning, I had to rewind and give props! This being the first vid ive seen, I wouldnt even know english wasnt his first language.
It's not actually surprising or impressive. English is spoken all over the world and by hundreds of millions of people in every country. It is the universal language at this point. When a person speaks broken English. It's because, they only learned the basics and then stopped practicing and actively studying. Most people can't really live with themself speaking like that in any language all the time. English is one of the only languages where native speakers actually tolerate accents and people who are bad at speaking it.
@@dickrichard626 All very good points, however I must commend him. I’ve been to over 50 countries, some for leisure and most for work. And I rarely encounter people that well studied in intonation, diction and cadence. I live next to a great university with a robust immigrant community, and even though they’re all fluent and express themselves in grammatically sound English, they lack the correct tone and cadence. When my Russian, French or Korean neighbors speak, they’re grammatically correct but they almost all sound like they’re speaking English in the cadence of their native tongue. This guy doesn’t sound like that at all, he’s only a hair off well educated native speakers in America.
@@HEmmerich89 Exactly.. He's Japanese and lived in Michigan for 6 years. I have neighbors and coworkers that have lived in the US for 20+ years and they sound nowhere near as good.
I have nooooooo idea why this video suggested to be played faster, but this is what I often do. Thank you? I'm confused, but also appreciative. Additionally, I have fallen in love with this channel from watching this very first video. The consideration taken for the viewer is unparalleled.
I am so perturbed about the pandemic situation in Japan. I have one trip cancelled and my 2021 trip deferred twice. At the current levels, it will take 2 years to get the population vaccinated and I can guess all the red tape the government will put up to verify tourists for vaccinations. I have been to Japan twice and loved my time there, but if you are watching these videos, then we all know how very slowly Japan moves on administrative rules. Well, let’s all hope for Osaka 2025 World’s Fair. See you all there!
I really hope that we can soon travel like we used to, and I know that eating sushi is one of the things that you are most looking forward to. I hope this video will be useful for you to fully enjoy your experience of eating sushi in Japan. By the way, this video was a great excuse for me to buy an expensive sushi set that I usually wouldn’t order, so I enjoyed making this video a lot too. lol ・ In this channel, you can take a closer look at Japanese traditional culture, tips upon traveling to Kyoto, and social problems in Japan. So learners and lovers of Japanese language and culture, be sure to subscribe to enjoy more content! Please check out the description box for more videos recommended for you! ▼Join our Membership▼ ruclips.net/channel/UCn7DCb9ttrcw9h3vh9dfnVwjoin ●Membership benefits -Limited behind-the-scene videos ruclips.net/p/UUMOn7DCb9ttrcw9h3vh9dfnVw -Weekly live stream -Priority reply to comments Every single yen we earn from this membership, we will be donating to groups of people who are fighting to solve social problems in Japan, the Japanese schools where foreign students can study, or use it to spread the works of people working with traditional culture in Japan to preserve the arts they are doing. ▼Sub channel “Shogo’s Podcast”▼ ruclips.net/channel/UCZAe1VayWxp5NLO4Net78DA The perfect channel to learn about Japanese culture and history in your spare time, during your walk to school or work, and when you are cooking or doing house chores. Not only will I be covering the topics in this main channel, but also some topics that you will only be able to enjoy in the sub-channel, like answering questions I receive, and my opinions towards some of the comments. ▼Instagram▼ instagram.com/lets_ask_shogo/ *Please ask me questions through the DM here!（⚠️I do not use e-mail） Thank you again very much for watching!
I *love* the fact that, though I have already studied Japanese culture, customs, & ettitquette a fair deal, I *always* learn a lot by watching your videos! Wish I could toast "kanpai" with you & thank you in person.
I'm glad that I already DO NOT practice most of these taboos, but I'm so glad I learned new things! Using the ginger as a soy sauce brush, and rotating the sushi on the side...genius! I'll be much better at eating sushi from now on
I was blown away when I found out that salmon sushi isn't Japanese. Its Norwegian. It would be interesting to hear what Shogo thinks of that. Well, being from Scandinavia myself, it didn't really surprise me as we have been eating raw salmon for centuries, but still, I never knew that Salmon Sushi didn't even exist in Japan until like 30-40 years ago
Salmon sushi has a history of about 10 years. So it's surprising to me that Shogo-san, who is a self-proclaimed master of Japanese tradition, lists it as one of his favorites. I always look for the sushi set with NO salmon, but they're getting hard to find nowadays.
@@UkuleleMania1 Master of tradition doesn't mean distaste for innovation. By your logic it would seem that Shogo-san would abhor using RUclips as a medium to bring us this knowledge.
Fun and interesting, but you know, having lived here for going on 30 years I find that with most things Japanese tell foreigners you shouldn’t do in Japan, many Japanese do the things themselves. Especially at my gym or hot springs, I always see the old guys just hop in the bath without washing, but will tell me (while I’m washing) I need to wash carefully first. Haha. Or like taking photos of food - I see it done by locals all the time while im busy eating mine. ;) thank you for the great video all the same.
I mean, going into Japan as not a Japanese person is already a major mark against you, so they're all watching you. "How is this foreigner going to mess up?" they're asking. You can break the taboos if you don't care about anyone liking you, just people from other countries are held to an insanely high standard.
Just this week my husband has promised to take our family to Tokyo! Once travel normalises it’s going to be our first destination🙂 And Happy Birthday Shogo from the UK - your new kimono is fabulous
I feel like a lot of these make sense according to how you should treat any cuisine that a chef poured themselves into. It’s nice to have it pointed out.
Glad to know that I've actually been eating it properly! I always eat my sushi in one bite, and I never add soy sauce or anything else to it because I just want to taste the sushi itself. Sometimes it falls apart when I try to pick it up, though, and I tend to feel a bit panicked about that. It's not intentional, but I feel bad-
@@ThisWhiteGuy It's such a pet peeve of mine, when the sushi falls apart as you pick it up! It's definitely because the sushi chef doesn't know how to properly form it. The rice has to be compacted down so that it will hold together. It bugs me from an aesthetic standpoint, and plus it's annoying to have it fall apart, and then you end up looking clumsy!
Happy birthday shogo, the kimono looks great! I appreciate these tips as I work in a sushi restaurant. Its always good to know the manners of the culture especially when working with it
I'll happily avoid separating the fish and rice, i'll eat it right away, and I'll gladly enjoy it in one bite. I will not however limit the amount of soy sauce I put on my fish out of politeness, sometimes I'm in the mood for a lot and I'm the one who is eating the food.
Its like if you made someone a steak and salted it for them...and then they proceed to shake salt on it for like 15 minutes. You're not going to be enraged but you probably won't think very highly of them.
I really love the flavor of strong soy sauced sushi. I can still easily distinguish the individual flavors (sensitive tastebuds i guess?) so it doesn't kill off the flavor for me while i still get to enjoy the soy flavor which i love
It depends. If you're going to a high-end sushi restaurant where the chef prepares each sushi in single portions, then you're receiving the sushi as it's intended to taste. These types of establishments use the highest grade ingredients, the fattiest cuts of fish, marinated in the sweetest saki or vinegar, the most melt-in-your-mouth nori seaweed, the softest or chewiest rice, the mildest wasabi, the freshest ginger, etc. The quality of the food is far more standardized for the most developed palates. People pay alot of money for this experience, which is why soy sauce as a condiment is rarely used and only when instructed by the chef to use it. However, regular sushi restaurants that mass-produce sushi in a kitchen, don't use the best quality ingredients and rely on lots of toppings, sauces, and tempura-frying to enhance flavor. Using soy sauce, yum yum sauce, spicy horseradish wasabi, and even westernized ingredients like mayonnaise, cream cheese, avocado, etc. are expected since you're not paying as much. If you happen to have the privilege of going to a high-end sushi restaurant where the chef serves you directly from his hands to your plate, then expect to be served as the chef intended. He's giving you the FULL and original sushi experience as it's meant to be experienced in Japanese culture.
@@_MythicalWolf - That's different, bc there isn't cultural etiquette about how to eat a steak. But there are rules for how to eat sushi in a high-end Omakase restaurant where the chef is serving you from his hands directly to your plate. These restaurants provide the experience as it's intended, and it's rude to change the flavors of the sushi prepared for you by the chef, who has put in the effort to provide the right balance of richness of fats, mouth-chew, mouth-melt, freshness, sweetness, saltiness, tanginess, fermentation, texture, etc. If the chef has provided a bowl of soy sauce, he has filled it very low and will instruct you to slightly dip it fish-side down. If you're not interested in this cultural experience, then try Benihana or Hibachi steakhouses where it's deemed acceptable that you use sauces or condiments to improve the flavor, since the quality of ingredients is much lower and the flavors aren't as curated. They tend to rely on excess toppings, saltier soy sauce, spicy horseradish (tinted green to look like real & milder wasabi), tempura-frying, and western ingredients like mayonnaise, cream cheese, avocado, etc. to compensate the lack of freshness/richness in their sushi. Honestly, most western palates are so stunted by condiments, that I personally wouldn't recommend Omakase-style restaurants except for those who have refined palates. Plus it's incredibly expensive, so if you're not interested in having the cultural sushi experience in its original form, and are only seeking a westernized experience of sushi dining, then mass-produced sushi establishments are your best option. You can enjoy sushi in a much more relaxed fashion this way.
Tuna "nigiri" is my favorite I like rolls, but nigiri focuses more on the texture and flavor of the fish, and tuna is excellent in both of those departments.
Teka Maki is my go to, I like it’s simplicity of just tuna, rice, and nori, so the flavors of the fish are more in focus. But I don’t know about the not dipping in the soy sauce.
Wow, I follow all these rules, without even thinking about it. The moment I started eating sushi, it just felt natural to eat it in one bite, without soy sauce, and right away to preserve the freshness.
Thank you very much for this video, Shogo! Even though I've been eating sushi for decades (both in the US and during my visits to Japan) I was never aware of these taboos. Luckily, I only broke one, and have immediately resolved never to do it again. I have also used this video to educate other members of my family who are sushi eaters and fans of Japanese culture. Please keep up the great work. I enjoy all your videos and always look forward to the new ones.
I love sushi and learned something new today. I never considered using the ginger as like a brush. I don't like overloading my sushi with soy sauce so I just never use it. This opens up new flavor savering for me.
I'm from New Zealand and I eat sushi quite often, almost every week in fact. I once ate with one of my friends who started chopping it into quarters using their chopsticks and I was completely horrified even watching it so I can understand completely how it would offend a chef. It was honestly kind of disconcerting to watch. Also I love salmon sushi 😍
Actually pretty proud that the only thing that I didn't know was to use ginger as a soy sauce brush. Ive actually chewed out my friends for going to a sushi place and dipping the rice part of nigiri into soy sauce, or not eating it in once bite. And my favorite is mackerel nigiri/sashimi I dont like to have too much of it at once, but when I do it's my favorite part of the meal.
Eating pizza with fork and knife is not strange at all, depending on the situation and location, at least here in Europe. Including Italy. No idea why Americans think using your hands is the One True Way.
@@drsnova7313 lol I never said any of that is strange at all but if you insist then yes, you are correct if it is being eaten in that manner in America. It is strange and if you are an American. i won't speak for other countries culture though.😅😂
Actually just finger food the sushi. Not a lot of people get it but it’s really not necessary to use chopsticks on sushi. You can just use your fingers sometimes.
Eating pizza with knife and fork is the only proper way, like come on, it's just a pancake with cheese and tomatoes an should be eaten the same way as normal ones.
I learned a lot watching this. I am definitely going to enjoy my next sushi experience eating the proper way...i.e. not dunking the rice into the soy sauce! And yes, salmon is my favorite. I do not like the flavor of cooked salmon, but when it's raw, it has such a mild flavor and I could eat that all day.
Despite only having eaten sushi twice (first as a child, didn't like it, and now only recently as an adult and really enjoying it), I'm happy to know the only taboo I committed was dipping gunkan in soy sauce. Thank you for the excellent video and happy birthday, Shogo! 🎉🙏
Thank you. That was actually some interesting description about things, which occasionally disturbed me too, when eating sushi. And I am from Europe. However, I didn't know how to do it better or the "correct" way and these tips help a lot! Thank you!
I just tried gunkan ikura for the first time recently. I can't imagine needing to add soy sauce, it has such a jucy salty taste to it already. Delicious.
To be honest, I've been a couple of times in Japan and of course eating a lot of sushi and I definitely don't care about rule no 2 and 3. I LOVE sushi AND soya sauce, a lot of soya sauce, together, IN the rice and I always explain that to the chef and every single time he excepted my reasons and was happy that I like "his" soya sauce too. Sometimes I let rest the sushi right in soya sauce, soaked and love it. The most important point is, u have to love the food you're eating, anything else doesn't make any sense. Cheers.
I'd like to learn a little more about what is done with wasabi. People here in the States mix wasabi with soy sauce as well as put some on top of sushi. Most of the time it makes a mess and I can't imagine it's proper etiquette in Japan. そして誕生日おめでとう。😁
@@LetsaskShogo Please do that! (And, FYI, in the US at least, wasabi is almost never authentic-it’s made from horseradish [西洋山葵]. 🙁) Happy Birthday, Shogo!
oh my gosh I subconsciously did all of this in my local sushi place! I will definitely be more careful and keep this video in mind! (for the record, I don't live in japan so I don't know how relevant these rules are where I live)
I get the feeling that eating sushi is a lot more like a ceremony.....a lotta pressure . I'm gonna need an extra large bottle of sake to go with mine, just to take the edge off.
One thing I was curious about is the etiquette of eating ebi nigiri. Is it acceptable to remove the tail from the end in polite company, or are you supposed to consume the entire piece?
I have witnessed most eating the tail. It is looked at as inedible in western cuisine but that's not the case in eastern cuisine. If you're that self conscious maybe just eat your ebi last and tuck the tail between your cheek and gums and excuse yourself to the restroom to dispose of it in private.
I know you’re suppose to dip the topping into the soy sauce but I honestly love a lot of soy sauce and like how it gets absorbed into the rice. It doesn’t fall apart and tastes salty and nice. Maybe if I would have really expensive sushi I would reconsider.
I love sushi! I love all kinds of sushi, especially the one with salmon! Actually, I rarely add soy sauce and prefer to eat the sushi straight away without it. *Except at certain times or when I just want to know the taste with soy sauce.
My favorites: Maguro, Ebi, Salmon sushi. When our daughter was about 10, we all went out for sushi. This would be her first exposure to sushi. We ordered, she looked at it, took the sashimi right off the rice and inhaled the sushi piece. She did this six more times! I said to my wife, "she is going to be an expensive date!".
The rolls that are extremely big, I don’t think you have to force yourself to try to eat it in one bite! The sushi rolls that are served at restaurants where you have to follow the rules, they are usually quite small and it shouldn’t be a problem!
Your videos and information is always such a great pleasure to watch and learn from. I Really appreciate your work Shogo. Since I'm unable to go to Japan and experience all that I could with what your country has to offer, it's always great to receive the experience you have to give about the verity of customs Japan has developed through tradition. Thank you 🙂.
I was once at a sushi restaurant with some acquaintances and I ordered gunkan. I knew that I had to eat it in one bite, but the piece was gigantic! So I stuffed my mouth with it and of course couldn't chew so I almost choked on it. It was so embarassing, sitting there with my mouth completely full and almost not being able to do anything... Slowly I managed to swallow it but yeah, I'll never be doing that again just for the sake of tradition.
I really like vegitarian rolls. Where I live, it's hard to trust the quality of fish, so I don't like to risk it often (though my favorite is tuna). The local sushi restaurant has 2 vegitarian rolls that I love. The mario roll which has different kinds of mushrooms and the tree roll which has seaweed salad in it.
@@MichaelTheophilus906 all plants grow in poop to some degree, whether it be as tiny as bug poop or the fertilizer used to help get plants the nutrients they need. And while mushrooms are indeed fungi, they are not yeast, like athlete's foot and jock itch. A closer comparison would be the yeast in bread or beer
I always panic when I mess up the sushi, they make such huge rolls sometimes in America and I feel bad for ruining it. That’s why I now try to get the simple, more traditional types of sushi. My favorite type of sushi would have to be tuna or eel. But I do like shrimp and tamago as well.
I’m relatively new to sushi as my town of birth had no sushi at all. Hard to believe I know. Since moving, I have taken a true love of it. Truly one of the world’s most perfect foods. Favorite? All of it. Great video. I did not know the technique with the ginger
I knew most of these but I was shocked to hear people actually seperate sushi with #4. Your explanation helps it make sense to an extent but like, gosh, why even eat sushi in the first place then?!
Ya i was surprised and like he said just order the meat by itself than just getting the sushi but only eating the topping thats wasting some yummy rice.
Firstly, Happy Birthday! She chose very well, the pattern is subtle and intriguing to the eye. It adds to your presence and you wear it very well. I love Yellow-tail and though they aren't raw I love Eel and Urchin. However, Tuna Toro is the best of all. Nothing beats fatty tuna belly, and it's worth the $50 US to have two pieces. That is, when you find that rare chef who stocks it for the few of us here who eat it.
I've read that for some high end traditional sushi shops serving omakase sets, it's actually rude to ask them for soy sauce or wasabi since it would be ruining the original taste that the sushi chief had prepared for you and i understand some coated their sushi with their own soy sauce before serving you to make the taste stronger so it would be quite disrespectful if you tried to dip soy sauce again without trying out the original taste 1st to see if it really needs additional soy sauce? Just asking how do i know if asking for soy sauce or wasabi is considered rude or some shops are just ok if i just have the habit of dipping my sushi in soy sauce? Example i even dip my omelette sushi in soy sauce
It's ambiguous indeed, and I wish Shogo-san had touched on this or answered here. My understanding is that only occurs when you're dining at a top sushi chef restaurant (typically with no signs, no prices, hardly recognizable as a restaurant from outside, with a bill that will easily reach 300 USD per person at the very least). The confusion comes from the fact sushi can be both very special or just another type of fast-food in the cheapest sushi restaurants of the conveyor belt type, and that outside of Japan, sushi is always a bit special anyway. With this in mind, I'd say you are safe using soy sauce as Shogo-san explained because that's the norm. If you happen to land in a chef restaurant, reconsider, observe others, but chances are, if you look non-Japanese, somebody will let you know soy sauce is not supposed to be added in this case.
Also I’m pretty fucking sure that these types of questions are only really asked by people who aren’t high class enough to go into these establishments and therefore worry about that culture in the first place anyway so.
The way you picked the ginger made it look like a paper doll somehow, it also matched your kimono! So now you are a ginger doll! (I'm being stupid here, but it really was cute!) You didn't mention any wasabi things here... I like spicy food a lot so when I buy sushi in a markt and eat it at home I usually break all this rules as my mouth is small, I'm clumsy, my cat eats my chopsticks and I bath everything in wasabi until it's almost whole green, while cat steals the fish and then I have rice only bathed in soy sauce after I run out of wasabi... How to use wasabi correctly? I had heard that real Japanese wasabi is a lot stronger than what we get here so I don't want to one day bath food in wasabi, make everyone angry and then regret it when it would be stronger than expected.
This makes me want a spicy crab roll and spicy tuna roll now. At a local restaurant there's this one that is my favorite called "rock and roll". It has shrimp,cream cheese,and cucumber rolled in rice and seaweed and drizzled with eel sauce. 🤤
Sometimes, when I'm eating Sushi at home, I like to take a bite of half, and then eat the other half with the rice and topping separate. Lets me savour not only the combined flavour of the two together, but also that of them individually.
Thank you for this video - I thought I had seen most of these “how to be polite in japan” videos, but you still taught me something new! I am definitely subscribing to your channel! 😃👍🏻
I remember one time when I was at a restaurant, I saw someone at another table eating a lobster roll with a knife and fork. He carved ALL the rolls at once, and tried to eat the quarters of each slice, and by the time he was halfway through, it was a horribly messy plate. I took psychic damage just witnessing it.
I get Sushu 🍣 at the Supermarket. It's the only Sushi I can get, here in the north of Croatia, and it's the only Sushi I've ever had. One of the Sushi trays includes two Nigiri which have way too much rice considering the size of Salmon on the one and the Shrimp on the other. So I'm already in the habit of reducing the amount of rice. The tip about using the pickled ginger slices as a soy sauce brush is a good one, one that I'll put into effect immediately, as it's almost impossible to dip the rice in the soy sauce without it soaking up too much. Thanks for this video, Shogo. Stay safe and stay happy.
These problems may solve themselves in Japan, where they likely do a better job making the sushi. I really like the sushi place in the Tokyo airport, actually. I tried a few famous places around Shinjuku mainly, but also various parts of Tokyo... kinda like the airport sushi more?
Interesting video, looks like I was eating sushi incorrectly all this time. Also interesting to hear about the importance of appreciating the taste of the sushi as it is, my local supermarket sells sushi but they often put lots of stuff like mayonnaise or different sauces on them when they make them, what do you think about the usage of different additions on sushi during the making? Oh, and on the topic of best sushi ingredients, Salmon is my overwhelming favourite.
Thank you very much for leaving a comment! I personally think that creating new kinds of sushi is a good thing! I think it would be a way for more people to enjoy the culture😊 And I think it’s simply fun that you can be creative!
Issues mostly is that sushi sold in our supermarket aren't made with sushi rice, for most, also they put too much rice and not enough topping. Last thing, most of topping (fish mostly) aren't fresh of the day or day before, they come from fridge sooo lost most of their tast. That's sad we cannot get good ingredients even to make our own, cause except if you live near the sea you won't get fish fresh of the day
You're not supposed to put much on. You're also not supposed to add wasabi at all, because there's already some under the fish. That said, I don't care about the above and just mix wasabi into the soy sauce and dip rice side down, because that's what I do. I forgot if I actually did that in Japan... probably did, but I may have been trying to follow their rules more there. I live in Taiwan and everyone here just dips it into wasabi/soy sauce.
@@anonamatron Never had much sushi in the states with wasabi already added (one i believe, but not much). That said I could see a big shock to someone that didn't try a bite first before adding more lol
When I go to my local Japanese restaurant I always order Sashimi with a side bowl of rice. I prefer to have them separate. I was taught years ago, when dating a Japanese woman the proper rules so this got me away from insulting the chef. Though I do prefer to mix some wasabi in my soy sauce so I am sure that is another taboo but I like the kick and flavor it gives.
I've heard that it's allowable with *sashimi,* though not with sushi, to mix wasabi in the soy sauce. There is usually nothing added to the sashimi, while the sushi should have the proper amounts of sauce, wasabi, or other flavorings that the chef intended it to have already applied to it before it is put on the plate.
I'm guilty of eating my sushi in two bites. I just want it to last longer and enjoy the food! Plus, I take small bites of everything so it's just a habit at this point.
When my daughter was a year and a half old, multiple sushi restaurants in my city have given her free sushi because they took such pleasure watching a child of clearly non-Japanese extraction enjoy her sushi so much, whilst unconsciously following the rules of conduct, except for chopstick use.
I freaking LOVE your channel!
Actually, sushi isn’t really meant to be eaten with chopsticks. It’s usually eaten with fingers. So if she picked it up with her fingers, she was unconsciously doing that right as well.
I don’t think eating with chopsticks is taboo, but traditionally, from what I understand sushi is a finger food.
Rebecca, is that you?
I was like this. still am really. I made a comment about it separate to this but when I was younger I ordered sushi instead of burgers. I loved it a lot!
Funny how i unconsciously followed the "not breaking the sushi" rule just so i can take more off the conveyor belt in sushi express
when i was younger i’d love this asian restaurant and would always dance in my seat because i enjoyed the food so much. once i saw one of the employees smiling as i did
I like eel sushi myself. I will try to keep these in mind when I’m in a Japanese restaurant and I have a craving for sushi.
I'm addicted to it ! But please be aware eels are endangered all around the world, some places critically. Making you own unagi sauce for other foods can help the craving...
@@redargylesocks Yeah I’ve heard that too so that’s why I try not to order any until I am like desperately craving it but sushi with eel sauce does help the cravings as does oyster sauce
I've tried eel maybe four or five times and have never liked it. The texture always feels like I'm chewing on a vinegary chunk of fat.
Eel is also my favorite.
@@redargylesocks The European eel, I know, is critically endangered, although it is farmed in some places.
That's easy to say "Not eating it immediately" and "breaking the Sushi". I had a Japanese colleague at a research institute in Germany. When he left, he ordered a huge plate of Sushi for all of us, but insisted that we eat it with chopsticks. That must have been one of the worst Sushi massacres the city had ever seen. Maybe he found the horde of clumsy gaijin fumbling around amusing :P
I read somewhere that the polite way to eat sushi, if you can't use chopsticks, is with your fingers.
If he was in Germany that would make _him_ the gaijin.
@@OniLordMiki you would think so but this isn't the case to Japanese. Being a gaijin (foreigner) is not relative to physical location. It's identity. Japanese are Japanese. It doesn't matter where they are...they're still Japanese and those who are not Japanese are gaijin.
@@tonyd5707 that's.... Remarkably self centred and arrogant of a culture to feel that way.
@@gjaeigjiajeg I gotta agree with you
When I was in Tokyo at 14yo, I was given free sushi quite a bit. It was my first time eating sushi, and they absolutely loved sharing their culture with an obvious newbie/outsider.
Side note, it was the best sushi I had to date. Can't find anything like it here in the States. I got spoiled and didn't even know it
I would so love to visit Japan someday and eat authentic japanese sushi, but I'm worried that any sushi I ate here in my own country afterwards would be a kind of a disappointment.
It’s literally raw fish with rice.... there are plenty of authentic sushi places in the US that taste identical to Japanese sushi
@@skyeisthebeesknees then why go anywhere on vacation? It's just air rocks and trees, same sky and sun.... IDK if you travel much, but foods taste different in different places.
@@theginganinjaofficial it taste different because of your perception. You’re in a foreign country with a foreign language. You’re still eating the exact same fish with the exact same rice. People romanticize other countries all over the world. It’s a bit disappointing when you realize that the only difference is in the imaginary borders we have created for ourselves.
@@skyeisthebeesknees between the additives that different countries do and don't allow, the proper preparation, proper techniques, even down to the small things, like the wasabi and other ingredients.... maybe it isn't people romanticize it, maybe it's a way for others to cope that won't find out personally.
Fresh fruit alone tastes different in different countries, due to differences in soil composition. Meat tastes slightly different due to environmental differences and different countries regulations in feed and what can and cannot be used with livestock.
Number 5 was the only taboo I was aware of and also the only one that I've broken. In my defense, the only time I did so was at a restaurant that served sushi rolls that were enormous: you'd need a mouth like a pelican to eat one whole.
a pelican! 😂
I actually like taking a bite of the sushi piece to make it last longer! If I put the whole thing in my mouth, Mr Sushi Chef, it disappears too fast, and I can't appreciate this fantastic-tasting thing that you've made for me as long.
If the sushi chef does not take your mouth size into consideration when making the roll, they deserve to have the roll bit in two just so I can swallow.
I look a lot worse choking. I will ask for thinner slices in future.
The ginger trick with the soy sauce is pretty neat, will definitively use it from now on when eating gunkan
(Also, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHOGO!!)
Also added style points the ginger looked like a wee man!!!
I really hate ginger and I would rather dishonor myself than eating it
Yeah, it was really surprising and pretty handy
SAME! That i had NO CLUE about! :D
@@shinitakunai1145 You don't have to eat the ginger, just use it to brush on the soy sauce 🤣
Ive heard of 1 and 2 by a chef from Japan. But he finished his how-to/rule tutorial by saying the most important rule is to eat it how you like it. I wonder if other chefs may feel the same way.
I love the taste of a lot of soy sauce in the sushi, expecially in the rice
When the chef pays for the food, then he or she can dictate how I eat it.
@@Vexy93 same i like drenching it in soy sauce but i wont be able to do that ig
Aside from rule #1, I've definitely committed every other taboo. Especially breaking apart the sushies that are commonly too big here in Montreal. I've often mixed wasabi with my soy sauce to give it a kick and then dipped every sushi I had (nigiri and gunkan alike) haha. But I will try to incorporate this newfound knowledge! Thanks for the video!!
In my case rule #1 and rule #5 is what I do without thinking. Although the presented portion of sauce is too little, I understand that may taste is on the heavy side of the force: Salty, Sugaree, bitterness (like in a heavy coffee taste), sourness, spicy.
I've always heard wasabi is to be applied directly to sushi and not mixed in soy sauce and I agree it is much easier to control and better this way.
Calling it "sushies" is killing me!
To be honest. I only care about rule #1. As it's the one that will effect the quality of the food. Otherwise, I not an etiquette person. I give money, and what I choose to do after that is my choice.
@@meoff7602 Same, it's why i tend to avoid restaurants that have heavy etiquette because I like being let to enjoy the food my own way as I believe that is the best way to compliment a chef's work. Forcing myself to eat it in a way I will enjoy it less feels a bit insulting towards whoever made it because they made it to be enjoyed, not forced
I really appreciate you providing and encouraging the use of subtitles! I have an auditory processing disorder so speech can be hard for me to understand clearly sometimes. I’m glad you put in the extra effort to make your videos more accessible! :)
When I was much younger (20 something years ago) I was training to be a chef and during my apprenticeship, we had a chef from Japan come in and teach us for a few weeks. It was such a great time to learn from such a disciplined chef. His teaching didn't start when the food was on the board, it started when he stepped into the building. The knife work he taught, and how to read what your stock is telling you, was just mind blowing. We did some sushi, but sadly he was only there for 3 weeks and you really can't grasp the fullest extent of what he was feeling of the history he made for us. It's something only years of apprenticeship could do. Still an epic time though.
I LOVE sashimi! But I find some people here in South Africa make the sushi too large, it's really difficult to eat it in one bite without looking like a hamster🤣
I find something in sushi lifts my mood enormously when I get depressed. Dunno if it's the Wasabi, soy sauce or ginger. I think it's an ingredient in the powder wasabi
Same happens in Canada 😂 way too large sushis.
Yes, same problem in the U.S. I noticed how much smaller and easier to eat the pieces were in Japan.
Same in Germany, sadly.
I'm in SA too but don't care how I look when eating sushi as I'm sure it's normally with a huge, blissful smile 😅
In Finland we often have the same problem. I learned quite early on that sushi should be eaten whole but sometimes it's just impossible if one doesn't want to risk suffocating.
Never thought those pickled ginger slices actually have its use to "brush" soy sauce on "gunkan" sushi. I'll keep that in mind for the next time I eat sushi
So yeah, #2 & #3 are expected to be the most common mistakes for foreigners eating sushi
Happy belated birthday, Shogo-san!
I think the most common mistake is mixing the wasabi with the soy sauce.
@@mborok whyyyy? o_O
Mark Borok Yes, technically It is not a good manner but nobody actually cares in Japan.
me neither. well, there's the fact that i dunk everything straight into soy sauce (mixed with wasabi of course). the sideways trick i picked up in some other video, but i still get the rice wet
@@mborok I know that's a mistake, but i still think it's the best way to put it (when there aren't japanese people looking)
Happy birthday! I'm sure many people are wondering "How will I eat one of those gigantic specialty roll pieces in one bite?" As much as I love such rolls, they represent Americanized cuisine that isn't made with this one-bite tradition in mind. I can't say that you would never find such complex rolls in Japan, but I'm sure the chef will take bite-size into consideration when making the rolls. Nigiri is more common because wonderfully fresh fish is the real star and having too many ingredients distracts from the intentionally proportioned fish and rice.
I can tell you from experience that the portions in Japan are smaller
You still get nigiri's with really large slice of fish that are hard to eat in one bite in Japan tho.
His demonstration sushi definitely didn't seem like something I could eat in one bite!
@@lisalombs1239 A bit on the big side but I could, given that I have a big mouth haha
Regarding #4 - I was once in a running sushi restaurant here in Germany, and I dipped the rice of the nigiri into the soy sauce, so the chef actually advised me to separate the fish from the rice to apply the soy sauce instead. Didn't know that was a taboo as well ^^
I think he meant separating it like eating only one or the other, because I was told by a chef that its rude to dip the rice into it, so to remove the topping and then replace it back on the stack when dipping was finished.
@@singularleaf3895 That...does make sense, thanks :)
That is how I eat my nigiri too. I dip the fish not the rice, but I do eat both.
I feel like this matters the most in traditional sushi restaurants where the chef serves it to you directly right after finishing it.
@vang-tou Lee True, practicing etiquette in front of the sushi chef shows that you respect their craft. I lived in Japan (first as a military dependent child, and later as a grownup) and I've had plenty of meals with locals who don't really follow the "rules of eating sushi".
@@lhasaapso5076 This may sound a bit ignorant....but isn't the fact that you have chosen their restaurant to eat and spend your hard earned money showing respect?
@@y2k448 choosing their restaurant shows you chose their restaurant, observing etiquette shows you respect the chef's skills in the preparation of your meal.
Put it like this, when you go to McDonald's, are you showing respect to the burger flipper? Do you ever compliment them on how well prepared your meal was? Just spending money somewhere doesn't mean you appreciate the work that's gone into making your meal.
Dude for someone who didn’t grow up in America or an English speaking country your English is amazing. You must be a great learner.. Tip of the hat 🎩 to you sir.
Fr! I thought the same thing! When he said 'critical' in the beginning, I had to rewind and give props! This being the first vid ive seen, I wouldnt even know english wasnt his first language.
It's not actually surprising or impressive. English is spoken all over the world and by hundreds of millions of people in every country. It is the universal language at this point. When a person speaks broken English. It's because, they only learned the basics and then stopped practicing and actively studying. Most people can't really live with themself speaking like that in any language all the time. English is one of the only languages where native speakers actually tolerate accents and people who are bad at speaking it.
@@dickrichard626 All very good points, however I must commend him. I’ve been to over 50 countries, some for leisure and most for work. And I rarely encounter people that well studied in intonation, diction and cadence. I live next to a great university with a robust immigrant community, and even though they’re all fluent and express themselves in grammatically sound English, they lack the correct tone and cadence. When my Russian, French or Korean neighbors speak, they’re grammatically correct but they almost all sound like they’re speaking English in the cadence of their native tongue. This guy doesn’t sound like that at all, he’s only a hair off well educated native speakers in America.
@@HEmmerich89 Exactly.. He's Japanese and lived in Michigan for 6 years. I have neighbors and coworkers that have lived in the US for 20+ years and they sound nowhere near as good.
@@jasonkowens6820 !!! THATS WHERE I LIVE WHAT!?!? Thats crazy lol
In Australia, we have these little fish-shaped soy sauce containers that you can use to drip a bit of soy sauce onto the sushi.
This is correct, but this is to adapt to the western market. Not necessarily the correct traditional way of eating sushi.
Those are in Europe too
We actually have those in Japan too! They usually come together with the sushi that are sold at supermarkets😊
That's true, but you won't see them in more formal sushi restaurants even in Australia. :)
I have some in my fridge right now and they're so god damn cute
Watching it today, I realized Shogo actually asks us to speed up his video.
I don't know why but it is so sweet and humbling.
I have nooooooo idea why this video suggested to be played faster, but this is what I often do.
Thank you?
I'm confused, but also appreciative.
Additionally, I have fallen in love with this channel from watching this very first video. The consideration taken for the viewer is unparalleled.
"Willing to come to Japan someday"
Yes
Able?
No
😭😭😭
i feel ya pain
I am so perturbed about the pandemic situation in Japan. I have one trip cancelled and my 2021 trip deferred twice. At the current levels, it will take 2 years to get the population vaccinated and I can guess all the red tape the government will put up to verify tourists for vaccinations. I have been to Japan twice and loved my time there, but if you are watching these videos, then we all know how very slowly Japan moves on administrative rules. Well, let’s all hope for Osaka 2025 World’s Fair. See you all there!
I can’t as well.
1) because of pandemic
2) im broke
i wanna go so bad
I really hope that we can soon travel like we used to, and I know that eating sushi is one of the things that you are most looking forward to.
I hope this video will be useful for you to fully enjoy your experience of eating sushi in Japan.
By the way, this video was a great excuse for me to buy an expensive sushi set that I usually wouldn’t order, so I enjoyed making this video a lot too. lol
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My favorite is salmon like yours havent tried seabream yet
I can see the warship it looks like a ancient warship
I *love* the fact that, though I have already studied Japanese culture, customs, & ettitquette a fair deal, I *always* learn a lot by watching your videos! Wish I could toast "kanpai" with you & thank you in person.
Happy Birthday Shogo!
🙏 Happy Birthday and many happy returns! 🎂🎉
I'm glad that I already DO NOT practice most of these taboos, but I'm so glad I learned new things! Using the ginger as a soy sauce brush, and rotating the sushi on the side...genius! I'll be much better at eating sushi from now on
Yes! Those 2 tips you mentioned are the ones I never knew about, and I will definitely be doing those whenever I eat sushi moving forward!
I was blown away when I found out that salmon sushi isn't Japanese. Its Norwegian. It would be interesting to hear what Shogo thinks of that. Well, being from Scandinavia myself, it didn't really surprise me as we have been eating raw salmon for centuries, but still, I never knew that Salmon Sushi didn't even exist in Japan until like 30-40 years ago
Salmon sushi has a history of about 10 years. So it's surprising to me that Shogo-san, who is a self-proclaimed master of Japanese tradition, lists it as one of his favorites. I always look for the sushi set with NO salmon, but they're getting hard to find nowadays.
@@UkuleleMania1 Master of tradition doesn't mean distaste for innovation. By your logic it would seem that Shogo-san would abhor using RUclips as a medium to bring us this knowledge.
Salmon was first used in Japan as sushi in the late 1980s & caught on in the early 1990s. Norway convinced the Japanese to try salmon as sushi.
My mouth can’t help but water while watching! Sushi is one of the best foods. All though I love everything! Variety is the spice of life!
Fun and interesting, but you know, having lived here for going on 30 years I find that with most things Japanese tell foreigners you shouldn’t do in Japan, many Japanese do the things themselves. Especially at my gym or hot springs, I always see the old guys just hop in the bath without washing, but will tell me (while I’m washing) I need to wash carefully first. Haha. Or like taking photos of food - I see it done by locals all the time while im busy eating mine. ;) thank you for the great video all the same.
I mean, going into Japan as not a Japanese person is already a major mark against you, so they're all watching you. "How is this foreigner going to mess up?" they're asking. You can break the taboos if you don't care about anyone liking you, just people from other countries are held to an insanely high standard.
There are rude people everywhere.
@@jsullivan2112 Indeed there are.
Just this week my husband has promised to take our family to Tokyo! Once travel normalises it’s going to be our first destination🙂 And Happy Birthday Shogo from the UK - your new kimono is fabulous
I am happy that I knew them all. But more grateful that you’re making these videos.
I feel like a lot of these make sense according to how you should treat any cuisine that a chef poured themselves into. It’s nice to have it pointed out.
Glad to know that I've actually been eating it properly! I always eat my sushi in one bite, and I never add soy sauce or anything else to it because I just want to taste the sushi itself. Sometimes it falls apart when I try to pick it up, though, and I tend to feel a bit panicked about that. It's not intentional, but I feel bad-
"actually"
If it falls apart, your sushi chef is not skilled. You should be able to pick up a corner of fish and the rice will not fall off.
@@ThisWhiteGuy It's such a pet peeve of mine, when the sushi falls apart as you pick it up! It's definitely because the sushi chef doesn't know how to properly form it. The rice has to be compacted down so that it will hold together. It bugs me from an aesthetic standpoint, and plus it's annoying to have it fall apart, and then you end up looking clumsy!
Happy birthday shogo, the kimono looks great! I appreciate these tips as I work in a sushi restaurant. Its always good to know the manners of the culture especially when working with it
Thank you very much! I love the kimono✨
And it’s great that you work at a sushi restaurant, I hope it’s fun for you😊
Once again, what we are seeing here is respect for the food & those who prepared it. Nice.
My favorites are the crabstick and Ebi(shrimp) nagiri
I'll happily avoid separating the fish and rice, i'll eat it right away, and I'll gladly enjoy it in one bite. I will not however limit the amount of soy sauce I put on my fish out of politeness, sometimes I'm in the mood for a lot and I'm the one who is eating the food.
Its like if you made someone a steak and salted it for them...and then they proceed to shake salt on it for like 15 minutes. You're not going to be enraged but you probably won't think very highly of them.
I really love the flavor of strong soy sauced sushi. I can still easily distinguish the individual flavors (sensitive tastebuds i guess?) so it doesn't kill off the flavor for me while i still get to enjoy the soy flavor which i love
Eats sushi.
Sips soy sauce afterwards.
Atleast you didnt let the rice soak up the soysauce.
It depends. If you're going to a high-end sushi restaurant where the chef prepares each sushi in single portions, then you're receiving the sushi as it's intended to taste. These types of establishments use the highest grade ingredients, the fattiest cuts of fish, marinated in the sweetest saki or vinegar, the most melt-in-your-mouth nori seaweed, the softest or chewiest rice, the mildest wasabi, the freshest ginger, etc. The quality of the food is far more standardized for the most developed palates. People pay alot of money for this experience, which is why soy sauce as a condiment is rarely used and only when instructed by the chef to use it. However, regular sushi restaurants that mass-produce sushi in a kitchen, don't use the best quality ingredients and rely on lots of toppings, sauces, and tempura-frying to enhance flavor. Using soy sauce, yum yum sauce, spicy horseradish wasabi, and even westernized ingredients like mayonnaise, cream cheese, avocado, etc. are expected since you're not paying as much. If you happen to have the privilege of going to a high-end sushi restaurant where the chef serves you directly from his hands to your plate, then expect to be served as the chef intended. He's giving you the FULL and original sushi experience as it's meant to be experienced in Japanese culture.
@@_MythicalWolf - That's different, bc there isn't cultural etiquette about how to eat a steak. But there are rules for how to eat sushi in a high-end Omakase restaurant where the chef is serving you from his hands directly to your plate. These restaurants provide the experience as it's intended, and it's rude to change the flavors of the sushi prepared for you by the chef, who has put in the effort to provide the right balance of richness of fats, mouth-chew, mouth-melt, freshness, sweetness, saltiness, tanginess, fermentation, texture, etc.
If the chef has provided a bowl of soy sauce, he has filled it very low and will instruct you to slightly dip it fish-side down. If you're not interested in this cultural experience, then try Benihana or Hibachi steakhouses where it's deemed acceptable that you use sauces or condiments to improve the flavor, since the quality of ingredients is much lower and the flavors aren't as curated. They tend to rely on excess toppings, saltier soy sauce, spicy horseradish (tinted green to look like real & milder wasabi), tempura-frying, and western ingredients like mayonnaise, cream cheese, avocado, etc. to compensate the lack of freshness/richness in their sushi.
Honestly, most western palates are so stunted by condiments, that I personally wouldn't recommend Omakase-style restaurants except for those who have refined palates. Plus it's incredibly expensive, so if you're not interested in having the cultural sushi experience in its original form, and are only seeking a westernized experience of sushi dining, then mass-produced sushi establishments are your best option. You can enjoy sushi in a much more relaxed fashion this way.
Tuna "nigiri" is my favorite
I like rolls, but nigiri focuses more on the texture and flavor of the fish, and tuna is excellent in both of those departments.
You couldn't be more right.
Teka Maki is my go to, I like it’s simplicity of just tuna, rice, and nori, so the flavors of the fish are more in focus. But I don’t know about the not dipping in the soy sauce.
*laughs in salmon*
@@soulsabr4472 I don't know if I've just had bad salmon, but it's usually too fibrous of a texture for me. The flavor is great though.
@@adamr2977 Must be bad. The salmon I've had almost melts in my mouth.
Describing what 90% of actual people's habits while eating at a sushi restaurant.
"actual"
I grew up in Japan and was not aware of a couple of these. Learned something new (namely brushing with the gari).
My boyfriend and I love to imagine going to Japan, and I’m a fan of mackerel myself! I’m so pleased to have stumbled upon this channel. ☺️
Mackerel is my favorite! It reminds me that I am eating fish, the oiliness and the silvery skin just make me feel good.
Mackerel is delicious!
Wow, I follow all these rules, without even thinking about it. The moment I started eating sushi, it just felt natural to eat it in one bite, without soy sauce, and right away to preserve the freshness.
Wow we are all so proud of you.
He never anywhere said you shouldn't use soy sauce. Indeed he put soy sauce on pretty much every single piece of sushi in the video.
@@KindredBrujah don’t bother, this person can’t hear us over the sound of their vociferous self congratulation
@@EnjoySackLunch I mean…let’s be honest here. That’s a majority of the comments on this video. People just talking about themselves really.
Thank you very much for this video, Shogo! Even though I've been eating sushi for decades (both in the US and during my visits to Japan) I was never aware of these taboos. Luckily, I only broke one, and have immediately resolved never to do it again. I have also used this video to educate other members of my family who are sushi eaters and fans of Japanese culture.
Please keep up the great work. I enjoy all your videos and always look forward to the new ones.
Very informative...I must practice !
I love sushi and learned something new today. I never considered using the ginger as like a brush. I don't like overloading my sushi with soy sauce so I just never use it. This opens up new flavor savering for me.
I'm from New Zealand and I eat sushi quite often, almost every week in fact. I once ate with one of my friends who started chopping it into quarters using their chopsticks and I was completely horrified even watching it so I can understand completely how it would offend a chef. It was honestly kind of disconcerting to watch.
Also I love salmon sushi 😍
Actually pretty proud that the only thing that I didn't know was to use ginger as a soy sauce brush. Ive actually chewed out my friends for going to a sushi place and dipping the rice part of nigiri into soy sauce, or not eating it in once bite. And my favorite is mackerel nigiri/sashimi I dont like to have too much of it at once, but when I do it's my favorite part of the meal.
No-one asked
Oh wow! I love sushi and didn't realize I was committing two of the five taboos mentioned here (2 and 5). Thank you for this!
This might be my new favorite channel. ❤
"I eat everything with a knife and fork" -my older brother.
Yes, even pizza. 😅 Sushi will suffer the same fate.
Eating pizza with fork and knife is not strange at all, depending on the situation and location, at least here in Europe. Including Italy. No idea why Americans think using your hands is the One True Way.
@@drsnova7313 lol I never said any of that is strange at all but if you insist then yes, you are correct if it is being eaten in that manner in America. It is strange and if you are an American. i won't speak for other countries culture though.😅😂
Actually just finger food the sushi.
Not a lot of people get it but it’s really not necessary to use chopsticks on sushi. You can just use your fingers sometimes.
@@drsnova7313 the only eurovision know who eats pizza with fork and knife is my grandfather
Eating pizza with knife and fork is the only proper way, like come on, it's just a pancake with cheese and tomatoes an should be eaten the same way as normal ones.
I learned a lot watching this. I am definitely going to enjoy my next sushi experience eating the proper way...i.e. not dunking the rice into the soy sauce! And yes, salmon is my favorite. I do not like the flavor of cooked salmon, but when it's raw, it has such a mild flavor and I could eat that all day.
Despite only having eaten sushi twice (first as a child, didn't like it, and now only recently as an adult and really enjoying it), I'm happy to know the only taboo I committed was dipping gunkan in soy sauce. Thank you for the excellent video and happy birthday, Shogo! 🎉🙏
I’ve considered myself somewhat informed and I’ve been doing that for way too long. It does actually put too much soy sauce on it.
@@jerseythedog I guess it does! I did eat half of it without but half was sadly taboo'd in soy sauce :(
Thank you. That was actually some interesting description about things, which occasionally disturbed me too, when eating sushi. And I am from Europe. However, I didn't know how to do it better or the "correct" way and these tips help a lot! Thank you!
I just tried gunkan ikura for the first time recently. I can't imagine needing to add soy sauce, it has such a jucy salty taste to it already. Delicious.
My favorite sushi is Inari, the rice covered with soybean curd. It is so sweet and bulky and will leave me feeling satisfied in every bite.
Glad I have a Japanese friend in Kyoto to tell me these things :)
Happy birthday! I didn't know until the end that it was your birthday, but I certainly was thinking how beautiful the kimono looks.
You are a fantastic ambassador to Japan thank you for sharing this rules with us :)
To be honest, I've been a couple of times in Japan and of course eating a lot of sushi and I definitely don't care about rule no 2 and 3. I LOVE sushi AND soya sauce, a lot of soya sauce, together, IN the rice and I always explain that to the chef and every single time he excepted my reasons and was happy that I like "his" soya sauce too. Sometimes I let rest the sushi right in soya sauce, soaked and love it. The most important point is, u have to love the food you're eating, anything else doesn't make any sense.
Cheers.
I'd like to learn a little more about what is done with wasabi. People here in the States mix wasabi with soy sauce as well as put some on top of sushi. Most of the time it makes a mess and I can't imagine it's proper etiquette in Japan.
そして誕生日おめでとう。😁
I’m actually considering making a video just about wasabi! I hope we can look forward to it😆
@@LetsaskShogo Please do that! (And, FYI, in the US at least, wasabi is almost never authentic-it’s made from horseradish [西洋山葵]. 🙁)
Happy Birthday, Shogo!
@@LetsaskShogo Pretty please!🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽
@@LetsaskShogo "actually"
My wife is Japanese. She puts wasabi in the soy sauce. It’s very common and I saw it all the time there eating out.
oh my gosh I subconsciously did all of this in my local sushi place! I will definitely be more careful and keep this video in mind! (for the record, I don't live in japan so I don't know how relevant these rules are where I live)
I get the feeling that eating sushi is a lot more like a ceremony.....a lotta pressure . I'm gonna need an extra large bottle of sake to go with mine, just to take the edge off.
Your new kimono looks great!!! Another great video!!!
Thank you for sharing this! I have made ALL mistakes or "sushi taboos" listed in this video. I will never make those mistakes again!
One thing I was curious about is the etiquette of eating ebi nigiri. Is it acceptable to remove the tail from the end in polite company, or are you supposed to consume the entire piece?
I'm not Japanese, but I'd leave the tail bit just out of my lips and bit it end off and place the inedible part back on the plate.
I have witnessed most eating the tail. It is looked at as inedible in western cuisine but that's not the case in eastern cuisine. If you're that self conscious maybe just eat your ebi last and tuck the tail between your cheek and gums and excuse yourself to the restroom to dispose of it in private.
I know you’re suppose to dip the topping into the soy sauce but I honestly love a lot of soy sauce and like how it gets absorbed into the rice. It doesn’t fall apart and tastes salty and nice. Maybe if I would have really expensive sushi I would reconsider.
Hey, I do the same thing, exept for my habit of completely drowning the piece of sushi xD
I love sushi! I love all kinds of sushi, especially the one with salmon! Actually, I rarely add soy sauce and prefer to eat the sushi straight away without it. *Except at certain times or when I just want to know the taste with soy sauce.
"actually"
Wow. Thank you for this. These tips all make great sense, and now I know how to eat these properly.
I love sushi. Thank you for the 5 taboos when eating sushi. Now I know what to do 😊.
Happy birthday, Shogo-san!
Yes, Happy birthday! I hope your birthday is amazing!
My favorites: Maguro, Ebi, Salmon sushi.
When our daughter was about 10, we all went out for sushi. This would be her first exposure to sushi. We ordered, she looked at it, took the sashimi right off the rice and inhaled the sushi piece. She did this six more times! I said to my wife, "she is going to be an expensive date!".
Yup. My little girl is the same way. Can we go for sushi? Can we go for sushi?
What do we do when the rolls served is really big and can’t be eaten in one bite?
Also, my favorite is scallops. Love the creamy taste and texture.
The rolls that are extremely big, I don’t think you have to force yourself to try to eat it in one bite!
The sushi rolls that are served at restaurants where you have to follow the rules, they are usually quite small and it shouldn’t be a problem!
are really big rolls even a thing in Japan? I never saw such big pieces in Japan
Oh man those five taboos I do them all the time and I get kudos from everybody yeah it's awesome
Your videos and information is always such a great pleasure to watch and learn from.
I Really appreciate your work Shogo. Since I'm unable to go to Japan and experience all that I could with what your country has to offer, it's always great to receive the experience you have to give about the verity of customs Japan has developed through tradition. Thank you 🙂.
I was once at a sushi restaurant with some acquaintances and I ordered gunkan. I knew that I had to eat it in one bite, but the piece was gigantic! So I stuffed my mouth with it and of course couldn't chew so I almost choked on it. It was so embarassing, sitting there with my mouth completely full and almost not being able to do anything... Slowly I managed to swallow it but yeah, I'll never be doing that again just for the sake of tradition.
I really like vegitarian rolls. Where I live, it's hard to trust the quality of fish, so I don't like to risk it often (though my favorite is tuna). The local sushi restaurant has 2 vegitarian rolls that I love. The mario roll which has different kinds of mushrooms and the tree roll which has seaweed salad in it.
Well there are alot of sushi especially rolls that use cooked fish instead maybe you should try that
Not where I live, sorry
I love sushi with avocado or cucumber
@@MichaelTheophilus906 all plants grow in poop to some degree, whether it be as tiny as bug poop or the fertilizer used to help get plants the nutrients they need. And while mushrooms are indeed fungi, they are not yeast, like athlete's foot and jock itch. A closer comparison would be the yeast in bread or beer
@@MichaelTheophilus906 oh boy. You definitely don't want to know what comes out of the animals you eat or what they walk around in daily.
I always panic when I mess up the sushi, they make such huge rolls sometimes in America and I feel bad for ruining it. That’s why I now try to get the simple, more traditional types of sushi. My favorite type of sushi would have to be tuna or eel. But I do like shrimp and tamago as well.
You already have over a million subscribers. Congrats! Great content.
I’m relatively new to sushi as my town of birth had no sushi at all. Hard to believe I know. Since moving, I have taken a true love of it. Truly one of the world’s most perfect foods. Favorite? All of it. Great video. I did not know the technique with the ginger
I knew most of these but I was shocked to hear people actually seperate sushi with #4. Your explanation helps it make sense to an extent but like, gosh, why even eat sushi in the first place then?!
Ya i was surprised and like he said just order the meat by itself than just getting the sushi but only eating the topping thats wasting some yummy rice.
Omg I almost bingo'd this list and I thought I knew everything about eating sushi lol
HBD Shogo!
Firstly, Happy Birthday! She chose very well, the pattern is subtle and intriguing to the eye. It adds to your presence and you wear it very well.
I love Yellow-tail and though they aren't raw I love Eel and Urchin. However, Tuna Toro is the best of all. Nothing beats fatty tuna belly, and it's worth the $50 US to have two pieces. That is, when you find that rare chef who stocks it for the few of us here who eat it.
Happy belated birthday and thanks for the tips. Another great video.
I've read that for some high end traditional sushi shops serving omakase sets, it's actually rude to ask them for soy sauce or wasabi since it would be ruining the original taste that the sushi chief had prepared for you and i understand some coated their sushi with their own soy sauce before serving you to make the taste stronger so it would be quite disrespectful if you tried to dip soy sauce again without trying out the original taste 1st to see if it really needs additional soy sauce? Just asking how do i know if asking for soy sauce or wasabi is considered rude or some shops are just ok if i just have the habit of dipping my sushi in soy sauce? Example i even dip my omelette sushi in soy sauce
As long as you don't ask the chef to cook the raw fish of your sushi or sashimi, you're good to go.
Just don’t be a soyboy like
It's ambiguous indeed, and I wish Shogo-san had touched on this or answered here. My understanding is that only occurs when you're dining at a top sushi chef restaurant (typically with no signs, no prices, hardly recognizable as a restaurant from outside, with a bill that will easily reach 300 USD per person at the very least). The confusion comes from the fact sushi can be both very special or just another type of fast-food in the cheapest sushi restaurants of the conveyor belt type, and that outside of Japan, sushi is always a bit special anyway. With this in mind, I'd say you are safe using soy sauce as Shogo-san explained because that's the norm. If you happen to land in a chef restaurant, reconsider, observe others, but chances are, if you look non-Japanese, somebody will let you know soy sauce is not supposed to be added in this case.
It’s like asking for ketchup in a French restaurant😖
Also I’m pretty fucking sure that these types of questions are only really asked by people who aren’t high class enough to go into these establishments and therefore worry about that culture in the first place anyway so.
The way you picked the ginger made it look like a paper doll somehow, it also matched your kimono! So now you are a ginger doll! (I'm being stupid here, but it really was cute!)
You didn't mention any wasabi things here... I like spicy food a lot so when I buy sushi in a markt and eat it at home I usually break all this rules as my mouth is small, I'm clumsy, my cat eats my chopsticks and I bath everything in wasabi until it's almost whole green, while cat steals the fish and then I have rice only bathed in soy sauce after I run out of wasabi... How to use wasabi correctly? I had heard that real Japanese wasabi is a lot stronger than what we get here so I don't want to one day bath food in wasabi, make everyone angry and then regret it when it would be stronger than expected.
I thought the same thing. It looks just like the paper dolls used for shikigami! 🌟
@@etownsend82 Yes! This is what I thought! You also play Onmyoji or you have this thought from other source? Your really great!
Squid, eel, scallop, salmon, softshell crab, red snapper, egg in that order. I like others as well but these are my absolute favorites!
This makes me want a spicy crab roll and spicy tuna roll now. At a local restaurant there's this one that is my favorite called "rock and roll". It has shrimp,cream cheese,and cucumber rolled in rice and seaweed and drizzled with eel sauce. 🤤
Absolutely love both unagi and hamachi. Thank you.
You will get a mill subs this year. Thanks for all the content. Hope all goes well
6:31 I commend you on being able to break sushi in half for demonstration. I felt my heartstrings break at even the thought. Do people really do this?
My favourite is a classic maguro nigiri with the soy sauce already prepped on top and the wasabi between the fish and the rice
Sometimes, when I'm eating Sushi at home, I like to take a bite of half, and then eat the other half with the rice and topping separate. Lets me savour not only the combined flavour of the two together, but also that of them individually.
Then have a bowl of rice and a plate of sashimi you cretin
You made a ten minute video about eating sushi? Proud of you
Thank you for this video - I thought I had seen most of these “how to be polite in japan” videos, but you still taught me something new! I am definitely subscribing to your channel! 😃👍🏻
I remember one time when I was at a restaurant, I saw someone at another table eating a lobster roll with a knife and fork. He carved ALL the rolls at once, and tried to eat the quarters of each slice, and by the time he was halfway through, it was a horribly messy plate. I took psychic damage just witnessing it.
As long as you’re respectful just eat it however you want.
I get Sushu 🍣 at the Supermarket. It's the only Sushi I can get, here in the north of Croatia, and it's the only Sushi I've ever had.
One of the Sushi trays includes two Nigiri which have way too much rice considering the size of Salmon on the one and the Shrimp on the other. So I'm already in the habit of reducing the amount of rice.
The tip about using the pickled ginger slices as a soy sauce brush is a good one, one that I'll put into effect immediately, as it's almost impossible to dip the rice in the soy sauce without it soaking up too much.
Thanks for this video, Shogo.
Stay safe and stay happy.
These problems may solve themselves in Japan, where they likely do a better job making the sushi.
I really like the sushi place in the Tokyo airport, actually. I tried a few famous places around Shinjuku mainly, but also various parts of Tokyo... kinda like the airport sushi more?
supermarket sushi more like sus-hi
Interesting video, looks like I was eating sushi incorrectly all this time. Also interesting to hear about the importance of appreciating the taste of the sushi as it is, my local supermarket sells sushi but they often put lots of stuff like mayonnaise or different sauces on them when they make them, what do you think about the usage of different additions on sushi during the making? Oh, and on the topic of best sushi ingredients, Salmon is my overwhelming favourite.
Thank you very much for leaving a comment!
I personally think that creating new kinds of sushi is a good thing! I think it would be a way for more people to enjoy the culture😊
And I think it’s simply fun that you can be creative!
Sushi is like pizza, you can put everything in there, but pineapples.
@@j.s.2490 pineapple on sushi? That’s a “no”. Pineapple on pizza? That’s a yes.
Issues mostly is that sushi sold in our supermarket aren't made with sushi rice, for most, also they put too much rice and not enough topping. Last thing, most of topping (fish mostly) aren't fresh of the day or day before, they come from fridge sooo lost most of their tast.
That's sad we cannot get good ingredients even to make our own, cause except if you live near the sea you won't get fish fresh of the day
@@j.s.2490 pineapple on pizza is perfectly good
i LOVE that you not only said why something is seen as an insult, you also gave polite ways to achieve the same outcome
Very nice to know these. Thank you.
The soy sauce that actually landed on said sushi: minimal
I’m a wasabi/soy sauce mix n dip person myself.
You're not supposed to put much on. You're also not supposed to add wasabi at all, because there's already some under the fish.
That said, I don't care about the above and just mix wasabi into the soy sauce and dip rice side down, because that's what I do.
I forgot if I actually did that in Japan... probably did, but I may have been trying to follow their rules more there.
I live in Taiwan and everyone here just dips it into wasabi/soy sauce.
@@anonamatron Never had much sushi in the states with wasabi already added (one i believe, but not much). That said I could see a big shock to someone that didn't try a bite first before adding more lol
When I go to my local Japanese restaurant I always order Sashimi with a side bowl of rice. I prefer to have them separate. I was taught years ago, when dating a Japanese woman the proper rules so this got me away from insulting the chef. Though I do prefer to mix some wasabi in my soy sauce so I am sure that is another taboo but I like the kick and flavor it gives.
I've heard that it's allowable with *sashimi,* though not with sushi, to mix wasabi in the soy sauce. There is usually nothing added to the sashimi, while the sushi should have the proper amounts of sauce, wasabi, or other flavorings that the chef intended it to have already applied to it before it is put on the plate.
I'm guilty of eating my sushi in two bites. I just want it to last longer and enjoy the food! Plus, I take small bites of everything so it's just a habit at this point.