Etiquette of “Japanese Service”

As for European table setting, here the Japanese are more focused on beauty. Often, when serving French or English, special stands for forks and knives are used, thus trying to adapt European table setting to Japanese reality: so that cutlery, like chopsticks, does not touch the table.

Japanese Food Service

The Japanese are known for their long lives. This is due to both their lifestyle and traditional Japanese cuisine. The history of Japanese cuisine dates back to the Jōmon era - the Neolithic period, up to 400 BC. In those distant times, the inhabitants of the Japanese islands ate mostly vegetarian food. These days, the Japanese prefer natural, minimally processed foods. When cooking, few seasonings are used and they are rarely fried. They try to follow a meal schedule. At the same time, table setting and food culture are important.

The lifestyle in Japan is harmony with the outside world, therefore, dishes served at the Japanese table must correspond to the time of year. The Japanese are confident that during all four seasons it is necessary, first of all, to consume those products that nature itself bestows at this time. It’s spring now, which means the diet includes plants with a bitter taste, such as young bamboo, in the summer - vegetables and shrimp, in the fall - lotus roots, sweet peppers and mushrooms, and in the winter - Japanese smelt fish, which is plentiful during the spawning period.

Flowers decorating rooms should also correspond to the time of year. Therefore, now it is customary to decorate with a blooming plum, literally, a week later - with sakura, for example, in June, during the rainy season - with hydrangea with beautiful blue or soft purple flowers, at the end of June - with roses.

Note the lack of a Western tradition of using serving utensils in one color and style. If you wish, of course, you can buy a set with many bowls, various plates and saucers, but this is not a requirement of good form.

Serving rules:
I live in Japan, and I can say that Japanese manners are distinguished by restraint and grace. They value politeness in foreign guests, especially when the latter show interest and respect for Japanese table traditions. Japanese table setting is quite remarkable, I would call it a kind of work of art. There are special rules and characteristics of serving.

First of all, I would like to note the lack of a Western tradition of using serving utensils in one color and style. If you wish, of course, you can buy a set with many bowls, various plates and saucers, but this is not a requirement of good form. Dishes can be made from completely different materials: porcelain, wood, and even plastic.

The most important thing is an aesthetic and always successful color combination. Alternating dark and light tones or red and black is encouraged. The shape of the dishes can also be alternated, for example, round with square, square with triangular, oval with rectangular, etc… Rice is usually served in dark dishes - think dark brown or black - so that it sets off the whiteness of the rice. Wooden stands are usually used to serve sushi.

Sake is served in small jugs (decanters) without handles, and drunk from small glass, porcelain or wooden shot glasses. The name of small jugs is tokkuri. A tokkuru is strictly a serving tool. Sake is transferred from the bottle to the tokkuri, then poured in the drinking vessel. Green tea is always offered in small teapots before meals. The Japanese offer tea before meals, during meals, and after.

The place of each participant in the feast should be separated - for this they use beautiful trays or napkins. Only those dishes that will be eaten by one person are placed in this place. Shared dishes are placed in the center of the table. 

Chopsticks are closest to the person sitting. They lie parallel to the edge of the table on special stands - hasioki, so that the tips with which they take food do not touch the table. This rule is very rigid and is strictly observed everywhere. A bowl of hot rice is placed behind the chopsticks on the left.

To the right of the bowl of rice is a bowl of soup. Further to the right, but behind the bowl of soup, the main dish is placed, cooked over low heat. Often these are baked fish or meat. On the left, behind the bowl of rice, there is a dish with vegetables, usually boiled. Between these two rows of dishes there can be containers with sauces and small dishes with pickled vegetables, fish and snacks.

In Japan, it is important that the setting corresponds to the time of year or holiday that is celebrated in a particular month. Special New Year’s table settings are very popular. Japan is a country with a pronounced seasonal culture; its residents very carefully preserve the tradition of adjusting their daily life to this or that time of year.

Not only dishes prepared from seasonal products are served at the table, but some element characteristic of the given time of year is always added to the serving. When the cherry blossoms bloom, both the food and the table design will use motifs of cherry blossoms and branches.

As for European table setting, here the Japanese are more focused on beauty. Often, when serving French or English, special stands for forks and knives are used, thus trying to adapt European table setting to Japanese reality: so that cutlery, like chopsticks, does not touch the table.

We can say that for the Japanese, a meal is a journey into the world of beauty and harmony, which is why elegance, grace and tradition are so important in table setting.

                                                                    

By contributor, Elena Gavrilina-Fujiyama especially for Etiquipedia. Elena is a specialist in Japanese protocol and etiquette, and European social etiquette. The founder of the project Etiquette748, Elena is also a member of the National Association of Specialists of Protocol. She authored the best-selling book “Japanese Etiquette: Ancient Traditions and Modern Rules” after living in Japan for over 20 years. Elena recently was awarded the Diploma of the World Prize “Woman of the Russian World” in the category “Entrepreneurship” (Japan). The theme of the 2024 award is “Preservation and strengthening of the traditional family values.” 

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