Hands or Chopsticks?
Are you more sushi savvy when you use your hands to eat sushi? No, it is not an indication t hat using hands makes you a veteran. It is okay to use hands, however, if you are going to serve someone, pass with the back side of your chopsticks. A veteran is more easily spotted by how they use their chopsticks such as knowing to lay the fish side of a hand roll into the soy sauce rather than the rice side.

The Green Stuff is Hot!
Careful with the green mound found on your plate with your sushi. That stuff is wasabi and it's spicy hot! Many a first-timer has made the mistake of chowing on a big helping only to find puffs of smoke billowing from their ears, sweat gushing like a fountain from every pore and a flood of tears overflowing the eye sockets. So what is this green dynamite called wasabi? Wasabi is a plant that yields one of the strongest spices in Japanese cooking. The name wasabi translates to "mountain hollyhock". It grows naturally by the marshy edge of cold and clear streams. The edible part is the root. When you get it on your sushi plate, just mix bits of it with soy sauce to your personal taste.

The Meaning of Sushi
Some folks get mixed up with the terms sushi and sashimi. Sushi means "seasoned rice" and sashimi means "sliced raw fish".

One Big Bite
Our guests often ask about eating sushi correctly. Is it proper to always eat a piece of sushi in just one bite even though some rolls are the size of a Big Mac? In Tokyo where the sushi is generally smaller in size, it is expected to be eaten in one bite. However, here in the US, we tend to cram more stuff in the sushi and therefore it's bigger. I would say eat it in one bite if you can but it's acceptable to take more if you need.

Chopsticks - Bones, Bones!
More bad sushi bar behavior: don't use your chopsticks as a catapult and try to fling sushi into your guest's open mouth, but more importantly don't pass food directly from your chopsticks to somebody else's chopsticks. This is bad—very bad—because in Japanese funerals, this is how bones of the cremated body are passed from person to person. I don't mean any disrepect to those who practice this tradition but why would you want to pass the bones around?

Chopsticks - Drumming and Stabbing
Chopsticks are versatile. There are so many fun things you can do with them but unfortunately most are considered to be bad chopstick etiquette. For example, they make great drum sticks. It's natural to want to arrange some plates and glasses and go Ringo. For whatever reason, sushi chefs frown on this innate behavior. One day at a sushi bar, after a particularly frantic drum solo, I finished with a flourish by stabbing my chopsticks into my bowl of rice and yelling "Yeah!" The chef told me I just turned my meal into what the Japanese would consider an offering for the dead. "Yeah, the Grateful Dead" I responded. He didn't laugh. The moral: I learned that you should not stick chopsticks into your food. When not in use as drum sticks, put the chopsticks in front of you on the table or a dish with the tips to the left.

Chopsticks - Spearing
I think most people know that sticking chopsticks up the nose, while quite humorous to your friends and family, is not good form. What many people may not know is that spearing your food with chopsticks is also considered bad chopstick behavior. Just thought I'd let you know.

Nigiri Dipping
The proper way to dip hand rolls (nigiri) into your sauce is to dip the fish side only. It is considered bad manners to dip the rice side, a common mistake.

Tipping at a sushi bar
If the chef is doing a good job, put the tip on the counter and say "there is something for you." Chef and servers are in a tip pool usually. 15 to 20% is a good tip for the chef and then maybe 10% additional for the servers. Let the server know the tip is only for servers and that you have already taken care of the chef.