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Culture Essays Everyday

Chopsticks (Ohashi) Etiquette

How many eating utensils do people go through in a lifetime?

It’s not a question many people can answer, much less think to ask. The Japanese tradition of family members each owning designated pairs of ohashi (chopsticks), links different years of my life with various pairs I’ve used. It was only when I took its ubiquitous presence out of this quotidian context, that I came to appreciate the true ingenuity of ohashi.

My ohashi through the years