Etiquette in Asia - Chopsticks

Chopsticks

In the rituals of a Japanese cremation, the relatives pick the bones out of the ashes with chopsticks, and two relatives may then hold the same piece of bone at the same time. This is the only occasion in which it is acceptable for two people to hold the same item at the same time with chopsticks. At all other times, holding anything with chopsticks by two people at the same time, including passing an item from chopsticks to chopsticks, will remind everyone witnessing this of the funeral of a close relative.

Gesturing with chopsticks or using them to skewer food are actions that are seen as rude. Leaving chopsticks standing in a bowl of rice or other food is a faux pas based on the resemblance to sticks of incense in a bowl used to honour the dead ancestors. Etiquette further forbids tapping chopsticks against the side of a bowl, or crossing one’s chopsticks with those of someone else.