Japanese cuisine is considered by many to be a healthy food choice. Sashimi (raw fish), sushi, tempura, tofu, are all considered both tasty and healthy cuisines. In addition to fish, rice is a staple of the Japanese diet. Japanese cuisine is considered to be typically low in cholesterol, fat, and calories, and high in fiber.

Japanese History and Topology
Japan is comprised of four large islands and thousands of smaller ones. The volcanic and mountainous terrain boasts lush forests and heavy rainfall, much of it from monsoons. The scarce farm land is used predominantly for rice and fish plays a major dietary role in Japanese cuisine.

Japanese Food - Time Line

In the third century BC, Korea's already developed rice growing techniques were passed to the Japanese by the Yayoi, a migrating tribe that settled in Japan. Rice came to be used for more than eating, including paper, fuel, wine, building materials and animal feed.

During the 6th century, Buddhism became the official religion of Japan. During this period, eating meat and fish were prohibited. The first recorded decree prohibiting the eating of cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys, and chickens was issued by Emperor Temmu. Based on the Buddhist prohibition of killing, these prohibitions continued into the eight and ninth centuries. The number of prohibited meats increased to the point that all mammals were included except whales, which were categorized as fish.

The origin of sushi is not Japanese. It is believed that sushi was introduced into Japan in the 7th century from China. People began making sushi to preserve fish by fermentation. Since salt and rice were needed in order to ferment fish, sushi became identified with rice in Japan. As methods of preserving fish became popular, sushi originated as a means of preserving fish by fermenting it in boiled rice. Fish that are salted and placed in rice are preserved by lactic acid fermentation, which prevents proliferation of the bacteria that bring about putrefaction. This older type of sushi is still produced in the areas surrounding Lake Biwa in western Japan, and similar types are also known in Korea, southwestern China, and Southeast Asia.

The Chinese also contributed soy sauce, tea and chopsticks. Other influences arrived in Japan via Korea, including Buddhism, which, despite the pre-existing Shinto and Confucian religions, became the official religion in the sixth century. For the next 1200 years, meat was officially forbidden to the Japanese people,

As time passed, the taboo against the consumption of meat further developed when the Japanese indigenous religion, Shinto, also adopted a philosophy similar to that of the Buddhists. However, the eating of meat was not totally banned. Professional hunters in mountain regions ate game (especially deer and wild boar) and it was not uncommon for hunted bird meat to be consumed.

A lack of animal breeding for meat kept its consumption very low. During the fifteenth century the tradition of eating both the meat and eggs of domestic fowl was revived. Fowls, until then, had been regarded in Shinto as God's sacred messengers and were reared to announce the dawn rather than as a mere food resource. The lack of meat products also minimized spice utilization. Pepper and cloves were known from the eighth century and were imported either via China or directly from Southeast Asia, and garlic was also grown on a small scale. But these spices were used mainly to make medicines and cosmetics.

In the sixteenth century the Portuguese, followed by the Dutch, entered trade with Japan. Western influences such as fried foods were introduced into Japanese cuisine, resulting in dishes such as breaded, fried tempura. Tobacco, sugar and corn were also brought to Japan.

From approximately 1600 to 1868, Japan's experienced a period of isolationism during which Japan's culture became even more deeply rooted. The main religions of Buddhism and Shinto emphasize the seasons and this came to be reflected in the foods served. Because of Buddhism, meals feature five flavors and colors, respectively being: sweet, spicy, salty, bitter and sour; and yellow, black, white, green, and red.

In 1854, Japan once again began trade with the West and soon a new Japanese ruling order took power. An interesting point is that the new Emperor Meiji planned a New Year's feast in 1872 designed to embrace the Western world. This New Year's Feast incorporated European cuisine tastes, and for the first time in over a thousand years, meat was served in public.

Japanese Seating and Customs
In Japan, some restaurants and private houses are furnished with low Japanese style tables and cushions on the floor. It is not uncommon in private households and in certain restaurants to share several dishes of food at the table rather than serving each person their own individual dish. In such a case, you are supposed to move some food from the shared plates onto your own plate by yourself, using the opposite end of your chopsticks (if you have used them already) or with special chopsticks that may be provided for that purpose.

Japanese Table Manners

- Chopsticks should be used properly.

- Empty your dishes to the last grain of rice.

- Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manner to burp.

- After finishing eating, try to place all your dishes in the same way as they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lid of dishes which came with a lid and replacing your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or into their paper slip.

- When drinking alcoholic beverages, it is a Japanese custom to serve each other, rather than pouring the beverage into one's own glass. You should periodically check the cups of your dining companions and serve them once their cups are getting empty. Likewise, if someone wants to serve you more alcohol, you should quickly empty your glass and hold it towards that person.

- It is considered bad manners to become drunk in formal restaurants - restaurants that serve Japanese haute cuisine. However, as long as you are not annoying other guests, it is acceptable to drink larger quantities in more casual restaurants.

- Do not start drinking until everybody at the table is served and the glasses are raised for a drinking salute, which usually is "kampai".

- When eating Rice: Take the rice bowl into one hand and the chopsticks into the other and lift it towards your mouth while eating. Do not pour soy sauce over white, cooked rice.

- When eating Sushi: Pour some soy sauce into a the small plate provided. It is considered bad manner to waste soy sauce, so try not to pour more sauce into your plate than you are actually going to be using.

- You do not need to add wasabi into your soy sauce, because the sushi pieces usually already contain wasabi, and some sushi pieces are supposed to be eaten without wasabi. If you choose to add wasabi, nonetheless, use only a small amount, in order not to offend the sushi chef. If you do not like wasabi, you can request that none is added into your sushi.

- In general, you are supposed to eat a sushi piece in one bite. Attempts to separate a piece into two, most often end in the destruction of the beautifully prepared sushi. Hands or chopsticks can be used to eat sushi.

- When eating nigiri-zushi, dip the piece into the soy sauce upside-down with the fish part ahead. A few kinds of nigiri-zushi, for example, marinated pieces, should not be dipped into soy sauce.

- In case of gunkan-zushi, pour a small amount of soy sauce over it, rather than dipping it into the sauce.

- Sashimi: Place some soy sauce into a small plate provided. Put some wasabi on the sashimi piece, but do not use too much wasabi as this would overpower the taste of the raw fish and possibly offend the chef. Use the sauce for dipping the sashimi pieces. Some types of sashimi are enjoyed with ground ginger rather than wasabi.

- Miso or Clear Soup: Drink the soup out of the bowl as if it were a cup, and fish out the solid food pieces with your chopsticks.

- Noodles: Lead the noodles with your chopsticks step by step into your mouth, while sucking them in with a controlled slurping sound. Try to copy the slurping sound of people around you.

- Noodle soups: Keep the distance between the bowl and your mouth small in order to avoid splashing. If a ceramic spoon is provided, use it to drink the soup, otherwise, lift the bowl to your mouth in order to drink the soup.

- Dishes in which the rice is mixed with a sauce: Kare Raisu (Japanese style curry rice) and other rice dishes, in which the rice is mixed with a sauce (some domburi dishes) may be difficult to eat with chopsticks and are often eaten with large spoons rather than chopsticks.

- Big pieces of food: Prawn, Tempura, Tofu may be separated with your chopsticks, or you may bite off a piece and put the rest back onto your plate.

Sashimi
Sashimi is raw fish.

Sushi
Sushi are foods that use rice seasoned with sweet rice-wine vinegar. Raw fish is the most popular ingredient in sushi, but the main element of sushi is Japanese sticky rice. There are many kinds of sushi, which don't include raw fish. Cooked fish, shellfish, and various other ingredients can be combined in sushi. Sushi is low in fat and is a very nutritious food. Sushi often contains fish which is high in protein and omega-3 fatty acids. Vegetables, also used in sushi are filled with vitamins. Seaweed is rich in iodine and rice if an excellent source of complex carbohydrates.

Sushi Condiments
The important seasonings are soy sauce, and Wasabi (Japanese horseradish). Soy sauce is used as dipping sauce. Wasabi is put in Nigiri-zushi or is mixed with soy sauce for dipping. The most important side ingredient of sushi is ginger. Pickled ginger is called gari and is served with sushi. Gari is eaten between bites of sushi to refresh the mouth for each new taste. You can purchase pickled ginger at Asian markets or you can make it yourself.

In "fine upscale" sushi restaurants, sushi is very expensive since the best ingredients are selected. A less expensive alternative are places called kaiten-zushi, where the sushi plates circle around the eating area on a conveyor belt. This is a kind of sushi "fast-food" restaurant in Japan and is inexpensive. It's very popular in Japan, so you can find kaiten-zushi restaurants everywhere.

When you go to kaiten-zushi, you wait until your favorite sushi comes near you, then you pick up the plates from the moving table. If your favorite is not moving on the table, you can order it. The type of plate the sushi pieces are on will indicate the price of each sushi. If you want to save money, you can avoid picking up expensive sushi.

What to do at Sushi Restaurants

- Clean your hands with a hot towel and then order a drink.
- Green tea (called agari in sushi restaurants) is the best drink with sushi.
- You can order a set of sushi with a fixed price or order your favorite sushi pieces as you eat.
- It's nice to ask the sushi chef for recommendations of the day.
- If you are not ordering a set of sushi, it is better to order a few kinds of sushi at a time.
- Put soy sauce for dipping in the small dish provided.
- To eat sushi, it's common to use your fingers.
- When dipping sushi in the soy sauce, do not dip whole sushi. Just dip the end of the sushi as you eat.
- Try not to ask the sushi chef to bring you things - like a drink or your bill.
- If you’re pleased with your sushi chef, it's nice to offer to buy your sushi chef a drink.

Chopstick Etiquette

- Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
- When you are not using your chopsticks and/or finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
- Do not spear food with your chopsticks.
- Do not point with your chopsticks to something or somebody.
- Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them.
- Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks.
- If you've already used your chopsticks, use the opposite end to move food from a shared plate to your own plate.
- Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially rice. At funerals, chopsticks are stuck into the rice that is put onto the altar.
- Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. At funerals, chopsticks are used to pass bones of the cremated body from person to person.