When in Rome do as the Romans do. You are, sort of, in the kingdom of noodles.

In many countries it is totally bad manner you make noise when you eat.
In Japan it is the same.
If you eat lunch noisly during first date for example, probably you won't have the next date.
But there is an exception.
We, Japanese people, make lots of noise when we eat noodles.

Yes, we slurp noodles.
It may come as a shock to you when you first find it.
I remember it was deafnetly shocking to some Austrailian family.
I was having dinner with my host family in Australia with noodle soup at table for the first time.
Being totally relaxed, with given chopsticks, I enjoyed the noodle soup.
Then, I felt something wrong.
I looked up. Five faces there. Parents, two daughters and one boyfriend of the daughter were all staring at me, shocked and puzzeled.
Then, the mother said simple words gently "don't make noise".
That was sheer embarrassment. I felt like I suddenly had become an barbarian or something.
Culture shock comes in this manner sometimes.
Once you land on soil of my country, try noodles and make noise.
Experince new culture.
But be careful, you can't slurp spaghetti.

Posted by: michikazu (July 15, 2018 1:22 AM)