June 23, 2008

Chopsticks, etc.・お箸など

Last Friday, I went to a 100-yen shop to get new chopsticks for my children. I bought two pairs, yellow and red ones. My son selected the red (yes, red) one, and my daughter the yellow one.
この前の金曜日、子供たちに新しい箸を買いに100円ショップに行きました。黄色と赤、2膳買いました。息子は赤いの(黄色ではなく)の、娘は黄色いのを選びました。
In Japan, chopsticks, o-chawan (rice bowls), and o-wan (soup bowls) are personal belongings. That is, each family member has their own set of chopsticks, rice bowl, and soup bowl.
日本では、お箸、お茶碗、お椀は個人のものです。つまり、家族それぞれ、自分の箸、茶碗、お椀を1セット持っています。

Left: My rice bowl
Right: My wife's
左:私の茶碗
右:妻の

Left: My son's rice bowl
Right: My daughter's
左:息子の茶碗
右:娘の

Left: My soup bowl
Right: My wife's
左:私のお椀
右:妻の

Left: My son's soup bowl
Right: My daughter's
左:息子のお椀
右:娘の

2 comments:

nakji said...

It's so cool to see stuff like this.

About how often do you replace your chopsticks? I've noticed my husband's wooden ones are getting a bit dark at the bottom. Mine are covered in some sort of pink laminate, and still seem to be okay.

I love how dishes don't have to match in Japan. It allows me to be completely ridiculous with collecting pottery, and to use the bits I've already got.

Hiroyuki said...

I can't answer how often we replace our chopsticks. When I notice that chopsticks are worn out, it's time to replace them. I think that I bought the previous ones for my children two or three years ago.