Chopstick tussle adds bite to Orient's diplomatic spat

[gatorboy]

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,25689-2208694,00.html

THE diplomatic wrangling between Beijing and Tokyo has spilt on to dinner tables, forcing Japanese to contemplate the unthinkable: eating their food the way China wants them to.
From the ramen noodle bars of Hiroshima to the gyudon beef bowl restaurants of Sapporo, a sharp Chinese tax hike on disposable chopsticks is starting to bite. And some Japanese are wincing at a taste they have learnt to despise: plastic, reusable chopsticks.

For more than two decades Japan’s addiction to disposable chopsticks has been the ultimate indication of its success. What other Asian nation, runs the unspoken boast, can afford to throw away 25 billion pairs of wooden chopsticks every year after only a single use? The use of disposable chopsticks, or waribashi, surged in the late 1970s and through the 1980s. They were a symbol of national growth that meant people were eating out more frequently, and of a culture that was wealthy enough to pander to an obsession with hygiene.

<snip>

About 93 per cent of those 25 billion pairs are produced in China, and Beijing, citing the environmental concerns of deforestation, has slapped a heavy duty on chopstick exports, and is planning more increases.

[Rabrrrrrr]

1. Good for China!

I have to say, I love the hell out of Japan, but the amount of waste they produce per person is, I think, even well beyond Americans.

[Gormy Cuss]

2. I dislike the mouth feel of plastic chopsticks, but the disposable

ones seem quite wasteful. I think I'd just carry my own.

[TreasonousBastard]

3. Fuck 'em all-- let 'em use sporks.