• You may be offered a hot, wet towel, or oshibori, at the beginning of your meal. Use it to wash your hands and try to fold it back neatly the way it was offered to you before returning it.

• Do not rub your chopsticks together.

• It’s okay to ask for an item that’s not listed on the menu. Chef’s love to make their own dishes.

• If this is your first time, it’s okay to stick with something you know and order cooked fish rather than raw — build up to it!

• It’s okay to eat sushi with your hands, but sashimi should only be eaten with chopsticks.

• Dip the fish portion of your sushi or sashimi, not the rice. The rice will soak up too much of the sauce.

• Eat nigiri-style sushi in a single bite unless the piece is too big to do it politely.

• Gari, ginger, is considered a palate cleanser and should be eaten between bites or between different types of sushi. It should not be eaten in the same bite as a piece of sushi.

• Slurping noodles is okay by Japanese standards.

• If you are not given a spoon for your soup, do not ask for one. You are expected to pick up your bowl to drink the soup.

• Never pass food to another person using chopsticks or use the chopsticks you ate with to take sushi off a community or another person’s plate. Pass the plate instead.

• Never stick your chopsticks in your rice and leave them sticking up.

• Serve each other beverages instead of pouring your own drink. It is customary for the most “prestigious” person at the table to pour the drinks.

• Do not take leftover sushi home.

For the most part, American sushi bars, including those in North Carolina, are Westernized, so come as you are and eat as you please!