How to eat sushi

With your fingers? Chopsticks? Dipped into soy sauce? Daubed with wasabi? One mouthful or two?

The only certainty, it seems, is that its proper consumption demands both etiquette and practicality.

To put the matter to rest, we inquired at the top: Sushi Sawada, located on Tokyo’s most prestigious intersection of Ginza 4-chome.

MORE: The best sushi restaurants in Tokyo

With two Michelin stars and only seven seats, Sawada is a shrine to sushi — and to straight-talking master Koji Sawada’s constant quest for perfection.

We asked Sawada for tips on the proper technique for eating sushi in Japan.

How to eat sushi: Hands-on

Sawada’s technique for the perfect sushi experience requires using the hands to pick up the sushi and turn it upside down.

There’s a simple reason for inverting your sushi: the molded rice base will disintegrate if it’s dipped directly into soy sauce.

The rice will also soak up too much sauce, ruining the flavor balance.

How to eat sushi: Agari tea

Sushi restaurants in Japan serve green or brown roasted tea at the end of a meal (and throughout, if you prefer it to sake or beer), before the check arrives.

The tea is called “agari.”

The check is often called a shock.

At many high-grade and traditional establishments, the bill is only a number written on a slip of paper.

Though the new generation of sushi chefs makes a point of being customer-friendly, a top class sushi-ya can still be daunting, even for natives.

In fact, very few typical Japanese get to enjoy sushi at the highest level, so if you happen to take a Japanese friend along with you, don’t be surprised to find them almost as in awe of the experience as you.

Sushi Sawada; MC Blg, 3/F, 5-9-19 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo; Tuesday-Friday, noon-2 p.m. and 6-9 p.m.; Saturday, Sunday, holidays. noon-3 p.m. and 5-8 p.m.; from ¥21,000 (lunch); ¥32,000 (dinner, including sashimi course, not including drinks); +81 (0) 3 3571 4711

Mark Robinson has written about Tokyo for the past 20 years for the “Financial Times,” “Monocle” and others. He consults on Japanese food, and is the author of “Izakaya: the Japanese Pub Cookbook.”

In addition to work for publications including “Elle” and “Figaro,” award-winning photographer Noriko Yamaguchi shoots cookbooks and her own documentary photos in Okinawa, Asia and Europe.

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