Choppers

Another way to save trees and cut down on waste is to carry your own chopsticks around with you, which you can use instead of the ubiquitous waribashi (disposable chopsticks) that are provided in restaurants. One simple way to acquire your own personal set of choppers is to take away the first nice pair of waribashi that you are given in a restaurant.

I consider myself pretty expert with chopsticks, but I never before had to use them to retrieve noodles from a hot pot. Every time one of us fumbled with the choppers, it drew laughter from the sidelines.