Hashi faux pas alert!

I have been reading through the Japanese for JETs text book over the last week, and it has a lot of interesting cultural information, not to mention a pretty good explanation of a lot of Japanese grammar (at least as far as I can tell). Here is a quote from the book about dining etiquette:

"Most of the dining etiquette rules in Japan are associated with the usage of chopsticks. For instance, it is considered impolite to use 'hashi' for moving serving dishes around or skewering tasty morsels. Also, food should never be passed from 'hashi' to 'hashi' as this is how bones are passed at funerals. Another major faux pas is sticking 'hashi' straight up in a bowl of rice, again associated with the dead." (p 97, in case you are also a JET and want to find this passage for yourself)

Interesting, isn't it? Also useful for eating at Japanese restaurants in the US, so I thought I should share.