Japanese have uses extremely different from those common to us. Japanese eating etiquette is very particular and sometimes complex. It is imperative, in most restaurants, as if you are staying in someone's home, to take off your shoes before sitting at the table. Before the meal oshibori are distributed, small wet towels, which are used both for washing hands and as napkins, warm in winter and cool in summer. If you are a guest at someone's home it is important to know that it is exclusively the host who serves sake to his guests, not viceversa. If you have to toast do not sai "cin-cin", since it has a very different meaning in Japanese; it is better to say kampai. You should never pour yourself a drink. On the contrary, it is necessary for the host to serve his guests and wait for some of them to serve him a drink; when this happens, it is polite to return the gesture and serve again drinks. Japanese meal is served all together. The trays with the dishes, from which all the guests can use, are placed at the center of the table. It is important not to start eating before all the dishes have been placed on the table or before being invited to start. Usually the meal starts with broth and then by eating the more and more tasty foods, starting with white rice. Soups are drunk from the bowl in a noisy way. This "noise" means that you are enjoying the dish. When eating a bowl of rice or soup, lift the bowl with both hands; then it must be passed on the left hand, which will support it from below. The right remains free, in order to start eating with hashi (wooden chopsticks). When eating from a platter, it cannot be lifted from the table. Chopsticks, if not used, must be placed on the appropriate support (hashioki) or on the lower bowl. If food is picked from a serving plate, the chopsticks must be turned to the "clean" ends, the part of the sticks that does not come into contact with the mouth, as a sign of respect for the other guests.It is forbidden to take a dish while holding chopsticks, or to pass food to another guest from stick to stick, because it brings bad luck; this passage is done by priests at funerals with the bones of a cremated dead. It is also unpolite to stick the chopsticks vertically in the rice bowl because this position is also associated with funeral rites. When you finish eating, it is polite to place the chopsticks in their special case (hashioki) and never leave them on the plate. A huge sigh of the diners at the end of the meal communicates that it has been appreciated. The same happens when athe word gochisoosama is pronounced, which means "the meal was delicious and nutritious". The five most popular Japanese ingredients are rice, soy sauce (shoyu), cooking sake (mirin), fermenting soybean cooking stock (miso), soybeans and giant radishes (daikon). Among typical dishes we can mention sushi, sashimi, tempura, yakitori (chicken skewers) and miso soup.