Concerned that Japanese youth are forsaking their ancestors culinary culture and table manners, Hisatagakuen, an all-girl high school in south Japan, reportedly employed a chopstick-using ability as one of the entrance requirements. Perspective students were asked to demonstrate their dexterity in using the chopstick to pick up objects such as marbles, beads, and beans from one spot to another, according to the school's principal, Hisata Junko (Japanese names start with the family name/surname and then the given name).
With Western and western-inspired fast food inundating this nation, young people now prefers burgers and fries to traditional Japanese food such as fish, rice, and miso soup; and with the shift in eating habits, the table manners went away too. The school, founded in 1902, also aimed to preserve other cultural activities such as flower arrangement and the traditional tea ceremony.
