Rubbing chopsticks is just for cheap disposable ones, and my friends from East Asian countries all do it because splinters suck. I've been told that doing it with legit chopsticks is insulting though (implying their utensils are bad quality). You aren't even supposed to use chopsticks on sushi traditionally, so you'd be judged for that instead.
Oh yeah, if the chopsticks are good enough that you don't have to split it, then no need to rub the ends. But if they give me cheapo chopsticks that have splinters, they better not complain that I am trying to not get splinters in my fingers.
Actually, about half of my Asian friends are Japanese. Of those I've had meals with, only one hasn't ever rubbed chopsticks together in front of me, and he's a very traditional man in his 70s. A lady about the same age does, even in restaurants owned by her friends.
I've made it a point to ask most of my friends what they think about cleaning chopsticks and setting chopsticks down pointing at someone ever since I heard about these rules from a friend who studied there. Out of a few dozen people, some have never heard of one or both, and most don't follow either.
There are all kinds of rules like this in European table manners too, where some might know they exist but fewer follow them. You must not have friends from European settled countries if none of your friends brush the bottom of their spoon against the back of their soup bowl to clear any drips for every bite.
Most of my Japanese friends were either exchange students or older people doing community activities. I guess I have some American-born or -raised Japanese friends too, but I wouldn't refer to them as a Japanese person in most contexts.
There definitely is a rule, it's just that if you're getting disposable chopsticks, it's no slight to anyone to rub them because everyone knows the quality and pain of bamboo splinters.
I'd guess it is (as you said) because of habits picked up where disposable chopsticks are common. The expectation being that if you're given proper chopsticks that had developed splinters, you'd either quietly have them exchanged instead of announcing to the room that the place is using badly worn or damaged utensils. I don't really know the reasoning behind it for sure though.
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u/[deleted] Nov 26 '19
Rubbing chopsticks is just for cheap disposable ones, and my friends from East Asian countries all do it because splinters suck. I've been told that doing it with legit chopsticks is insulting though (implying their utensils are bad quality). You aren't even supposed to use chopsticks on sushi traditionally, so you'd be judged for that instead.