6. Wasabi
Bottled wasabi (the kind you'll find at cheap conveyor-belt places) is generally just seasoned horseradish. The real thing is grated with a stone off a large green root. You should ALMOST NEVER blend soy sauce and wasabi. It destroys the root's potency and results in a muddle of flavors, which may be to your taste but is not the proper way to eat sushi.

7. Ginger and Garnish
Ginger is used as a palate cleanser between pieces of fish, not as a sushi topping. Eat all the garnish as well; it's thought to aid digestion.

8. Beer and Sake
Do not pour either for yourself; pour for your companion and then he or she will do the same for you. Men hold the bottle with one hand when pouring; women use both hands.

How Not to Handle Your Chopsticks: Four Easy Pointers

DON'T rub them together in a nice restaurant. You only do this in dives, where separating them creates splinters. The rounded kind need no rubbing, and doing so implies you think the restaurant is cheap.

DON'T point them at anyone. This is considered even ruder than pointing your fork at someone in a fancy Western restaurant.

DON'T stick them perpendicularly into your rice or anything else. This symbolizes death, because chopsticks are stuck into the urn of a family member's ashes during a funeral ceremony.

DON'T leave them lying around when not in use. Place them parallel to the table, below your plate, with the business ends on the small ceramic block provided or on a stand made from the sleeve they came in.

The Business Meeting

Greetings
Most Japanese businessmen offer handshakes to Americans and other foreigners. Don't bow unless they do so first.

Exchanging Business Cards
It's very important that yours be crisp, clean, and presentable; you will be handing them out often. A card should be offered with both hands, and received with either your right hand or with both. Look at it long enough to convey that you're processing the presenter's name and rank and the importance of his or her title—even if you don't know what it means. You can show it to your concierge later for a full translation.

Seating Arrangements
Always wait to be seated by your host. Seating is very specific to relative positions in a company. Once seated, Japanese businessmen usually line up their cards to reflect the seating arrangement around the table, one above the next, very neatly, so they will know to whom they're speaking and his or her place in the hierarchy. At the end of the meeting, pick up the cards but keep them in the same order, so you can remember who said what. And never make notes on the cards themselves.

Coffee or Tea
You either will or won't get milk (accept your beverage however it comes). You must sip at least a little of it, to signal that you're interested in hearing what others at the meeting have to say: If you don't take any sips, your associates will find you disengaged or unreceptive. If you're not a caffeine drinker, you must explicitly explain that.