Cross-Cultural Aspects of Table Manners and Etiquette in Audio-Visual Materials on YouTube

Notwithstanding cross-cultural understanding has been widely discussed for decades, the willingness to learn and understand other cultures is still relevant. This is due to the fact that culture is continually changing which signifies its natural attribute. Therefore, discussing the topic in relation to table manners and etiquette is undoubtedly pertinent. In this case, this paper focused on investigating audio-visual materials on a mainstream platform, YouTube, discussing about table manners and etiquette. In this qualitative study, the audio-visual materials being explored were six video contents with a set of criteria including the title, viewers, uploading date, and duration. This was to answer the questions of cultures represented, notable differences found, and to what extent cross-cultural aspects were introduced in the videos. Those represented Western culture, which emphasized appropriate behavior and politeness, and Japanese one, which was more philosophical. Those also demonstrated the differences in the use of utensils, foods, and procedures.