In Japanese culture, weekday lunchtime is so much more than a quick opportunity to satisfy your midday appetite. While American corporate culture often sees employees snacking on vending machine food or sack lunches at their desks, deferring their lunch break for additional work time, the midday meal break is an important fixture in Japanese culture.

At Matsuhisa, we’ve taken many of the principles of Japanese lunch culture into consideration when creating our midday menu, offering you the perfect opportunity to approach your lunch break with a Japanese frame of mind. Taking inspiration from the Japanese during lunchtime may enhance more than your midday break – it might just change your professional life altogether.

Lunch is an Important Part of the Daily Work Routine

If you venture into nearly any corporate business in Japan during the 12 o’clock hour, it’s likely that you will find the workspace areas quiet and empty, with nary a worker in sight. It’s widely accepted that at 12 o’clock, all work stops for an hour to allow for a proper lunch break. Employees don’t continue working at their desk while attempting to gobble down a cold sandwich; instead, everyone steps away from their work and heads to lunch.

Try incorporating this no-man-left-behind approach with your work team by scheduling a lunch reservation for a short break away from the office. If 12 o’clock won’t fit into your schedule, Matsuhisa is more than happy to save a table for you anytime during our lunch hours from 11:45 am to 2:15 pm.

Lunch Builds a Sense of Professional Camaraderie

A popular Japanese expression is onaji kamameshi wo kuu, which literally translates to “all eating out of the same pot.” Though the general idea of this expression is more about team members all working together and less about family-style dining, it’s the perfect way to describe the communal experience of eating lunch together.

Gather your colleagues and sit down for a good meal and some enjoyable conversation to strengthen professional bonds. One fun way to achieve this over lunch is to order several of Matsuhisa’s chef-crafted sushi rolls, a variety of tempura, and our famous kushiyaki skewers for everyone at the table to share.