Material
Japanese
Popular materials are ceramics, porcelain, and wood. Wood is mainly used for miso-soup bowls. (Miso-soup bowls are literally bowls that are used to serve miso-soup.)
The difference from Western dishwares is that wood is still widely used.
Western
The popular material is hard and strong soils such as porcelain and ceramic. Though some people like to use wooden dishware to appreciate its aesthetic outlook, it is not preferred by most people because it is nondurable compared to soils, and it easily gets damaged by using dishwasher machines.
Soup bowls & plates are typically made of porcelain.
Left: A miso-soup bowl. Not only miso-soup bowls, but also chopsticks, chopsticks stand, and tray are all wooden. As seen in this photo, wood is still an important material to Japanese dishware.
Right: Hard and strong porcelain is the most widely used material for Western dishware.
Why are their materials different?
Though porcelain and ceramic dishwares are popular today in Japan, before Chinese porcelain techniques were imported in the 16th century, most dishwares were wooden except for some ceramic ones. The history of Japanese wooden dishwares is very long as archaeology excavation shows that in the 7th century, the technique to make bowls from wood had already reached the level that the bowls were not only thin but also were lacquer-coated. The wood-rolling technique to make thin bowls without making any cracks and coating the bowls to strengthen their durability has continued to improve until today.
But why did Japan not develop hard and strong dishware like metal dishwares in Europe? One reason is that their mining was not as developed as Europe, but why were ceramic dishwares not popular although their technique was developed enough? This is due to the use of chopsticks which are far different from Western cutlery. Wooden chopsticks are neither sharp nor hard, unlike Western cutlery; they are soft and do not make scratches on dishwares. Accordingly, Japanese dishware did not need to be strong and scratch-resistant. Plus, because of the Japanese table manner of holding dishes while eating, dishwares needed to be light enough. The qualities expected for dishware were entirely different from Western culture.
Porcelain was introduced to Europe in the 16th-20th century, and it rapidly spread to the European tableware industry. Before porcelain, most dishwares were made of metals such as gold, silver, and pewter. The type of metal depended on social class: silver and gold were used by the high class, and pewter was popular among the middle-poor class. Poor class also dined on low-quality pottery dishwares. However, reactive metals often led to disgusting taste, and it was also toxic to the human body. After Chinese porcelain was introduced, it quickly replaced metal dishwares and gradually became affordable to the wide public. Famous European porcelain manufacturers such as Meissen, Limoges, Augarten, Wedgwood, and Royal Copenhagen, were all born after the 17th century.
The key point about the history of Western dishware is that the material has always been hard and strong, and soft wood has never been preferred, especially by the rich class. This is because Western people have been using sharp cutlery, fork, and knife. First forks and knives were used in ancient Egypt, Rome, and Greece, and since then, they have stayed in Europe as an eating tools. Forks and knives were usually made of hard metals. Consequently, Western dishware developed to be durable and scratch-resistant. Wood was insufficient for dishwares as it easily gets scratches and cracks.
Left: A miso-soup bowl. Not only miso-soup bowls, but also chopsticks, chopsticks stand, and tray are all wooden. As seen in this photo, wood is still an important material to Japanese dishware.
Right: Hard and strong porcelain is the most widely used material for Western dishware.
Why did Japan develop chopsticks instead of forks and knives?
Why did Japan develop chopsticks instead of forks and knives? This is related to the difference in staple food in Japan and the West. In Japan, the staple food is Japanese rice. Japanese rice has sticky, firm texture, and it is not dry like European rice. Because of its stickiness, Japanese rice is hard to scoop with spoons, but it is easy to pick up with chopsticks. On the contrary, the staple food in the West is mostly pasta or bread, which are made of wheat. To eat pasta, it is more convenient to stab with a fork because pasta is usually smooth and slippery on the surface. Therefore, in the West, forks were developed to eat pasta, and in Japan, chopsticks were developed to eat sticky Japanese rice. Knives in the West were most likely invented for assisting forks when eating firm meat.
Then why is the staple food in Japan rice, not wheat? This question is answered by the environment and climate in Japan and the West. Japan has a temperate climate. Although the climate varies from North to West, generally there are humid and hot summers and cold winters. There is a season of rain between spring and summer. Also, Japan is rich in water as it is mountainous and has many rivers. These climate factors are suitable for rice cropping. Instead, this climate is not the best for wheat cropping as wheat prefers a more dry climate. The West's climate is good for wheat cropping as it is cooler and its water resource is not as rich as Japan. Thus, Japan's staple food is rice, and the West's staple is wheat, and the contrasting textures of the two different staple food led to very dissimilar types of eating utensils in Japan and the West.