The first time I traveled to Japan, I remember being handed some chopsticks (箸 [hashi] or おてもと [otemoto]) in a paper sleeve in a Osaka izakaya. The sleeve had some folding instructions to create a chopstick rest (or 箸置き [hashioki]). It was simple enough: fold the sleeve into three segments upon each other, then fold that lengthwise and tuck in the sides to create a trapezoid tent to rest the chopsticks on.

It was simple enough, that I actually memorized it and kept doing it with all the chopstick sleeves I encountered. Especially at Dutch sushi restaurants, where the idea of a chopstick rest is completely alien (kind of strange as it's generally OK to eat sushi by hand). It usually garners some response from friends and family present and I've taught the trick to others.

Pretty fun then, to see a 'folding sleeve' being featured in this Letterform Archive article: This Just In: Chopstick Sleeves as Emissaries of Japanese Typography and Culture. Scroll down a bit and you'll see the blue Fujiyama inspired version. And like people in the Netherlands used to collect teabag labels, so people also seemed to have collected... chopstick sleeves! This generates a nice collection of design sensibilities and beautiful calligraphy/typography. Also nice to see some wrappers actually come pre-folded as a form of origami. It makes the chopstick sleeve (or 箸袋 [hashibukuro]) into a cultural snapshot of the period it was produced in.