When I first came here to live, I bought a pair of souvenir chopsticks and a carrying case so that I could carry them with me and use them in restaurants. Some of the other foreign teachers did the same, and we all felt like we were cultural ambassadors or missionaries, trying to convert the locals to our environmentally conscious lifestyle. We obviously haven't had much effect, but maybe we helped a little since they've now appeared in at least one school that I know of, my daughter's elementary school, and one restaurant chain, as we see when we go to Ishii Shokudo, as we did last Saturday night before "The Lion King" which may or may not be based on (a rip-off of?) a Japanese animated film. In addition to waribashi, the usual throwaway chopsticks, they have Eco-hashi (エコ箸), re-usuable chopsticks made out of nicely painted wood.
In recent years, I've carried this well-worn pair of black chopsticks in a long-broken case that says LA Gear, but I've recently switched to a cheaper and better alternative. (How cheap? 100 yen!) They screw together so that, in their cloth carrying case, they can fit in a pants pocket or shirt pocket.
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