Honorific speech in Japanese word "meshi", the Japanese equivalent of Sino-Japanese "go-han", is considered rough and masculine (男性語). The honorific "o-" is also sometimes attached to of native verbs (hence native "o-") to refer to a specific item associated with the verb, as in oshibori (お絞り、絞る) "hot towel", and onigiri/omusubi (お握り、握る and お結び、結ぶ) "rice ball". In rare cases, both a base form and honorific are in use with different readings. A notable example is 利益 "ri-eki" "benefit, profit (e.g., business)" and 御利益 "go-ri-yaku" "divine favor, grace"; plain "ri-yaku" is sometimes used, but "go-ri-eki" is generally not. The former, an everyday term, uses the usual
Japanese cuisine 1980s, and thus sparked Japanese food's – more precisely, sushi's – global popularity. In 2014, Japanese Restaurant Organization has selected potential countries where Japanese food is becoming increasingly popular, and conducted research concerning the Japanese restaurants abroad. These key nations or region are Taiwan, Hong Kong, China, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia. This was meant as an effort to promote Japanese cuisine and to expand the market of Japanese ingredients, products and foodstuffs. Numbers of Japanese foodstuff and seasoning brands such as Ajinomoto, Kikkoman, Nissin and Kewpie mayonnaise, are establishing production base in other Asian countries, such as China, Thailand and