Oh my goodness!

"We're not in an emergency situation yet (over chopsticks), but there has been some impact." China slapped a 5% tax on sales of chopsticks over concerns of deforestation. The move is hitting hard at the Japanese, who consume 25 billion sets of wooden chopsticks a year, about 200 pairs per person. Some 97% of them come from China. (AP)

This has been a hot topic recently...geez, who knew consumption is, on average 200 pairs per person! In the past, I purchased 100 disposable chopsticks for a dollar...the sneaky retailers are keeping prices constant but reducing the number of chopsticks in the package. I wonder why Japan doesn't adopt metal chopsticks like Korea. (though I find those chopsticks unbelievably hard to use...I end up chopping up my food like I am using scissors)