[Metal_Rat]

Pick up the bowl with your fingers on the bottom and your thumb on the rim.
Shovel food into your mouth with the chopsticks.

The bottom of the bowls are designed so that you don't burn your fingers when you pick them up (rice, miso soup, donburi dishes...)

If rice is on a plate the use a 'tweezer technique'. Pinch a pile of rice (chopsticks parallel to the plate) to get a mound of rice on your chopsticks.
Sometimes it helps to mix the maindish ingredients/sauce to the rice to make the rice more sticky. Then it's easier to scoop up with chopsticks.

I'm Asian but have no problem asking for a fork/spoon/knife if a dish is prepared in a way that makes it difficult to eat with chopsticks.

Also, if eating ramen/saimin, leave the bowl on the table and move your head down to the bowl to make it easier to eat. Pick up the bowl with both hands to drink the dashi (broth).