Japan: Conveyor Belt Sushi Restaurants
Conveyor belt sushi, or sushi-go-round restaurants, are all over the world now but they remains popular destinations for people to visit when they’re in Japan. It’s from there, after all.
In Japanese, they’re know as “kaitenzushi”, with ‘kaiten’ meaning revolving or rotating.
There are a handful of major chains around Japan that sell a range of different sushi for really cheap like Hamazushi, Kappazushi, Uobei, and Sushiro.
Each is known for something that others done have.
For example, Hamazushi offers a variety of different shoyu (soy sauce) from different regions around Japan to try. And yes, they taste different. Kappazushi has a slot where you dump you plates into in order to play an on-screen game to win potential prizes.
If I could only pick one though, I’d recommend Sushiro.
Sushiro was founded some 30 years ago and now has over 500 locations both in Japan and internationally. It’s the number one conveyor belt sushi chain in terms of total domestic sales.
How much does it cost?
Prices start at around 100 JPY before tax, or around USD $1.00.
Unless you’re trying to stuff yourself, an average person’s bill would probably range between 1,500 JPY to 3,000 JPY (USD $15-30).
Sushi doesn’t go on the conveyor belt much anymore
One thing to note is that the newer locations don’t have much sushi actually traveling around the conveyor belt anymore. There are two main reasons for this:
To minimize food waste
People don’t want to take a plate that has been going around for a while. So instead of throwing the old sushi away, they just don’t put them out.Adapting to consumer behavior
Since touchscreen menus where you can order sushi on demand began, people preferred doing that instead.
how does sushi get delivered?
At newer Sushiro locations, sushi comes in on a separate, elevated track and branches off into dedicated landing ways for each table.
Whereas at some locations, sushi is delivered on train-like cars running along a track, this makes sure that deliveries aren’t held up in case someone is slow to take their order.
Sushi orders arriving on a dedicated landing way.
Conveyor belt sushi is a fun experience and a must-try for anyone visiting Japan for the first time, especially if you’ve never had the experience before.
If you’d like to see what it’s like, check out my video.