Kaitenzushi

Happy Groundhogs Day (I'm a bit early) from over here in Japan. I hope the fury of Winter weather softens into a nice mild Spring.

The title of today's venture is Kaitenzushi which refers to the best low-quality sushi you can find in Japan. Kaiten means revolving and zushi is sushi with the first letter changed because of the n preceding it. Yes, Japanese is a crazy language much like English; and the more you learn, the less you find you actually know.

When I was in training, they gave us a sample lesson in Japanese to give us the feeling of the students learning in our English class. The lesson was actually a great tool to give us humility and show us our challenges through our own ignorance.

During that lesson, we "went" to a Kaitenzushi restaurant and ordered sushi. Making orders in Japanese was the target of the lesson. The funny thing is that you actually don't have to speak at kaitenzushi restaurants (they translated it as conveyor belt sushi). If you look at the picture above, you can see that there are plates on a belt revolving around. This concept couldn't work in the States because our Food Safety groups would go ape-s**t over raw fish sitting out of refrigeration.

Before passing judgement on these restaurants, I would like to draw your attention to the computer screen at the top of the picture. It gives you a taste of the future of fast food dining allowing you to place an order by selecting food items (pictures included). The food is then shipped out on a bullet train and you then push the button currently lit in the picture to send the train back. If you notice, the sushi is still on the train in the picture. My date was so involved in getting the picture, she forgot to take the food before sending the train back. The chef in the back sent it out with the rest of the order we had made.

I didn't go to these restaurants when I lived in Gunma because there wasn't one within biking distance. Now that I live in Kyoto, I make trips at least once per month to enjoy mouth-watering sushi and free hot tea. The best part of it all is that each plate at this particular restaurant is roughly a dollar (a little more now with the weak dollar).

I highly recommend going to one of these places when you hit Japan. There aren't any california rolls, just good (cheap) fish, rice, and seaweed at an affordable price.