Japan isn't Japan without sushi. And as fun as it is to make it on your own (maybe I'll blog about that someday), isn't it just better to slack off and get it for 100 yen ($1) a plate?
So what makes Japanese sushi different? Well, for starters, you take an American sushi roll, unroll it, and take out everything that isn't fish or rice, and maybe the seaweed can stay too. When you say "sushi" in Japan, rolls are not what natives picture. "Regular" sushi is called nigiri, and is just a perfectly formed square of rice topped with fish - usually raw, but not always, and it doesn't have to be fish but traditionally is. Sashimi is even more minimalistic, it's straight-up slices of thinly sliced fish. You can get hand rolls (maki sushi) and even regular rolls, but they tend to be extremely simplistic (as in rice, fish, and seaweed only).
The beauty of sushi is in the fish and the specially seasoned rice, not all the fancy extras we normally think of. In Japan, you're never more than three hours or so from the ocean, which makes for some amazingly fresh catches. And when all you're eating is fish and rice, the quality of the fish is extremely important.
If you're turned off by the idea at all, try not to be. Give it a chance! It's different, and I miss my chicken tender and jalapeno jelly roll, but it has its own appeal and beauty.
The variety offered is anything but boring. I am simultaneously excited and baffled by how many types of fish there really are in the sea. In short, there's no need for extras, because the fish themselves present a thousand different flavors. There's your traditional and very foreigner-friendly classics like shrimp, tuna, salmon, and crab - and then there's at least three varieties of fish egg, squid, octopus, yellowtail, mackrel, flounder, snapper, eel, urchin, clams, scallops and probably a lot more that I don't even know. Every fish has different options in quality, cooked-ness, etc for a million combinations. It's seriously staggering what you can grab out of the sea and put in your mouth.
Some of the options make you queasy? Try this: don't ask what it is, just put it in your mouth.
So that's just the fish. There are a surprising amount of varieties that are fish-free. Take for instance one of my favorites - tamago (think rolled up omelette). One of the most amusing ones is corn and mayo. Increasingly, I'm seeing more options like roast beef and fried chicken, as well as the much-beloved American sushi staple: cucumber. And there's always natto (fermented soy beans) if you want to pretend like you're secretly not a foreigner who doesn't gag at the sight (and SMELL!) of it. Even if you are squeamish about fish, there's usually several options for you! I'm also actually seeing avocado and cheese options come around now and again, which I did not expect!
But wait, there's more!
Depending on where you go, you can order all kinds of non-sushi things. My favorite places have different types of noodles, tempura, beef bowls, french fries and onion rings, cakes, puddings - tons of stuff! So really, you probably don't even have to eat sushi if you don't want to, but you should.
There are many places to eat sushi, some of which are affordable and lots of which are not. You can pick it up at any supermarket worth anything or you can sit down and enjoy it casual or formal. Today I'm going to be focusing on my favorite: Kaiten Zushi (conveyor belt sushi). Because one, it's fun, and two, it's affordable, bordering on downright cheap.
Here's your seat:
So you sit down and there are no waiters to take your order, no one really even to seat you officially. They leave you at it because in here, sushi comes to you.
And lucky you, today you get to see the action in real time because I have video!
Look at that. Kinda mesmerizing, isn't it??
So it's pretty straightforward. Grab anything you want to put in your face. Sushi chefs are working like mad in the back to make sure it's stocked. Still, sometimes the thing you want to eat was taken by the jerk in the seat behind you. The Japanese, being brilliant, devised a way to not have to scream at the selfish pig eating all your unagi before it reaches you, and still get your unagi. Win-win.
Above the main conveyor belt is a second belt that obeys your every wish. Choose what you want from the touch-screen menu, and it's delivered express straight to your table! I didn't get a shot of our orders being delivered, but these tasties (looks like an udon...YUMMY!!) were zipping their way straight to someone else, and then back to the kitchen for re-stocking.
And clean-up is easy and fun. At this chain, sushi is a dollar a plate, but who wants to actually count? Drop your plate in the slot and your order is tallied for you and you don't have to have a mess on your table.
And just in case all this isn't fun enough for you, every five plates you deposit gets you a chance to win a toy or keychain. There's a cute little animation on the touchscreen that shows comical situations where you either win or lose - and either way it is epic. Today we won by blasting a moon-alien, but the next time we drew we got stomped by the same alien. Bummer. Thought we had finished the bugger off for good.
Sushi is a must if you're in Japan, and that's my final word about it. I'm not even a seafood person but I have such a good time every time I go.
And I'm out of good ending ideas to write about so I'll go with an old classic:
The End
The conveyor belt is very different. That is interesting.
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