Sometimes called conveyor belt sushi, sushi train is another must do eating experience. The trend is catching on, so it is likely you can find a sushi train restaurant in most large cities all over the world. Being from Australia, I know there are many popular sushi train restaurants in Sydney and Melbourne (and I’ve spotted a few in Newcastle, Coffs Harbour, Gold Coast and other places).

Sushi is a very healthy and traditional Japanese food, and eating at a sushi train restaurant in Japan is a great experience. This article will show you what to expect when you visit a sushi train restaurant in Japan.

Fresh sushi just arrived on the mini bullet train
Fresh sushi, just arrived on the mini bullet train (actually a Nozomi Shinkansen to be precise!).

All sushi train restaurants have a conveyor belt with fresh(ish) sushi travelling around, so you can just snap up whatever you want to eat. However at some sushi train restaurants, they have this very cool actual mini-train that delivers your food fresh from the kitchen, to your table. The one in this photo is a mini bullet train, and our table even has a train station name!

To order specialties from the menu, or fresh sushi which isn’t on the conveyor belt, most sushi train restaurants have a touch screen pad, which you use to order food.

Sushi touch screen ordering device sits on the edge of your table.
Sushi touch screen ordering device sits on the edge of your table.

Don’t worry if you don’t know much (or any) Japanese, the devices are really easy to use and there is usually an instruction sheet somewhere close-by…

Sushi train touch screen ordering device instructions
Sushi train touch screen ordering device instructions, this one was right above the device.

So order away! We always do many mini orders (the sushi train can only fit 4 plates!) and keep eating until we have a very high stack of used plates on the table.

Visiting a sushi train restaurant in Japan is a great experience, not only is the sushi fresh and cheap, there are many variations which include western style foods if you’re not too keen on raw fish. There is lots of karage (crumbed meat) dishes, even some mini hot dogs sushi style (i.e. on rice)!

The prices are great! Around half the price of sushi train in Australia!

Sushi train plate prices
Sushi train plate prices - our usual order consists 90% of the red and green plates.

And if you don’t have time to sit down and enjoy all this, you can still experience it all when you get takeaway! You will be directed to an area along the conveyor belt which has the touch screen ordering device, as well as plastic takeaway containers.

This article has been submitted for the J∙Festa August 2011 edition, the theme is Food in Japan.