Sushi (# 1) – where has my revolving sushi gone?

My first sushi memory is walking past a sushi bar, complete with revolving conveyor belt, in Melbourne when I was 18. Young adults and middle-aged couples dipped various kinds of fish into soy sauce, some using chopsticks, and others eating with their hands. In fact, I was on a date, and ate at an Italian restaurant next door. Wouldn’t have even considered eating RAW fish back then. How things have changed?

20 years on, I live in Japan and eat sushi regularly, both at home (called te-maki-zushi) or eating out with the family. In Japan, you can buy sushi anywhere, though the quality varies – lunch packs at supermarkets, family restaurant chains serve sushi in a lunch set, at specialty sushi restaurants, high-quality fish and seafood is prepared and served piece by piece in front of you, or at sushi chain stores (fast-food). Like most families in Niigata, we have a favorite chain store named Uobei. It’s cheap at ¥108 a plate (two pieces per plate), and they have great variety including seasonal specials.

A while ago, our local Uobei was closed for renovations as the company was going through a minor rebranding. When it re-opened, we took the kids out for lunch one weekend and were shocked. The sushi train, that revolving conveyor of flavour and fun, was gone. Electronics and user-friendly systems are commonplace here – many eateries and bars now use tablets to speed up ordering, delivery and consumption (I guess).

Uobei had introduced the electronic ordering a couple of years ago (complete with five languages - Jap, Eng, Kor, and two forms of Chinese), but had persisted with the revolving sushi train. Now, suddenly it appears gone forever. Well, not forever, it’s been replaced by a three-tiered conveyor belt, a more direct and effective system that you’d expect to see connecting two terminals in an airport. Car or train shaped vehicles ride a straight belt and stop at the customers table. Each vehicle holds four sushi plates, which is fine unless you have a big family.

Upon consideration, it’s a good move on many fronts. Little kids still love the movement of the food, as the bullet train or racing car stops suddenly at their station or pit (table). Concerns about food poisoning are reduced, with all food prepared post-order and transported fresh to the customers. Thirdly, wastage is minimized. We no longer see those unwanted shell-fish varieties going around and around and then thrown out or fed to teenage staff at the end of the day.

One minor concern is time - the new system does require a little patience at the customers end. At peak hours, orders are coming thick and fast so don’t expect miracles and try to enjoy the concept of slow (or slower) food. Outside peak hours, it’s extremely fast so you can have a really nice lunch almost on the go. At the end, just click the button saying "cheque/bill", then confirm that all of your orders arrived at your station. If everything is fine, just push another button and pay at the register. How convenient!

In some ways, I kind of miss how the staff would come and count how many plates we'd eaten, but I guess it's just a sign of the times we live in. Life is changing, for a variety of reasons; I just need to get used to it.