High Technology Sushi !

Today I'm going to introduce you a very important place.

In fact, I can almost guarantee that you'll be asking yourself some important and meaningful questions.

The place in question is special in more than one way. Combining some of the world's most advanced dinning technology with an affordable price tag of only 100Y ($1) per plate, it is the Kura kaiten (conveyor belt) sushi restaurant.

Now, when you step inside, it appears fairly low-key. Perhaps even bland. But this deceptive simplicity belies some some special charms.


OK, lets start with a nice warm bowl of miso.

Filled with tasty seashells. Oh Yeah.

Now, time for some technology. Above the table is a little touch-screen panel with a head-band wearing sushi cartoon character to help us along the way.

Well, this does seem both easy to use and efficient. If you want something made for you, just press the screen. Even I can understand that!

Alternatively, wait until the relevant sign glides past, with the described plate behind it. This is salmon. "No artificial additives".

Tempting.

I recommend that you focus on your strengths. At 100Yen per plate, this is a marathon, not a race. I tend to specialise in salmon, maguro (tuna),

salmon salad,

unagi (eel),

and aburi salmon, as well as many, many others. Aburi salmon is salmon - but with a crucial twist. The fish is scorched with a blow-torch, and then covered with good stuff.

I'm getting hungry just telling you about this. So, once you've eaten the sushi, you find a plate attractively decorated with theme-based characters.

Now, what you must do, is put the colourful plate in the box at the side of the table, like this.

The plate disappears, and every five plates your touch-screen panel friend, Mr Headband, fishes for a prize on your behalf. He really is trying very hard. In this case he failed - he does look very disappointed, so I know that he's been trying.

If you win, you get one of the balls above the table. These contain a spring-wound car and other collectible plastic toys. But, every so often, they have 1000Y ($10) inside!

Now, when you decide that you want a beer, you encounter some real efficiency combined with well-thought out cleverness. Firstly, take a glass out of the fridge. The temperature is low enough for the glass to instantly frost over when you take it out.

This penguin is helpfully telling us "these glasses here are freezing cold - please use them!"

The next step is placing the glass on the automatic beer pouring machine.

Insert the 450Y ($4.5), and it starts off with a perfect beer-pouring angle.

There you go.

On the way back to your table, you can decide if you want to work in the restaurant ("shall we not work together?")

And find out how much (little) the staff are paid ($8.50-11.88/hr).

Now, this is the part where we move from the relm of quite cool, to don't-be-ridiculous cool.

What could be better than the restaurant's very own collectible playing cards with a sushi based theme!

They have a flip-file showing you the countless types available.  At the bottom of each card is a hand symbol for paper, scissors, or stone.

I only bought three packets. I'm regretting this lack of foresight already.

This one is Mrs Curie (Curie sounds like Cucumber in Japanese), strength: 3 plates, height: 165cm, age: 45, weight 45kg, hard-working Nobel-prizewinner.

Here is Moguran, this mole with an egg-round face.

Also, the yellowness makes his face pleasant - important information !

However, this is my favourite:

Sayoriman!  ("Japanese Needlefish Man" - sounds like Salaryman)

A company employee who works without rest at the beginning of spring.  Even today he is on the phone to a client.  

And, for all of this, he is only worth two plates!

And this reminds me of the market - working harder is not always correlated with success.