Kaiten Sushi Superfan Recommends: The Deeper You Know, the Deeper the World of Conveyor-Belt Sushi-and 9 Must-Try Local Sushi Picks

Conveyor-belt sushi began in Showa 33 (1958), the same year Tokyo Tower was completed, the Crown Princess was chosen, and the 10,000-yen note was issued. It is said that Yoshiaki Shiraishi, who ran a stand-up sushi shop in Osaka, toured a beer factory and took inspiration from the way beer moved through the production process on a conveyor belt.
At the time, Mr. Shiraishi’s shop offered four pieces of sushi for 20 yen and was thriving, but with too few chefs he struggled to handle the flood of orders. During that factory tour he realized, “If we put sushi on a conveyor belt and circulate it, we can serve many customers even with a small number of chefs-and guests can pick the toppings they like.” From there, after repeated trial and error, he developed a conveyor-belt system specifically for kaiten sushi. Over about ten years, he completed the now-standard “conveyor-circulating dining platform,” obtained a patent, and in April 1958 opened the first Mawaru Genroku Sushi in Higashi-Osaka.
Later, the concept was exhibited at Expo ’70 in Osaka (Showa 45, 1970), which helped kaiten sushi gain nationwide recognition and spread across Japan.

I have always loved sushi, and when visiting my grandmother, we would order delivery and eat sushi served in a wooden tub. The moment that pulled me into the world of conveyor-belt sushi was also at age four, during Expo ’70 in Osaka. I visited Genroku Sushi at the Expo site, met kaiten sushi for the first time, and was shocked. “The sushi is going around!” I thought, laughing.
By the time I was five the following year, a Genroku Sushi had opened in Ikebukuro, Tokyo, where my grandmother lived, and she often took me there. Until then, dining out meant eating a kids’ meal at a department store cafeteria and collecting the little flags stuck in the rice. To that routine, the joy of going to a place with “sushi that goes around” was added. Back then, sushi meant delivery with a fixed lineup of toppings, but at kaiten sushi you could eat as much as you liked of the toppings you liked. That joy easily beat my flag collection from kids’ plates.
From then on my focus locked onto kaiten sushi. When I moved to Gotanda in fifth grade there was a Genroku Sushi there too, and kaiten sushi became part of everyday life. After I left home for college and started living on my own, I moved nearly ten times, and one of my criteria for choosing an apartment was “whether there’s a good kaiten sushi place nearby.” As a student I also drove around Japan twice a year, visiting local kaiten sushi restaurants wherever I traveled.
It was really, truly fun.

Kaiten sushi has many charms. First, what it serves is sushi, which remains firmly at the top of Japan’s favorite foods and is loved by all ages from children to seniors. Even people who are not fond of raw fish can enjoy kaiten sushi thanks to its wide selection of menu items, making it an all-rounder that welcomes everyone. Then there’s its ease and casual feel.
Across nearly 70 years, kaiten sushi has evolved by adapting to social changes and shifting times. There was an era of “cheap and low quality,” but that is a thing of the past. Today, it is both reasonably priced and genuinely good, easy to walk into yet comfortable to stay in-a combination of casualness plus added value that is one of its core attractions. And, of course, there is the entertainment of watching plate after plate circle past on the lane.
Just like choosing an attraction at a theme park, that delicious moment of scanning the rotating offerings and wondering which to eat first is irresistible. This is a unique appeal you will not find at other types of restaurants.
Enjoying beloved sushi easily and casually, with a sense of excitement, is what makes kaiten sushi an amusement park for food.

Many people unfortunately think, “Kaiten sushi is more or less the same wherever you go in Japan.” That may be true if you only imagine the big national chains. But all over the country there are places serving sushi you can only eat in that location at that time of year. These are “local kaiten sushi” restaurants.
There you will find sushi made from fish you may never have seen or heard of before-namera, arakabu, soi, gasu shrimp, Donchicchi, and more. For example, in autumn in Hokkaido you can find shishamo from Mukawa, in winter in Hokuriku you can find “Kobako-gani” (female snow crab) that is served for only seven weeks a year, and in summer in Hokuriku you can find live hoya. These are time-limited local tastes you can only experience on the spot.

The great charm of local kaiten sushi is that it is a food experience you can only have “in that season, in that place.” Travel purposes and pleasures differ by person, but food weighs heavily for most of us. That is why I urge you to make local kaiten sushi a goal of your trip. You might hesitate-“Use one of my precious travel meals on kaiten sushi?”-but there is more than enough value to justify it. As I mentioned earlier, today’s local kaiten sushi is no mere fast-food place for cheap sushi.
Beyond sushi, there are superb à la carte dishes. You can enjoy sashimi from fish you would almost never encounter in everyday life and creative plates featuring local ingredients-food experiences you can have “only here.”
Many restaurants also focus on local sake, so pairing local drinks and dishes to savor the region’s flavors is highly recommended.

When asked about my favorite sushi topping, I always answer, “What I want to eat depends on the region and the season.” Sushi made from seasonal fish and local ingredients, finished with local methods, is my greatest joy. Here, based on my own experiences, I have carefully selected recommendations by area from among Japan’s many local kaiten sushi restaurants. I hope you will feel for yourself that kaiten sushi is not all the same.

Local kaiten sushi lets you enjoy the essence of sushi easily and casually while experiencing flavors unique to a region. As Mr. Yonekawa says, it is well worth going out of your way to visit these places. On your next trip, consider adding kaiten sushi to your meal plan. A host of delights that may completely change the way you think about kaiten sushi will surely make your journey richer.