I went for sushi with my family the other day. We went to a place called sushiro which is a discount belt sushi restaurant. That means it's one of those where the chef sticks plates of sushi on a conveyer belt which then carries it all around the restaurant and anyone who wants it can grab it. If you worry about freshness you can order directly, but even direct orders come on the same conveyer belt.

Anyway, we went there. You've all seen sushi and sashimi before, so I decided to be a little more artsy with my photos. Or to play a little anyway.

The slices of fish are somewhat small and the fish is questionably sourced. It is a cheap place, after all. The cheapest plates at ¥120 (about 81 cents) and it goes up to ¥360 (about $2.44) for the highest plates.

Earlier this year there was a bit of a brouhaha when a teenager in Gifu filmed himself licking his finger and touching all the circling sushi and posted it on Instagram. That caused some excitement, as you might imagine. That kind of thing is always a danger at belt sushi places, but I think it's probably a small one. Hmm... maybe that means we should only go to Sushiro when the kids are in school 🤔

Anyway, worries of teens being teens aside, it's a great place and we come here often. My wife is vegetarian so she doesn't eat much. There are some great nattō sushi rolls as well as many vegetable sushi plates, so she has plenty of options. My kids meanwhile usually stick with egg sushi. But the fish is where it's at in my opinion. Yum!

And then I switched to a mirror lens and had some more fun.

Finally we finished. Here is my resulting stack.

When the clerk comes by they have a wand that they just slide up the stack of plates. It can detect what color (different color plates are different prices) and can add everything up.

美味しかった！ It was good.

❦

David LaSpina is an American photographer and translator lost in Japan, trying to capture the beauty of this country one photo at a time and searching for the perfect haiku.