Eating Sushi in Japan

In Japanese homes, sushi is often eaten when celebrating special occasions. Chirashi-zushi (scattered sushi), maki-zushi (sushi rolls), inari-zushi (brown bag sushi) are commonly cooked at home, following family recipes. Sushi delivery is also commmon. Japanese people order sushi for special occasions.

In traditional sushi restaurants, sushi can be expensive since they select the best ingredients. It can cost nearly US $100 per person, depending on what you eat.

There are places called kaiten-zushi, where the sushi plates circle around the eating area on a conveyor belt. This is a kind of sushi "fast-food" restaurant and is inexpensive. This kind of sushi restaurants are very popular in Japan, so you can find kaiten-zushi restaurants everywhere. When you go to a kaiten-zushi restaurant, you wait until your favorite sushi comes near you, then you pick up the plates from the moving table. If your favorite is not moving on the table, you can order it. The types or colors of plate which sushi pieces are on indicate prices of sushi. If you want to save money, you can avoid picking up expensive sushi. The prices are usually between 100 yen to 300 yen per plate.
Sushi Restarants in Japan

What to do at Sushi Restaurants

• Clean your hands by an oshibori (hot towel) at first, then order a drink.
• Green tea (it's called agari in sushi restaurants) is the best drink with sushi.
• You can order a set of sushi with a fixed price or order your favorite sushi pieces as you eat.
• It's nice to ask the sushi chef for his/her recommendation of the day.
• If you are not ordering a set of sushi, it is good to order a few kinds of sushi at a time, instead of ordering a lot.
• Put soy sauce for dipping in a small dish provided.
• To eat sushi, it's common to use your fingers.
• When dipping sushi in the soy sauce, do not dip whole sushi. Just dip the end of the sushi as you eat.
• Try not to ask the sushi chef to bring you things like a drink or your bill.
• It's nice to offer to buy your sushi chef a drink if he/she is doing a good job.

Japanese Sushi - What is Sushi?
Japanese Sushi - Kinds of Sushi