The Heart of the Kaiten-Zushi
Sushi is a very tasty Japanese fast food treat. It is made of cooked and cooled vinegar rice that is topped with raw fish or other seafood. Sometimes, it is served as bite-sized rolls. To serve sushi in the traditional way, the customer sits on a bar and chooses the fish he wants as topping. Chefs cut pieces of fish and shape dollops of rice into mouth-watering sushi in a space of a few seconds and serve them to customers.
But now a new way of serving is taking sushi restaurants all around the world by storm. These restaurants, called kaiten-zushi, serve the food mechanically! Plates of colourful sushi are placed on a rotating conveyor belt that snakes through the restaurant or sushi bar, the belt rotating at 8 centimetres per second. Customers pick their selection from the belt as the plates move along. For added effect, some kaiten-zushi put the food on plates that resemble boats or locomotive cars.
Although customers simply choose from the belt, they can sometimes make special orders albeit rarely. A speaker phone is available above the conveyor belt and can be used by any customer who requests a custom-made sushi. The dish is still placed on the belt, but it is marked so other customers will know that this is specially ordered.
Sushi-trains, as what they are commonly called in Western countries, boomed in 1970 when it was first introduced during the Osaka World Expo. It boomed again in the late 1990s when inexpensive restaurants became popular. It has become cost-efficient for kaiten-zushi because the conveyor belt system lessens the number of waiters required. Because the sushi moves slowly on the belt, it has greater drying time, a desirable factor when eating sushi.