I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese.

In Japan they have restaurants that are "sushi-go-rounds." The name gives it away. You sit down at a table and there is a conveyer belt that is coursing its way through the entire restaurant filled with different types of sushi. On our first visit, the restaurant was very new and didn't have English translations on the automatic order menu yet and none of the signs that were posted at the table were translated, so we did what we saw everyone doing. We sat down and started pulling plates of sushi that looked good off the conveyer belt and put them in our bellies. They were so good. Most of the fish we could tell what it was, but there were some that we didn't know. We realized that you could go through the automated menu screen and place orders of certain things you wanted. After doing this, we wondered how we knew it would be the one we ordered. We did not want to steal someone else's special-ordered sushi and we did not want someone stealing ours after we had been waiting for it. We pushed the call button to see if the waitress could give us some info on our current situation. She said that our little tv screen (seen below) will speak to us and flash and tell us that our sushi that we ordered was coming around the belt. She said it would be up on a bowl. Oops. We stole A LOT of people's sushi that day.

 

This is the order screen. The pictures were taken a few months after the place had opened. I think they must have had a lot of Americans stealing sushi because they had translated everything (almost everything) so we could be rule following diners.

 

Below is the picture of the sushi that is free for the taking. No one has ordered this sushi, the chefs thought someone might like to have it! I don't know what this one is, but it does not look too tasty. The plate is directly on the conveyer belt.

 

 

Oh and do you see that little spicket that comes out of the wall? Its hot water. There is a little green powder in a canister at the table and you can make instant green tea! Jason didn't know this the first time we went and he thought it was powdered wasabi and mixed it with his soy sauce. Needless to say, it wasn't tasty. He wasn't too ashamed to just leave it sit there though. He made new delicious dipping sauce. Later we learned that the wasabi is between the fish and the rice so there is no need to put any into your soy sauce. The only reason we learned this is because they don't have soy sauce dipping dishes. There is a slew of different soy sauces here too, all with kanji labels. I always just chose the biggest bottle because I assumed it was the most popular. Of course Jason tried them all. He claims some were more floral or something, but... give me a break. Its soy sauce. It tastes like salt!

 

Here is the picture of all the different soy sauces.

 

 

 



 

 

Here is the picture of the "special ordered" sushi. It comes raised on a bowl (Jason grabbed it a little too quick to get the full effect here - he must have been hungry) and your computer screen really does light up and talk to you! It even talks in English now!

 



I don't know if you can quite make out what is in the picture here of what we ordered. It is Colton's favorite. A mini-hamburger patty covered in some sort of garlic sauce atop a little ball of rice. Look Grandma Kagger - a Japanese Patty Melt!

Here's Colton chowing down on his favorite Japanese dessert. Almond Jelly. The second picture is him loving his Japanese patty melt!

Good thing this kid is not picky. He will try anything once. I don't even have to lie and tell him its something its not. I can just say, "Hey Colton, this is Octopus. Do you want some?" He's like, "Sure, mom. That sounds so good!"

Here's my favorite at Hamazushi (that's the name of the restaurant). Tuna with avocado and thinly sliced onion with a dollop of mayonnaise. I don't know if I ever mentioned it before, but Japanese people love mayonnaise. They even put it on the top of loaves of bread before they bake it! My friend and I were out to eat once and we got some complimentary bread with our lunch and we were super pumped to see that the bread had a layer of cream cheese! How delish. Wrong. Mayonnaise.

The other one that Jason and I love is some scallop from somewhere that starts with an "A." Aioda... Aoshi... Somewhere with an A. They're so good. Yes, they are raw. I don't even have to "not think about it" to be able to eat it anymore. I can think directly about how I'm eating a raw scallop and totally not be grossed out! I think I'm turning Japanese, I think I'm turning Japanese!

Here's Jason indulging! Look at that cool hair-do!

Here's some other ones that we haven't tried. These we just let roll on by! OMG! What is that!? Next please!

 

They also have Okinawa Soba and fried chicken to order. Here's the greatest thing about this place. Each plate that you either order or grab (it doesn't matter which) is between 90 yen to 100 yen. That's $1. The color of the plates signifies the cost of the sushi that is now in your belly. There are some that are more expensive that come on a different color plate. I don't know why you would spend more money on raw fish. Its not like its seasoned or anything. Raw fish is raw fish. Pass me the plain old tuna or that "A" city scallop! The soba and the salads are around 250 yen ($2.50). They are delicious and come clad with a piece of shrimp tempura or a slice of pork just like they would if you went to a different restaurant.

 



Colton loves noodles, so we always get a bowl for him.

When you are all finished you push the button on your screen and a worker comes over and tallies up your plates and gives you a check.

And this was a cheap day!