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Juliette Teunissen

Genki Sushi - Tokyo

$ - Japanese - Shibuya

24-8 Udagawacho, 1F Leisure Plaza, Shibuya City, Tokyo 150-0042, Japan


BACKGROUND

Sushi is a delicious type of food with a lot of variation and very popular in and outside of Japan. A benefit of sushi is that it's pretty easy and quick to eat (if you are good with chopsticks) so it's great for a quick meal. A way to make it fun is by conveyor belt sushi or "kaiten sushi" (aka revolving). In the 1950s, Yoshiaki Shiraishi saw an Asahi beer bottling factory chain and created a sushi conveyor belt to help with his short-staffing issues. By having sushi come out on a conveyor belt or sushi "train", you can see the food before you eat it and get whatever you want. An added benefit is you can minimize your waiting time for someone to bring your food and interaction with people!


A great chain for conveyor belt sushi is Genki Sushi, started in 1968. Saito started the company in 1990 to get good sushi to the masses and the next year it was listed on the Tokyo stock exchange. They quickly started lots of restaurants across Japan and now are all over the world (Hong Kong, Indonesia, Singapore, Kuwait, the Philippines, China, Australia, Cambodia, Myanmar and the US).

THE VISIT

I visited Tokyo and went to their one location in the city (which I found surprising, they also have locations in 6 other Japanese cities) a 5 minute walk from the Shibuya crossing. In the bustling Shibuya area, you go down a short staircase to a basement space. There's one long table in a U shape with seats in front of a conveyor belt and a screen by each seat. There's both a paper menu on the wall in front of you and a screen (in Japanese and English) where you can select the sushi you want and then submit your order.

Once you've submitted your order, very quickly a plate with the food you ordered slides down the conveyor belt and stops at your seat. Super easy to order and you don't need to talk to anybody to do this!


FINAL VERDICT

The sushi is super good on its own and tastes even better when you look at the price - for two pieces of standard nigiri you pay about 110 yen - $1/€0.91/£0.8! The system is very easy and you can get delicious food very easily. Definitely recommend if you are in Tokyo, one of their 6 other cities in Japan or elsewhere where they have locations!

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