Needless to say sushi is everywhere here except on base, which is crazy considering how cheap and available it is. So far, we have only ventured to the sushi-go-arounds and not to any of the higher-end joints. For the most part, I don't know where the good places are, and the kids love the go-arounds. Our first experience with the kids and a go-around was at a small place inside a train-station mall. The chef would make special things for us and stick an American flag in it so we would realize it was for us. On one plate he put several tiny kid bite size rolls for the boys. Thankfully, Jude was asleep and we didn't have to listen to his moans of disgust; but, Lucien surprised us and tried all of it. Not only did he try everything - he loved the salmon roe roll (aka The Nemo). Whoever was in charge of drawing the opening scene of Finding Nemo apparently was a sushi fan. The clown fish parents are swimming around a huge pile of their eggs, talking about name choices, etc. The eggs look exactly like salmon roe.
I can't eat the Nemos.
Our favorite go-around is an enormous place. We noticed it because on weekends there is a line of cars waiting to enter the garage. Once inside there is always a crowd and a number ticket machine. A little intimidating for us because we can't count past 10 yet but someone always has mercy on us and lets us know when it's our turn. There are two serpentine conveyor belts with probably 25 booths on each one. In the booths there is a hot water faucet for the matcha, powered green tea, and the usual sushi accoutrements. There also is a computer screen for ordering special things and calling the waitress. We only know that because one of the kids touched the big red square and a waitress appeared.
Food goes around continually, and new things pop up. Soup, fruit, juice, beer, edamame, desserts, the many different kinds of sushi, and items placed atop big red bowls. It took us several visits to realize the function of the red bowls is to indicate special orders.
Oops. So sorry to the people who had ordered the sundaes and the super-special-yummy rolls, we didn't know.
We also ran into a conundrum with our plates. At other go-arounds you end up with a huge pile of plates on your table that the waitress tallies to get your bill. The plates are color coordinated to the prices posted on the walls. Brad and I were amassing a fairly big pile when I noticed that no one else had piles of plates on their tables. After some careful surveillance we noticed people dropping their plates in a hole in the table. So we dropped our plates into the hole and our computer screen lit up and numbers started to fly. Brilliant and a great way to keep small children occupied. On top of every booth is a machine with toys in it kind of like a gumball machine. Our third visit we realized that after dropping 5 plates you can try to get a toy by touching something on the computer screen. Haven't quite figured it out yet but soon.
Food as soon as you sit down, entertainment for the kids, beer, and sundaes: What more could you want in a dining establishment? I forgot to mention cheap. All of us can eat for under $25. We love this place. The only thing you won't find here or any other sushi place are American style rolls. Spice Girl, Crunchy, Uptown, Dragon rolls - I miss all of you. The sushi here is simply fish with rice nothing fried, no crazy sauce, and certainly no cream cheese. Sometimes there will be some kind of crunchy green garnish of a bit of mayonnaise but that's it. Hard for a food wimp like myself but the freshness of the fish is amazing. I would never eat salmon in the states but here I do. Sometimes the sushi isn't fish at all. We've seen bacon sushi and meatball sushi. And once (and only once) I had cold eggplant on top of rice. If you are ever in Japan don't eat this, trust me.
