Through the eyes of 寿司...

Well, this is obviously a filler post, but I think it's interesting, anyway! Someone put a camera on a 回転寿司 (kaitenzushi) conveyor belt and filmed its trip.

THIS IS WHAT A SUSHI ROLL SEES BEFORE IT DIES.


(YouTube user: AndySearce)

面白いですね？

Now, a little about kaitenzushi...


Kaitenzushi is a sushi restaurant where the sushi is served on a conveyor belt; it's not a specific type of sushi like nigirizushi or makizushi. The conveyor belt takes the sushi throughout the restaurant so people can pick up whichever sushi they please. It's generally cheaper quality but you get a good variety of things to try, and you typically pay per plate. It is super-super-popular in Japan.

Other terms for kaitenzushi: kurukuru sushi, or sushi-go-round.

More on kaitenzushi from Wikipedia (dude, shut up; it's a good article, okay? lol): Click.
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OMGSUSHI.

Om nom nom...Sushi is a delicious and healthy Japanese food, and pretty popular in the United States. I remember when sushi was almost a sort of food fashion statement for those who dared try it, but nowadays it's enjoyed by many people, and can be found prepared even at chain grocery stores (I've never tried the ones from grocery stores, so I can't vouch for how delicious or sickness-inducing they may or may not be).

This is a little dated, but I made my own sushi about a month ago. My brother bought me a sushi-making kit out of the blue, so I had some fun with it:

OH MY GOD WHAT THE CRAP IS THAT???

Okay...That's a little more recognizable.

(It's makizushi made with cucumber, white crab, wasabi and sesame seeds; or kappamaki, cucumber roll - named for the mythological mischievous kappa fairies who loved to eat cucumber...And then I added crab).

As you can see, I had a little trouble with my inside-out roll, because it didn't want to roll at all. It looks more like a...Well, I don't know what it looks like. Any ideas? But in the end, my regular sushi rolls turned out okay, proving that even if you're a silly little gaijin, you can make decent-looking sushi!

So, try to skip the sushi restaurant sometime and make your own! I do think buying a sushi kit is a good idea; the kit my brother got me came with an instruction book, an instructional DVD, a sushi-rolling mat, chopsticks, two sushi plates and two sauce dishes, for 20 bucks ("Simply Sushi", if you're curious). And of course the internet is also a good resource for sushi-related research:

http://sushifaq.com/
http://eatsushi.com/

FACT!:

"Sushi" actually refers to the vinegared rice.

A few types of sushi:

makizushi - sushi rolls
temakizushi - simple sushi hand roll
nigirizushi - rice nugget with toppings
chirashizushi - bowl of sushi rice with toppings
oshizushi - pressed sushi

Vocabulary (click on kanji for stroke order from kanji-a-day.com):

寿司 - sushi
外人 (gaijin) - foreigner
美味しい (oishii) - delicious

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