Sushi time

For the most part today was a not-so-interesting school day, but this evening my host family took me out for something called ‘kaitenzushi.’ This is where you sit at a table, and little plates of various types of sushi and other foods glide by on a conveyor belt for your perusal. At least at this place, there was also a touch-pad where you could specifically request foods that you wanted, which would then come by on a special red dish (apparently there are flags at other restaurants) that other people know not to pick up unless it’s what they ordered. When you are finished with a plate, you slide it down a slot on the side of your table, which reads the little barcode on the plate and charges it to your bill. The whole experience was very novel, and the sushi wasn’t half bad either. Honestly, the selection was amazing. There were not only more different species of fish than I had ever seen before, but more preparations and unusual combinations than I’d ever seen before. Corn gratin sushi, anyone? Or maybe hamburger is more your style? Not only sushi, but also beer, parfaits, miso soup, roasted chestnuts and traditional Japanese desserts came rolling by. Another thing about this whole experience is that it seemed significantly less expensive than most any restaurant that I’ve been to since being here (not that my host family let me pay, they almost never do).
-Nato (fermented soy bean) was not so much disgusting as so completely odd in texture, smell and flavour that it was hard to palate.
-At least at this place, little prizes would be dropped, I believe having to do with a mixture of lottery and how many dishes you ordered. In this way, I received a very cute octopus sushi character cell phone charm.
-There was almost no waiter involvement. They seated us and gave us our tally at the end, but that was it.
-This was one of the first places that I’ve been since coming here where I have no idea how a non-Japanese speaker would function. The touch-pad and the tags on the reserved sushi were entirely in Japanese, as were all of the other signs in the place. Not that this is a bad thing, just an observation