The Divine Wind Vault: My Final Visit to a Kaiten Sushi Restaurant in Shinjuku- September 26th, 2014

Saturday, October 25, 2014

My Final Visit to a Kaiten Sushi Restaurant in Shinjuku- September 26th, 2014

September 26th, 2014, West Exit of Shinjuku Station- My final full day in Japan had me on my own due to my wife and daughter spending time with my mother-in-law. Not letting this moment pass me by, I stepped out on my own for my last sushi meal. As it turned out, the following day, we were able to eat sushi at the Narita Airport. You can never get enough sushi in Japan. Never.

I'm a fan of kaiten sushi restaurants since as an American in Japan, you can be self-sufficient since you don't have to have adequate Japanese ability to order. This is because the sushi is brought to you on a conveyor belt. The seats in a kaiten sushi restaurant are along a conveyor belt that runs throughout the restaurant.

Back in 2011, I returned to Japan after being away for nearly 3.5 years. For the better part of 2004-2007, I would visit Shinjuku Gyoenmae, a part of Shinjuku next to the big park. There, I would enjoy sushi at a kaiten restaurant. However, on my 2011 visit, I discovered that the restaurant that I went to was closed. My mother-in-law knew of another kaiten restaurant at the Shinjuku Station. With my wife and mother-in-law leading the way, I tagged along and was able to enjoy delicious sushi and the only time I opened my mouth was to eat.

On our recent visit in September 2014, I was pleased to learn that the kaiten restaurant that I was introduced to in 2011 was still in business. Of the 14 days that we were in Japan, about 10 were in Tokyo and I was able to eat at this particular restaurant three times (September 19th, 24th, and 26th).

Apparently, I'm not alone in supporting these establishments as a foreign film crew was in this restaurant filming my final time for what appeared to be a special interest program. I dare say that the crew was British, but not certain.

This picture is of the electronic department store, Yodobashi Camera on the West Exit side of Shinjuku Station. At this department store, take the elevator to the basement.

The katen sushi restaurant, Numazuko, is located on the West Exit side of Shinjuku Station. If you are familiar with Shinjuku Station, it is HUGE. As an American, I dislike this station since it is easy to get turned around. However, on earlier visits to Japan when my Japanese was not so good, I learned at this station that if you get lost, ask a younger employee instead of an older employee. This is because A) they younger person may use English or B) will be more willing to lead you to where you need to go, or C) will speak slowly.

This picture is on the elevator with me pointing out "Kaiten Sushi" written in Japanese. Being able to recognize the Chinese characters known as "kanji" helps more than you will ever know.

This picture is outside Numazuko kaiten sushi restaurant with the "Daily Specials" on display.

This picture is of Numazuko's store front. Directly across from this restaurant is a hallway that leads to restrooms, elevators, and Yodobashi Camera.

This is the only entrance into Numazuko kaiten sushi restaurant.

I went to this kaiten sushi restaurant at around 2:30pm. It was between the lunch and dinner settings. I was thankful that they were open. However, there was nothing on the conveyor belts which defeats the purpose of a non-Japanese speaker to go in my opinion.

I started my meal off with a draft beer of Kirin.

Luckily the menu was Japanese-English. I started with tuna marinated with soy sauce.

Three plates of tuna sushi marinated in a soy sauce. A partially drunk large glass of Kirin Draft Beer is at the top left part of this picture. In the US, you will see bottles of soy sauce with green caps indicating low sodium. In Japan, all soy sauce is regular and in a green cap. You don't see any salt and pepper shakers on this table, do you? Behind the soy sauce bottle is a container that holds chop sticks. To the right of this container are wet napkins in a plastic wrap.

I followed this up with two plates of tuna sushi.

My next order was two plates of salmon sushi at JPY 230 per plate.

Two plates of salmon sushi.

My third order was mackerel sushi at JPY 280 per plate.

Two plates of mackerel sushi with lemon slices and diced green onions on top.

This has green onions, fish flakes a band of seaweed over a two pinches of sushi rice. Having an understanding of sushi doesn't mean that you won't get the order wrong. Since this was the last day in Japan, I was able to brush up on my Japanese and get some of the mistakes out of the way with Japanese. I wasnt' sure what onion sprouts on shari was so I only ordered one. When it arrived, I was glad since it was not what I wanted.

Throughout this visit, I ordered 10 plates which equates to 20 pieces of sushi. You will notice the bottom two are green with the others being orange. This is how the sushi is priced. This 20 piece meal costed about JPY 2,900. which included a large glass of Kirin Draft Beer.

This sign reads, "Daily Specials". I believe the yellow tags indicate that a particular item was sold out.

At the entrance was this map of Japan. It shows where their inventory of fish came from. The sushi that I ate was part of fish that was swimming in the various parts indicated on this map the day before. While I love sushi in the US, the quality is pale in comparison to the quality of sushi in Japan for obvious reasons.