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Popular conveyor belt sushi chain Kappa Sushi (pronounced Kappa Zushi) is known around Japan for its tasty morsels, starting at 108 yen (US$0.90) per plate, and its family-friendly setting, with cosy booths and a cute logo featuring an animated kappa, or water sprite (think Sandy from the TV series Monkey Magic, only tinier, rounder and a thousand times cuter).

Now the well-known chain is moving things up a notch, with the September 18 opening of a new type of conveyor belt restaurant called Sushi Nova. Featuring fashionable, modern interiors and a salad sushi menu that uses seasonal vegetables in place of fish, the company plans to open 100 of these new restaurants in Japan by 2019.

Sushi Nova, known in Japanese as Sushi No Ba (寿司ノ場) or literally “Sushi Place”, will open its first store in the fashionable Aoyama district of Tokyo.

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While the menu will feature all the usual fish-based sushi staples, priced from 120–420 yen ($1.00–$3.50), there’s also a special vegetable sushi option, offering okra, asparagus, red and yellow bell peppers, eggplant, and fresh Japanese ginger.

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▼ The vegetable sushi plate below is an absolute bargain at 453 yen ($3.75).

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▼ Kappa Sushi’s popular Gunkan-maki sushi (wrapped battleship-shaped sushi) is given a facelift with a colourful topping of bell peppers.

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▼ Open from 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. seven days a week, the menu also features a good selection of alcohol and fried side dishes.

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Following the opening of their first store in September, three more locations will be announced, with openings scheduled for October and November. With seating for only 30 people at their Aoyama restaurant, we’ll have to get in quick to try what will soon be one of Japan’s most popular sushi restaurants!

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Restaurant information:
Sushi Nova Aoyama
Address: Ground Floor, Aoyama Oval Building, 5-52-2 Jingumae, Shibuya, Tokyo
Phone: 03-6433-5017
Hours: 10:00 a.m.–11:00 p.m. every day

Images via PR Times
[ Read in Japanese ]