The most engrossing seven-minute video of nothing happening you’ll probably ever watch.

Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are extremely popular in Japan, so much so that they even have the mighty McDonald’s worried with their popularity. But while we knew they were popular, what we didn’t know up until now was how perfect they were for glimpsing into the lives of average Japanese people.

YouTuber TkyoSam recently uploaded a video where he put his go-pro on an empty plate at Sushiro, a conveyor belt sushi chain restaurant. While that may not sound particularly interesting, the end result had us and the rest of the Internet entranced:

▼ You can watch the video here. It may seem long at first,
but you’ll probably be hooked after 30 seconds.

▼ We first see what looks like a young
couple on a date that’s going well…

▼ …and then we see another couple on a
date that might not be going as well.

▼ There’s friends just hanging out together…

▼ …and families sharing a meal.
The sheer simplicity and relatability of the video is amazing.

▼ But then – surprise twist! Just when you start really getting into it, one of the
chefs takes the go-pro, and we get a glimpse at the back kitchen instead.

To be fair, there are definitely some privacy issues with this video. It’s pretty obvious that no one gave their permission to be filmed, and even though the YouTuber claims that the staff was okay with it, it’s hard to know for sure. And even if the staff was okay with it, it doesn’t seem like the patrons in the video were asked.

That aside, though, there doesn’t seem to be anything malicious here. Candid photography is a form of art, and there is a certain beauty in capturing the average, mundane parts of people’s lives on film.

Reddit user randomthug put it best in the thread about the video:

Every human being lives within their own self-constructed and impossibly complex universe. When a great artist is able to communicate one of those stories we get literature yet the undeniable fact is that so many stories go completely untold every single day.

When we take a moment outside of a need for narrative and just sit back and observe, in this case, people going about their day, instead of one focused narrative, our minds erupt with the endless possibilities we know exist within human interaction. All those untold stories are laid in front of us without context and I find it beautiful.

We couldn’t agree more. Although now we may have to add “putting your GoPro on an empty plate” to the list of bad conveyor belt sushi restaurant behaviors.

Source: YouTube/TkyoSam via Reddit
Top image: Youtube/TkyoSam