Eat sushi to your heart’s content, with no time limit.

According to 2023 figures by East Japan Railway Company (JR East), Tachikawa Station ranks 14th in terms of average daily passenger numbers after Ueno Station, making it the busiest station for commuters in Tokyo, outside of the central 23 wards.

▼ You can get to Tachikawa Station in 28 minutes on a limited express from Shinjuku Station.

While Tachikawa locals know about all the secret gems in the area, a lot of people in central Tokyo do not, so when our reporter Ahiruneko heard about a restaurant offering fantastic all-you-can-eat sushi up on the eighth floor of the Lumine department store above the station, he hopped on a train to check it out.

The restaurant is called Tsukiji Tama Sushi, and although it’s a chain restaurant with its main store in Tsukiji, only a limited number of branches offer the all-you-can-eat plan.

The price for this plan is listed on the signboard out front as 5,478 yen (US$36.56) for women and 6,028 yen for men.

▼ What sushi lovers will notice before anything, though, is this sign in the corner that reads: “No time limit“.

All-you-can-eat plans usually have time restraints, commonly in the range of one to two hours, so being able to eat as much as you want for as long as you want is a very unusual perk. There’s a wide array of options as well, starting with the day’s “furumai sushi” (in blue below), which is a special selection of sushi served at the beginning of a high-end sushi buffet experience.

▼ Following that, you can select your favourites from the regular menu, as well as the daily specials (in green below), which cover nigiri sushi (hand-moulded sushi) up top and ice cream and soup options below.

When the furumai sushi arrived at Ahiruneko’s table, he let out an audible gasp of surprise and delight.

▼ He received not one but two sea urchin gunkanmaki…

▼ …along with two salmon roe gunkanmaki…

▼ …and the daily nigiri recommendation, which, when he visited, was pufferfish.

As he took his first bite, Ahiruneko found himself in sushi heaven, and this sense of bliss continued with everything he ate. The pufferfish was fresh and light, the salmon roe popped beautifully in the mouth, and the sea urchin was rich and creamy.

The only downside to this deal is that customers are limited to only one furumai platter per visit, due to rising costs. Still, this isn’t an entirely bad thing, as it allows you to move on to explore the other items on the menu, which are equally impressive.

Ahiruneko went for a bit of everything at first – tuna, white fish, shellfish, and some so-called “hikarimono“, a term used in sushi restaurants to refer to blue-backed fish such as horse mackerel, flying fish and sardines. From the daily specials, he chose winter yellowtail, steamed oysters, and Japanese halfbeak.

The colourful platter of sushi was a delight to behold, and so tasty that he didn’t mind the two-piece per order minimum, which is in the style of orders at conveyor belt sushi restaurants.

Everything was absolutely delicious, and very high-quality, but the standouts were the three below:

▼ Winter yellowtail

▼ Sea ​​bream

▼ White whelk

Ahiruneko smiled when he saw a woman at a nearby table repeatedly ordering the white whelk, as he could relate to her passion for it, but he had more dishes to explore.

He was able to get two more platters of sushi under his belt before he felt that belt begin to tighten under the strain of his expanding belly.

As he sipped on his tea, he casually picked up the menu on the table next to him to check out the non-all-you-can-eat options.

He discovered that this menu differed in that you can order one morsel at a time, but the most surprising difference was…

▼ …the prices.

One serving of Ark Shell sushi was priced at a whopping 880 yen, and Ahiruneko had enjoyed two as part of his all-you-can-eat deal, along with 40 0ther pieces of sushi, making this an incredibly great deal.

After this price revelation, Ahiruneko began to regret ordering the squid, which was on the menu for 198 yen. Although it too was delicious, it’s a much more common item compared to Ark Shell, and much cheaper.

So next time he returns, he’ll take a leaf out of the whelk-loving woman’s playbook and order multiple servings of ark shells. It’ll be a good partner for the happy hour special, which gets you a free bowl of crab chawanmushi (steamed egg custard) and a free drink of your choice.

▼ Happy hour is from 3-6p.m. on weekdays.

▼ Ahiruneko highly recommends the crab chawanmushi and the draft beer.

After eating at Tsukiji Tama Sushi in Tachikawa, Ahiruneko says it’s one of the best sushi deals you’ll find in Tokyo. Everything is super high quality and incredibly delicious, and you get to relax and enjoy it all at your leisure without having to worry about time limits, unlike other all-you-can-eat sushi deals in the heart of the city.

Restaurant information

Tsukiji Tama Sushi Lumine Tachikawa Branch / 築地玉寿司 ルミネ立川店
Address: Tokyo-to, Tachikawa, Akebonocho 2-1-1, Lumine Tachikawa 8F
東京都立川市曙町2-1-1 ルミネ立川8F
Open: 11:00 a.m.-9:00 p.m. (last entry time for all-you-can-eat diners is 7:30 p.m.)
Irregular holidays (same as Lumine Tachikawa)
Website

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