Great Scott! It’s Sushi to the Future!

I always had an image of a World Exposition to be a showcase of what we can expect to see in the future. Past expos have highlighted technological wonders just over the horizon, like personal jetpacks and Jetson’s style moving sidewalks. Sure, those and many others were never realized, but it’s still nice to dream.

However, so far I haven’t seen much of that at the Osaka-Kansai Expo, which is set to open in little over a week. At one point a flying car that visitors could ride around in was planned, but that got downgraded to just a visual demonstration. Surprisingly, it was revolving sushi chain Sushiro that has given me a first look through time with their Sushiro to the Future: Expo Edition.

This one-of-a-kind restaurant will open in the Forest of Tranquility area of the Expo from 13 April to 13 October with a very eye-catching facade.

▼ The front lobby has a virtual aquarium.

Inside, each table will have a large touchscreen on which digital plates of sushi and other foods float by that you can tap on to order, after which the real food will zoom on the real conveyor belt straight to your table. This style of ordering can already be found at some revolving sushi places, and also has a neat feature where each table has a sort of offramp that you can quickly and safely pull your plates onto. That’s a nice idea to speed things up since the entire row of tables share the same belt.

One new addition exclusive to the Expo location is that these digital screens will also be used to periodically play an Uni Catch Game. During this time, all the menus will change to game screens in which you must tap on as many sea urchins (“uni” in Japanese) in a certain time. The five tables with the highest scores after each game will get prizes. The staff, which will be made up of experienced workers from other Sushiro locations, will cheer everyone on as they catch the sea urchins.

▼ This news report shows the game in action.

While this is all certainly state-of-the-art revolving sushi tech, it’s still not really as futuristic as the name of the restaurant implies. That’s because it’s the Sushi of Tomorrow offered here which is actually exemplifying what we can expect in the future.

All of the seafood served at this Sushiro is farmed on land in a sustainable way to minimize the impact on marine ecology. That goes beyond just the fish and also includes the seaweed and shellfish used as well. Land-farmed sea urchin, mackerel (saba), Anguilla bicolor eel (bikara unagi), thread-sail filefish (kawahagi), conger eel (anago), salmon, striped jack (shima aji), sea bass (mibai), and greater amberjack (kanpachi) are all there at prices ranging from 270 yen to 550 yen per plate.

Also, given the international theme of this Sushiro location, various dietary restrictions will be taken into consideration. No pork or lard will be used in any of the items sold at this store and that even includes the tonkotsu (pork bone broth) ramen. Also, five types of plant-based items will be available.

▼ I’m very curious to see how they do plant-based ikura (salmon roe).

In addition to being more environmentally friendly, the farm-raised seafood is said to have a cleaner taste and texture since its diet and conditions are regulated. So it would seem that the true future of revolving sushi is to be tasted not seen, and the only place to do that today will be the 2025 Expo this summer.

Restaurant information
Sushiro to the Future: Expo Edition / スシロー未来型万博店
The Forest of Tranquility area of the Osaka-Kansai Expo
venue
大阪・関西万博会場内の「静けさの森ゾーン」
Open: 13 April – 13 October
Hours: 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.

Source: PR Times, YouTube/あべの経済新聞 & OSAKA STYLE
Images: PR Times
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