https://thesushijournal.com/ English-language guides to eating sushi in Japan. Written from Japanese-language sources. en © 2026 Sushi Journal Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 https://thesushijournal.com/guide-what-is-omakase.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-what-is-omakase.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Omakase means "I leave it to you" — the least useful part. What the chef decides, what arrives, in what order, and how the word drifted abroad. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-price-tiers.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-price-tiers.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Omakase price tiers: what each band buys, why the money pays for preparation hours rather than pricier fish, and what turns a quote into a bill. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-etiquette.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-etiquette.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Most English sushi-etiquette rules are stricter than Japanese ones. What the Japanese books actually say, where two disagree, and what a chef notices. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-tsukiji-outer-market.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-tsukiji-outer-market.html Tokyo Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tsukiji Outer Market is a street-food market, not a sit-down omakase spot — opens and closes early, mostly shut Sundays and some Wednesdays. How to use it. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-edomae-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-edomae-sushi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Edomae, Tokyo’s preservation style: curing, marinating, simmering and ageing survived refrigeration since they improve the fish — here’s how to tell. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kohada.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kohada.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kohada is gizzard shad, cured in salt then vinegar. It is cheap, difficult, and the single most reliable indicator of what an Edomae kitchen can do. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-osaka-vs-tokyo-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-osaka-vs-tokyo-sushi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tokyo’s nigiri is about two hundred years old; Osaka’s pressed box sushi is older, solving the same problem in reverse — with pressure and time. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-choose-a-sushi-restaurant.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-choose-a-sushi-restaurant.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 How to choose a sushi restaurant in Japan: set the budget first, pick the format, then read the seat count, the chilled case and the reviews properly. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-book-sushi-in-japan.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-book-sushi-in-japan.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Booking sushi in Japan as a visitor: how far ahead, which channel, what to say on the call, what a deposit means, and what to do when plans change. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-what-not-to-do-at-a-sushi-restaurant.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-what-not-to-do-at-a-sushi-restaurant.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Three things genuinely matter at a Japanese sushi counter. Most of the rest is noise — several items on it are fine, including eating with your hands. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-eat-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-eat-sushi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 How to pick up sushi, which side meets the soy sauce, one bite or two, and what changes between nigiri, maki, gunkan and temaki. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-etiquette.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-etiquette.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 General sushi etiquette covers most of it. These conventions are specific to a chef's-choice meal: booking, the counter, and what a request costs. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-words-at-a-sushi-counter.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-words-at-a-sushi-counter.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sushi counter vocabulary: the eight words to use, the code words to understand but never say, the one to avoid outright, and what the work is called. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-long-does-omakase-take.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-long-does-omakase-take.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sixty to ninety minutes at a typical Tokyo counter, and the variables that move it: seatings, drinking, lunch versus dinner, and how fast you eat. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-much-does-sushi-cost-in-japan.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-much-does-sushi-cost-in-japan.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sushi in Japan runs ¥500 to ¥50,000 a head across six formats, each with its own price logic, plus the tax rule that changes a box’s price by where you eat it. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-is-sushi-expensive-in-japan.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-is-sushi-expensive-in-japan.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sushi in Japan: cheap for everyday meals, expensive at the top — and the same ¥15,000 counter meal is 4% of an American’s trip and 14% of a Korean’s. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-average-sushi-price-tokyo.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-average-sushi-price-tokyo.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 The most common amount a person pays for a sushi meal in Tokyo is ¥1,000–2,500. Arithmetic means run far higher and describe almost no actual meal. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-tokyo-vs-new-york.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-omakase-tokyo-vs-new-york.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Omakase in Tokyo vs New York: the structural differences — tipping, tax, air freight, rent, labour — behind two different prices, and which are real. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-types-of-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-types-of-sushi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nigiri, maki, gunkan, temaki, chirashi, oshizushi and narezushi, defined by how rice is handled, not what's on top, which most lists get backwards. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-vs-sashimi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-vs-sashimi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sushi is defined by vinegared rice. Sashimi is sliced fish with no rice at all. Everything else people argue about follows from that one line. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-nigiri-vs-sashimi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-nigiri-vs-sashimi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nigiri is fish on a hand-formed finger of vinegared rice; sashimi is the same fish sliced, with no rice — temperature and price follow from that. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-conveyor-belt-vs-counter.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-conveyor-belt-vs-counter.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Conveyor belt and counter sushi are different formats, not two grades of one meal — what each is for, what it costs, and how the etiquette differs. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-best-city-for-sushi-in-japan.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-best-city-for-sushi-in-japan.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tokyo has the ceiling, Osaka the value, Kyoto a different meal entirely. How the three cities differ on omakase, price and how far ahead you must book. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-michelin-sushi-tokyo.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-michelin-sushi-tokyo.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tokyo has led the world in Michelin stars since 2007. What the rating measures at an eight-seat counter — and when it's the wrong thing to book on. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-season-calendar.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-season-calendar.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Shun is not a month: it has three stages — hashiri, sakari and nagori — and moves with latitude. Here is how the season works, and what to ask for. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-is-sushi-safe-in-japan.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-is-sushi-safe-in-japan.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Japan regulates raw fish as a legal category. The real risk is a parasite common measures don't kill — and Japan's advice for pregnancy is a table, not a ban. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-become-a-sushi-chef.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-to-become-a-sushi-chef.html Guides Sat, 01 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Training runs about ten years by convention, and Japanese law requires none of it. What is licensed is a title and one fish — not the years at the counter. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-unesco-heritage.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-sushi-unesco-heritage.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sushi is not a UNESCO World Heritage. UNESCO inscribed washoku, Japan’s traditional dietary cultures, in 2013 as Intangible Cultural Heritage. https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-much-rice-in-a-piece-of-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/guide-how-much-rice-in-a-piece-of-sushi.html Guides Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Between 12 and 22 grams by machine specification, about 29 by the government's serving table, 34 under the 1947 ration. Why no two numbers agree. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ginza.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ginza.html Tokyo Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ginza holds Japan's densest concentration of high-end sushi counters — why it formed that way, what price pays for, and when it's the wrong choice. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-toyosu-market.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-toyosu-market.html Tokyo Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Toyosu is the wholesale market that replaced Tsukiji's inner market in 2018: about 1,342 tonnes of seafood a day in 2019, and what a visitor can see. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka.html Osaka Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Osaka has its own sushi tradition — pressed, boxed, older than Tokyo's — plus Edomae counters at lower prices. A guide by area, cost, and how to book. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto.html Kyoto Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kyoto has no coast of its own. What that did to its sushi, why sabazushi is festival food, and how to plan a counter meal in a city built around kaiseki. https://thesushijournal.com/sapporo.html https://thesushijournal.com/sapporo.html Sapporo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sapporo counters call their sushi Ezo-mae, and there is no agreed definition of it. Where the counters are, what they publish for prices. https://thesushijournal.com/nagoya.html https://thesushijournal.com/nagoya.html Nagoya Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nagoya’s counters publish less than Tokyo’s and send you elsewhere to book. Where the shops are, which ones publish a price. https://thesushijournal.com/fukuoka.html https://thesushijournal.com/fukuoka.html Fukuoka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Fukuoka’s counters sit close together and charge across a factor of four, so what separates them is paper. Where the shops are, which publish a price. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ginza-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ginza-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Ginza, ordered by how restricted the booking is: concierge-only, telephone-only, English concierge, online, or no website at all. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-shinjuku-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-shinjuku-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Shinjuku, ordered by how much of the price you can know before you sit down — from a shop that publishes none of it. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-shibuya-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-shibuya-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Shibuya, ordered by how much of the job of describing itself each shop has handed to somebody else. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-roppongi-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-roppongi-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Roppongi, ordered by how much of an answer their own pages give to the question of when — from a page with no time in it at all. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-nihonbashi-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-nihonbashi-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Nihonbashi, where most of them sit inside a mall or a department store — and where the building publishes a second set of hours. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-asakusa-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-asakusa-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in the district that receives more foreign visitors than any other in Tokyo — where the hours, the prices are all published. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ueno-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ueno-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi restaurants that all carry the name Ueno — one inside the station, one in Ueno Park — and what each publishes about how far the walk is. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ebisu-nakameguro-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-ebisu-nakameguro-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters two stops apart, all of which publish the word reservation — and what that one word turns out to mean at each of them. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-akasaka-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-akasaka-five-counters.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in one Minato-ku district, all of which print a price on their own pages — and what that number turns out to include at each of them. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-lunch-under-10000.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-lunch-under-10000.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Tokyo sushi counters, and the lunch price each is willing to print on a page it controls, read against what is said about it everywhere else. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-morning-sushi-toyosu-tsukiji.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-morning-sushi-toyosu-tsukiji.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters that open before seven in the morning, four inside Toyosu Market and one across the water in Tsukiji, read against the market calendar. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-counters-for-one.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-counters-for-one.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Tokyo sushi counters where eating alone is easy, arranged by what a solo diner has to produce to sit down: nothing, a phone, a ticket, a sentence. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-booking-without-japanese-phone.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-booking-without-japanese-phone.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Tokyo sushi counters that take a booking in English from outside Japan, and the four things that actually get in the way of making it. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-english-menu-and-service.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-english-menu-and-service.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Tokyo sushi counters read in English and in Japanese, side by side, to see what the English menu leaves out and what translation actually costs. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-open-late-after-10pm.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-sushi-open-late-after-10pm.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Tokyo restaurants that serve sushi after ten at night, and the three different closing numbers each one prints: closing time, last order, last entry. https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-michelin-star-sushi-restaurants.html https://thesushijournal.com/tokyo-michelin-star-sushi-restaurants.html Tokyo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five restaurants from Tokyo’s fifty-seven-strong sushi selection, one from each rung, read against the record their own pages and their landlords publish. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-pressed-sushi-hakozushi-battera.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-pressed-sushi-hakozushi-battera.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Osaka houses still pressing hakozushi, the dish the city was known for before nigiri, read through what each one publishes about itself and its hours. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-kita-sushi-umeda-kitashinchi.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-kita-sushi-umeda-kitashinchi.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters within a mile of Osaka Station, and how what you can learn about each one depends on who writes its website, not on its price. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-minami-sushi-namba-dotonbori.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-minami-sushi-namba-dotonbori.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five places to eat sushi in Minami, most of them run by companies whose real business is fish, and how that decides what you can book and find. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-sushi-omakase-lunch.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-sushi-omakase-lunch.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Osaka sushi counters that sell lunch as a ladder of rising prices, read course by course to see what the extra money actually buys. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-walk-in-sushi-no-reservation.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-walk-in-sushi-no-reservation.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Osaka sushi counters that take no booking or need none, and why the easiest rooms to walk into are the hardest to learn about in advance. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-saba-sushi-old-shops.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-saba-sushi-old-shops.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Kyoto mackerel-sushi houses, from 1781 to a station hotel, and the different amount of time each one publishes as the life of what it sells. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-kyo-zushi-noren-kai.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-kyo-zushi-noren-kai.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi houses from the guild of eight that has held the term Kyoto sushi since 1950, and the three incompatible units they count the same box in. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-gion-pontocho-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-gion-pontocho-sushi.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Gion and Pontocho, read through three separate registers that cannot agree on how many sushi restaurants stand there. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-lunch-sushi-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-lunch-sushi-counters.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Kyoto sushi counters open at lunch, the meal their own websites document worst because the pages are built to sell dinner instead. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-first-timer-friendly-sushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-first-timer-friendly-sushi.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five Kyoto sushi counters that will seat a stranger, and why the barrier a first-time visitor meets is never the one they were warned about. https://thesushijournal.com/sapporo-ezomae-sushi-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/sapporo-ezomae-sushi-counters.html Sapporo Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ezo-mae is the word Sapporo counters use, and it has no agreed definition. Five shops read on their own pages: three publish a definition of it. https://thesushijournal.com/nagoya-sushi-counters-how-to-book.html https://thesushijournal.com/nagoya-sushi-counters-how-to-book.html Nagoya Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 In Nagoya the shop’s own website is usually not the way in. Five counters read on their own pages: one refuses the telephone outright, two publish no price. https://thesushijournal.com/fukuoka-sushi-counters-what-is-published.html https://thesushijournal.com/fukuoka-sushi-counters-what-is-published.html Fukuoka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Fukuoka’s counters differ less in what they charge than in how much they will put in writing first. Five shops read: one publishes a six-part set of rules. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-shinsaibashi-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-shinsaibashi-five-counters.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Shinsaibashi, Osaka, and whether the page calling itself official was built by the shop or by a reservation platform’s template. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-tennoji-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-tennoji-five-counters.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters around Tennoji and Abeno in Osaka, and how differently each one answers a single plain question on its own page: which day it is closed. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-kyobashi-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-kyobashi-five-counters.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters near one Osaka station, each naming its own booking and ordering channels — and how many of them each page actually lists, zero to five. https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-fukushima-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/osaka-fukushima-five-counters.html Osaka Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in one Osaka ward, each publishing a price on its own page — and each making a reader travel a different distance to actually reach it. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-kawaramachi-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-kawaramachi-five-counters.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters on one Kyoto street, and how many pages each is willing to call its own — from no website at all to two that disagree on hours and seats. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-karasuma-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-karasuma-five-counters.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters in Karasuma, Kyoto, and the domain none of them owns — a chain footer, a site-builder subdomain, a lineage named once, a membership wall. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-station-five-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-station-five-counters.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Five sushi counters near Kyoto Station all publish an address and hours on their own pages. Four of the five never publish a price for the sushi itself. https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-arashiyama-how-many-sushi-counters.html https://thesushijournal.com/kyoto-arashiyama-how-many-sushi-counters.html Kyoto Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Six official directories, from a shopping street’s own list to a chain’s store search, were checked for Arashiyama’s sushi counters. Two shops qualified. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-aburi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-aburi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Aburi means searing a sushi topping with a flame, briefly and on the surface only. It is not one of the four historic Edomae jobs. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-aji.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-aji.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Aji is horse mackerel, a hikarimono but almost the only one served raw rather than cured. Why it escapes the vinegar, and what the ginger on top is doing. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akagai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akagai.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Akagai is ark shell, served as nigiri. It is one of the very few molluscs with haemoglobin: hence the red colour, the faint iron note, and the chef’s slap. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akami.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akami.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Akami is the lean red muscle of the tuna. For most of Edomae sushi’s history it was the only part worth eating, and it is still how chefs judge tuna. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akazu.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-akazu.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Akazu is red vinegar fermented from sake lees, not rice. It was the vinegar sushi used when nigiri first took shape in Edo, and some counters still use it. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-amaebi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-amaebi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ama-ebi is the small, raw sweet prawn on nearly every counter. The sweetness it is named for is not fully there when it is caught — it needs time. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-anago.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-anago.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Anago is saltwater conger eel, simmered until it collapses and finished with a reduction of its own broth. It is not unagi, and the difference is not a detail. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-awabi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-awabi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Awabi is abalone, and the word covers two different foods: a crisp raw slice and a soft, long-cooked piece, chosen by species and chef, not by a fixed rule. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-chirashi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-chirashi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Chirashi arranges seafood over a bowl of vinegared rice instead of forming individual pieces. What separates a plated course version from a takeaway one. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-chutoro.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-chutoro.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Chūtoro is the medium-fatty tuna between akami and otoro. Nothing defines where it starts or ends except a chef with a knife, which is the interesting part. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ebi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ebi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ebi means prawn, and three reach a sushi counter: ama-ebi, small, sweet and raw; botan-ebi, larger and raw; kuruma-ebi, boiled, the classic Edomae piece. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-engawa.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-engawa.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Engawa is the strip of muscle along a flatfish’s fin margin: springy, faintly crunchy. At a good counter it is hirame; on a belt, imported halibut. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-gari.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-gari.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sweet-vinegared young ginger, eaten between pieces rather than with them. It is also, at a counter, a brush — and its pink is usually a dye. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-gunkan.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-gunkan.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Gunkan is a nigiri wrapped in a standing collar of nori, built to hold a topping too loose to sit on rice alone. What the collar does, and how it is made. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hamachi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hamachi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Hamachi is the Kansai name for a young buri, or Japanese amberjack, at one growth stage — not a species. Served as nigiri, fatty, brushed with nikiri. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hamo.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hamo.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Pike conger is the summer fish of Kyoto and Osaka. It is unusable until a chef cuts through its bones without cutting the skin — the west’s proudest technique. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hikarimono.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hikarimono.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Hikarimono names two things at once: small, silver-skinned fish, and fish that are vinegar-cured. This site keeps both definitions rather than choosing one. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hirame.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hirame.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Olive flounder is the reference white fish of Edomae sushi: lean, firm, almost flavourless fresh, and transformed by a day of rest or a sheet of kelp. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hokkigai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hokkigai.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Surf clam: pale grey when raw, vivid pink-and-white after three seconds in boiling water. The colour change is a real chemical event, not a dye. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hotate.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-hotate.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Scallop is the one raw item that tastes frankly sweet. The piece is a single muscle, and the label on the packet decides more than most people realise. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ikejime.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ikejime.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ikejime is an instant kill performed at the point of catch, done by the fisherman before a sushi chef ever sees the fish. What it is, and why it is done. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ikura.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-ikura.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Ikura is salmon roe, separated from the membrane and cured. How the soy cure differs from the salt cure, and how to tell ikura from sujiko, tobiko and masago. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-isaki.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-isaki.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Isaki, or chicken grunt, is a white fish that peaks in early summer. Served skin-on as nigiri, richer than most of Japan’s white fish. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-iwashi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-iwashi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 The character for sardine is the fish radical plus the character for weak. It dies the moment it leaves the water, and everything about its handling follows. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-jukusei.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-jukusei.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Jukusei is deliberate ageing: holding a cured fish cold after ikejime, adding nothing, until its texture and flavour change. No fixed number of days exists. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kani.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kani.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kani means crab, but at a counter it can mean zuwai-gani, taraba-gani, beni-zuwai-gani, kegani, or kanikama — a manufactured stick that is not crab at all. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kanpachi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kanpachi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kanpachi is greater amberjack (Seriola dumerili): firm, lean, clean-tasting, served raw as nigiri. Often confused with hamachi, which it is not. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kanpyo.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kanpyo.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Dried gourd, rehydrated and simmered dark, in the thinnest of rolls. The oldest thing on a sushi menu and the cheapest, and chefs order it to judge a shop. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kasugo.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kasugo.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kasugo is not one fish. It is a market name for the young of three related sea bream, shared for only as long as all three are small enough to answer to it. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-katsuo.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-katsuo.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Skipjack tuna comes past Japan twice a year — lean going north in spring, fat coming back in autumn — and the two are treated as different foods. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kawahagi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kawahagi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kawahagi, filefish, is named for the tough skin peeled off before use. What sets it apart is the liver, mixed into soy and served with the fish. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kazunoko.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kazunoko.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Herring roe: a solid golden block with a texture unlike any other roe on the counter, and a New Year food whose meaning is a pun about children. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kinmedai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kinmedai.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Splendid alfonsino: scarlet skin, huge gold eye, and a fat content no true sea bream has. The name is a lie of convenience, and the fish is better for it. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kisu.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kisu.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kisu reads as a lean white fish, but sushi has long grouped it with the shining, cured silver fish, and only recently begun serving it raw at all. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kobujime.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-kobujime.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Kobujime is kelp curing: sashimi pressed between kelp sheets instead of vinegar. It works on lean white fish and squid through moisture and umami, not acid. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-madai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-madai.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Madai is red sea bream, Pagrus major: lean, firm, faintly sweet, and the auspicious fish of Japanese celebration. Often kelp-cured before serving. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-maguro.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-maguro.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Maguro is an umbrella term for several tuna species, not one fish. Said alone, it usually means Pacific bluefin, but it promises less than that. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-makizushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-makizushi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Makizushi is rice and filling rolled in nori with a bamboo mat, then cut. The method sounds trivial and takes years to make look easy. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-mirugai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-mirugai.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Mirugai, or mirukui, is a large clam whose siphon is too long to fit inside its own shell. Only that siphon is served; the rest of the animal is set aside. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-misoshiru.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-misoshiru.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 The soup course at a sushi counter, sometimes miso and sometimes not — and more often built from fish trimmings than from a general-purpose dashi. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-negitoro.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-negitoro.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Negitoro is scraped fatty tuna mixed with spring onion, served as gunkan or a hand roll. At a counter it’s real belly trimmings; in a pack, often not. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nigiri.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nigiri.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nigiri is a topping pressed by hand onto a finger of vinegared rice, cut to size first and shaped in seconds. What the chef actually does, piece by piece. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nikiri.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nikiri.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nikiri is soy sauce simmered with mirin and dashi, brushed onto nigiri before serving, and the reason the soy dish beside you may sit untouched all evening. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nitsume.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nitsume.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nitsume, or tsume, is a dark reduction brushed onto simmered toppings such as anago and clam, built from their own cooking liquid, not a fixed recipe. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nodoguro.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nodoguro.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Blackthroat seaperch has two Japanese names. The trade press uses one of them almost exclusively, and that popular name turns out not to be this fish's alone. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nori.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-nori.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Nori is cultivated seaweed pulped and dried into sheets like paper. Toasted, it is crisp and aromatic; against rice it has about a minute before it goes limp. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-oshizushi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-oshizushi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Pressed sushi is built in a wooden mould, weighted, turned out and cut into squares. Older than nigiri, it is western Japan’s form, and it is eaten cool. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-otoro.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-otoro.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Otoro is the fattiest part of the tuna belly. It is now the most expensive thing on most menus — and for most of sushi's history it was thrown away. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-saba.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-saba.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Mackerel is cured in salt and vinegar before it reaches you. That is not a safety measure — Japan’s health ministry says so — and the real reason is speed. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sake.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sake.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Salmon is the most-ordered sushi topping in Japan and one of the youngest. It was not eaten raw here until Norway spent years selling the idea, from 1985. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sanma.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sanma.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sanma is Pacific saury: oily and silver, hikarimono by sight. Whether it is cured, seared or served raw depends on the counter, not the fish itself. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sashimi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sashimi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sashimi names the act of slicing fish, drawn once with a single-edged blade. What that cut actually involves, and why the motion is the whole craft. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sawara.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sawara.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Sawara’s kanji pairs the character for fish with the character for spring. What actually happens to the fish at the counter does not agree on one answer. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sayori.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sayori.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Halfbeak is a needle-thin spring fish with a red-tipped jaw and a jet-black belly cavity. It is one of the few pieces a chef folds, ties or scores into a form. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shako.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shako.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Mantis shrimp: brown, ridged, faintly sweet, and once a Tokyo Bay staple. It is now an occasional piece, and the reason is a story about the bay itself. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shari.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shari.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Shari is the seasoned rice under the fish. It is roughly half of every piece of nigiri, served warm rather than cold, and it is where a shop is judged. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shima-aji.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shima-aji.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Shima-aji is striped jack: firm, sweet, clean, the priciest jack at the counter. Mostly farmed, a rare case where farming doesn’t compromise it. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shirako.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shirako.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Shirako is milt, not roe — the reproductive gland of a male fish, served raw, blanched, grilled or simmered, from cod, monkfish or fugu. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shiromi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-shiromi.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Shiromi means fish with little myoglobin in the muscle, not a species. On a Tokyo menu, the word names a category — any of a dozen fish could be under it. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sujime.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sujime.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Su-jime is the salt-then-vinegar cure behind Edomae’s silver-skinned fish: two stages, a fixed order, and no fixed time for either one. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sumi-ika.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-sumi-ika.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Cuttlefish: thick, dense and faintly sweet, and the piece where a chef's knife work is most visible. The fine scoring on the surface is not decoration. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-suzuki.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-suzuki.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Suzuki, Japanese sea bass, is a shusseuo: its name changes as it grows, from seigo to fukko to suzuki. It peaks in summer, unlike most white fish. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tairagai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tairagai.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tairagai is a large bivalve served as a single adductor muscle, sliced thin and pale — the same organ scallop is served as, cut for the opposite reason. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tako.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tako.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Octopus at a sushi counter is almost always cooked. Everything good or bad about the piece happens in the pot and under the knife, before it reaches the rice. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tamago.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tamago.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tamago is the rolled sushi omelette, cooked in a square pan, cut into a slab and laid on rice. It is the one item a shop must make itself, not buy. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-temaki.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-temaki.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Temaki is a hand roll: nori rolled into a cone around rice and filling, made to order. Eat it within about a minute, before the nori goes soft. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-torigai.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-torigai.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Torigai is a cockle with a glossy black membrane already on the raw animal. Its fragile shell means it is usually opened before the piece reaches a kitchen. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tsumami.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-tsumami.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Tsumami is the small dishes served before nigiri begins — not an appetizer, and not the same at every counter. What it is, and what its size tells you. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-unagi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-unagi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Unagi is freshwater eel, split, grilled over charcoal and lacquered with sweet soy. Anago is a saltwater conger, simmered not grilled: a different fish. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-uni.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-uni.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Uni is sea urchin gonad, served as gunkan. Which species you are eating, why so much of it tastes faintly bitter, and what the words on the tray mean. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-wasabi.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-wasabi.html Sushi A–Z Thu, 30 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Real wasabi is a rhizome grated to order, whose pungency is created by grating and gone within minutes. Most wasabi served worldwide is dyed horseradish. https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-zuke.html https://thesushijournal.com/glossary-zuke.html Sushi A–Z Sat, 08 Aug 2026 09:00:00 +0900 Zuke began as a way to keep tuna edible before refrigeration existed. That job is gone, yet the technique split into two, each doing something new.