Kaiten = Rotating
Zushi = Sushi

If you read up on Japanese etiquette, you'll be told that if you want to take somebody out to dinner, don't take them to sushi.  It would be like taking somebody to McDonald's.  In Japan you can find Kaiten Zushi shops all over the place and often they are open very late.  Later than most other food places.

Every shop has it's own specialties though most shops carry the basis like:

Maguro -> Tuna
Toro -> Fatty Tuna (read delicious)
Tamago -> Scrabbled Egg
Ebi -> Shrimp
Ika -> Squid
Hamachi -> Yellowtail
Hotate -> Scallops
Uni -> Sea Urchin

and many others. Some shops will have more than just sushi on their conveyor. Things like melon or salad or various canned or bottled drinks. They also usually have a few things not on the conveyor like soup.

Prices usually start at around 100 yen or about 1$ a plate. Each plate usually has two pieces of sushi. Some types of sushi are more expensive than others. For example Hotate and Yellowtail are usually $2 a plate and Toro is often $3 a plate. The plates are color coded so for example at the store near my apartment, Bikkuri Sushi which is a very large chain, they have 3 types of plates. White = $1, Gold = $2, Black = $3. Some places advertise that all their plates are the same price. Often that means that they don't have the more expensive kinds or there is only one piece on a plate but sometimes they've got everything. Other places like the one of the ones in Ikebukuro have about 8 types of plates from $1 to $8.

Also, you don't have to take what is on the conveyor. You can ask one of the sushi chefs to make any sushi they have. Often the waiters are calling out, "Please order!"

These first 3 pictures are from Bikkuri sushi near my place. It's small place and I've basically always been happy there except the very last time I went everything tasted bad. I used to go there at least once a week. Often enough that the chefs knew what I would order and just start making it as soon as I got in. But since that one time it was bad I haven't gone back.

This place is busiest shop I've seen. It's in Shibuya and often has a line of 100 people waiting to get in. I went there for lunch one Sunday since I thought if it's that busy it must be special. It wasn't all that good and that Sunday night I got terribly sick and was out of work for a week from bad food. I'm not sure if it was from this place or not since I ate dinner somewhere else.

My current favorites are one in Kawasaki because it has the most variety of stuff. And also one in Shinjuku near the East exit because it's always got lots of the kind of sushi I like most.

I read in one guide book that Kaiten Zushi is not good sushi. That may or may not be true has I have yet to have sushi anywhere else but a Kaiten Zushi store but I can say that so far, every Kaiten Zushi store I've been to has been better than any sushi I've ever had in the states.

There is one exception. In the states or at least in California there are many types of "roles". California role (crab, mayonnaise, avocado, rice, nori), Rainbow Role (5 kinds of fish on the outside make a rainbow of colors, inside avocado, rice, ...), Catepiller role (avocado on the outside so the role is bright green like a caterpillar. inside similar to a California role), Crunchy Role (shrimp tempura on the inside, rice, nori and something like teriyaki sauce on the outside and then rolled in tempura crumbs).

Well, none of that exists in Japan. Not at all. I have yet to see anything like it. That's not to take anything away from those roles. Even most Japanese people when they come to California and try those roles they usually find them very delicious.

Also as a side note I have yet to see Teriyaki anything in Japan. Teriyaki beef, Teriyaki Chicken. As far as I can tell doesn't exist here.

That's fine with me those because everything here is YUUUUMY!