Kaitenzushi Nemuro Hanamaru Ginza

The motto of Nemuro Hanamaru is that "the lifeline of Hanamaru is its degree of freshness" (花まるの生命線は鮮度だ, Hanamaru no seimeisen ha sendo da). The basic idea is to be a restaurant where the sashimi (刺身) and sushi (寿司) are not allowed to go bad, because they are both the ingredients and the dish itself. If you think about it, sushi is simply the combination of rice and dish. And yet, to say that "sushi is just sushi" is not an easy thing. Many different shops can offer the same type of sushi made with the same ingredients of rice and fish, and yet, the "deliciousness" of it remains very different. And if you look at the ingredients, the innate deliciousness of the fish comes from its freshness.

And so to Nemuro Hanamaru, freshness is something that they cannot lose to anyone else. Fish that loses is freshness loses its tastiness. And so one of the things they focus on is that sushi isn't a "cuisine that you make the ingredients delicious" (おいしくする料理, oishikusuru ryōri), it is a "cuisine that you don't let the ingredients lose their deliciousness" (まずくさせない料理, mazukusasenai ryōri). And to not let the ingredients lose their deliciousness, the first thing you have to do is "maintain the freshness" (鮮度を維持すること, sendo wo ichi suru koto). No matter what cooking technique you use, you cannot hide the true nature of the ingredients that you use.

In order to bring the liveliness of Nemuro to its restaurants, open kitchens are also a key component of the restaurant. Beyond just the sushi conveyor belts, chefs are located in the center of the restaurant so that customer can see as much of the cooking process as possible, including the preparation of the fish, the cooking of the rice, the frying of the food, the cutting of the sashimi and more. To them, eating is more than just the taste, the anticipation and excitement that you get from seeing the chefs work on the food improve the taste. But also, its cause as a staff, they enjoy their work, and its something they just want to show off in an open kitchen. The restaurants are also decorated with a wide variety of fishing equipment, and designs reminiscent of a small restaurant in Nemuro.

Beyond just good customer service, Nemuro Hanamaru hopes that customers can feel the spirit and teamwork between the staff. Orders and replies are all shouted out in unison to create a strong sense of camaraderie and energy within the shop, and it should go beyond just a simple "yes", but a strong "hai yo!" (lit. "got it!") to bring a sense of fun to the shop.

Kaitenzushi Nemuro Hanamaru is located at the 12th floor at Tokyu Plaza Ginza, and this outlet has a beautiful view of the Ginza area around it. Apart from the conveyor belt located in the center of the restaurant, the sides are all full-height windows offering a great view of Ginza. This outlet is also less crowded than the other one at Kitte Marunouchi, and might be preferable if you are in the area. Likewise, it is also often very crowded, and queue tickets might not be given out after 6.30pm depending on the crowd that day.

Nemuro Hanamaru is definitely one of the best conveyor belt sushi experiences you can get at Tokyo. It's vastly different from the one that you would get a huge fast food conveyor belt chains like Hama Sushi or Sushiro. At those chains, you typically interact only with an electronic ordering system, and all the food is prepared in the back kitchen. Here, your table is located besides the conveyor belt, behind which is where all the chefs are preparing your food. Other than just grabbing what looks good off the conveyor belt, you can also order straight from the chef, giving a much more fun and human touch to the conveyor belt experience. For those worried about stressful interactions, each table also has an order sheet (with an english menu on request) that you can write your orders down on to pass on to the chef. And since it's an order sheet, you don't have to worry about the stress of ordering fast enough for the waiters or chefs, and take your time writing down your orders.

For us, Nemuro Hanamaru is a definite recommendation for a kaitenzushi restaurant in Tokyo, if you can get in. The queue is probably the biggest downside, but of course, when people are queueing, it must be for something good. The food is truly a notch above other places, and it's fun grabbing a special from a large tray of freshly prepared dishes that the waiters carry around. From time to time, staff also shout out time specials that are fresh or discounted, so don't miss out on those. While sushi preferences depend from person to person, our personal favourites are the Aburi Salmon (炙りサーモン, Torched Salmon), the Hotate (ホタテ, Scallop), and the amaebi (甘エビ, Sweet Prawn). While the price point is definitely a lot higher compared to the fast food sushi chains, the quality is also much higher, and we would also recommend it over other large upscale sushi chains like Sushi Zanmai. There's a strong sense of quality, plus the awesome restaurant experience, that really makes Nemuro Hanamaru a cut above the rest. Do note that unlike other places, Nemuro Hanamaru's prices are per piece, not a set of two pieces on a plate.

Nemuro Hanamaru originates from Hokkaido (北海道, Hokkaidō) and gets its name from the small fishing village of Nemuro, which in turns puts pressure on them to live up to the reputation of the fishing town. Their restaurant places a focus on the freshness of the fish, and slacking off on that would be like mudslinging at the reputation of the town. That's how seriously Nemuro Hanamaru takes their commitment to freshness.

Beyond just the freshness of the fish, Nemuro Hanamaru aims to value-add to the customer's experience by allowing customers to feel as if the "fish are still alive" (魚が生きている, sakana ga ikiteiru) through the lively atmosphere of the shop. They aim to recreate that bustling lively atmosphere of a fishing port in Nemuro, and it is through both that atmosphere and freshness of the food, do they believe they can recreate the true spirit of Nemuro in their shops.

Nemuro Hanamaru takes an interesting approach to the concept of their shop. For them, each ingredient is carefully selected according to what is seasonally fresh around Nemuro in Hokkaido. Furthermore, they make a point that: for them, kaitenzushi (回転寿司, Conveyor Belt Sushi) is about placing the quality of the ingredients first, not coming up with unnecessarily "creative" sushi products like other chains that stray from the spirit of sushi. The idea is to design and come up with new sushi creations that embrace the spirit of sushi, and to build upon the mainstream of sushi and advance it further towards what they deem as "real sushi". The idea is that, Nemuro Hanamaru takes the middle ground, combining the best of advancing new and creative ideas of sushi like other sushi chains, while also maintaining that traditional orthodoxy that the older more traditional sushi bars offer.

Furthermore, to them the sushi conveyor belt is an integral part of the experience, because of the pleasure it brings from observing it, and the pleasure from choosing something from it. And so, it's important to them that the sushi conveyor belts are filled with a wide array of different neta (ねた, Ingredient) that is vibrant and rich, so that many more people will be impressed by the attractiveness of sushi and continue to take more and more plates off the belt. To them, the more busy and crowded a sushi conveyor belt, the more it is a place of happiness.