In this booster
Sushi in Japan comes in two great formats, and they barely share a script. The kaitenzushi — conveyor-belt sushi — is casual, cheap, and half-automated: plates ride past, a touchscreen takes orders, and the bill is a count of your empties. The counter is the opposite: a chef an arm’s length away, a conversation, and the single most elegant ordering move in Japanese food. This booster covers both, plus the fish names that matter and the wasabi question everyone eventually needs.
No new grammar — every sentence here is a frame you already own, wearing new nouns. Sushi itself has been core vocabulary since Lesson 5, and Lesson 9 already taught you to be asked Sushi ga suki desu ka — this booster is what happens after you say hai. The kaiten’s touchscreen is the Ticket-Machine booster’s vending machine with a conveyor attached (same call botan, same Osuki na seki e douzo at the door), and the counter runs on the Izakaya booster’s osusume. Boosters assume the finished core (Lessons 1–9); take them in any order.
As always: tap each sentence and listen first, repeat it aloud, then check yourself against the text and meaning that appear. Tap again to listen as often as you like.
The conveyor belt
kaitenzushi — “rotation sushi.” Cheap, fast, family-loud, and the best possible first sushi outing: everything is visible, priced, and self-service.
Kono sara wa ikura desu ka.
sara — the plate, which is the price: each color means a number, decoded by the chart on the wall. When the chart and the plate disagree in your head, Lesson 3’s ikura settles it.
Botan wa doko desu ka.
The Ticket-Machine booster’s botan, now on the table edge: it summons staff, and on the touchscreen it summons fish. Screens at the big chains have an English toggle — but reading the fish names is faster.
Saamon o futatsu, onegaishimasu.
saamon — salmon, the belt’s best seller (and pure katakana, if you took that skill). Lesson 3’s futatsu counts orders here exactly as it counted everything else.
Maguro wa arimasu ka.
maguro — tuna, sushi’s backbone.
Ebi mo kudasai.
ebi — shrimp: cooked, sweet, and butterflied flat over its rice — the classic starter piece.
Toro wa ikura desu ka.
toro — the fatty belly cut of maguro, the belt’s luxury tier and the counter’s crown. Worth the gold-rimmed plate at least once.
The counter
taishou — “boss,” the friendly way to address the chef behind the counter — plus Lesson 5’s osusume. This one sentence marks you as someone worth feeding well; expect the answer to be whatever came off the boat this morning.
Sabi-nuki, onegaishimasu.
sabi-nuki — “wasabi withdrawn,” the official counter term (it’s how children order). Real sushi comes with wasabi already tucked inside the nigiri — this is the word that keeps it out, said when ordering, not after.
Wasabi wa chotto…
Lesson 9’s trailing hedge, doing exactly what it was built for: dislike without the word for dislike. The chef hears it, nods, and the next piece comes sabi-nuki without another word said.
Gari mo, onegaishimasu.
gari — the pickled ginger, a free and bottomless palate cleanser. (Between pieces, not on them — behavior notes.)
Set piece
omakase — “I leave it to you”: the most elegant sentence in Japanese dining. The chef builds the meal piece by piece to what’s best today; your job is to eat each one soon after it lands and look pleased (easy). At an unfamiliar counter, ask the price first — a short, undramatic exchange.
Dialog
A kaiten lunch: the screen, a plate-price check, and a stack counted at the end. Listen to the whole dialog cold first.
Osuki na seki e douzo. Sumimasen. Menyuu no botan wa doko desu ka. Koko desu yo. Douzo. Kono sara wa ikura desu ka. Ni-hyaku en desu. Toro mo, onegaishimasu. Hai! Sumimasen. Okaikei, onegaishimasu. Hai. Sara wa juu desu ne. Arigatou gozaimasu.The door line came straight from the Ticket-Machine booster — kaiten chains run on the same self-service grammar — and the bill was a stack of plates counted out loud in numbers you’ve owned since Lesson 3.
What they’ll say to you
One line per format, at native speed. You never say these — one is a jingle, one is an invitation.
Chuumon no shouhin ga touchaku shimasu. Tsugi wa nani o nigirimashou ka.Chuumon (order) and tsugi (next — Lesson 6’s platform word) are the keywords; every answer the chef’s question wants is one noun from this page.
Repair drill
Ask the omakase price and the answer arrives with course tiers and today’s specials attached. You are not expected to parse it.
Sumimasen. Omakase wa ikura desu ka. Omakase wa gosen-en to ichiman-en no koosu ga gozaimashite, honjitsu wa Hokkaidou no uni ga haitte orimasu. Yasashii nihongo de, yukkuri onegaishimasu. Gosen-en to, ichiman-en desu.Two Lesson 3 numbers, joined by Lesson 5’s to — the decision is yours now, and either answer is Omakase, onegaishimasu with a nod at the tier you chose.
How to behave: the sushi laws
- At the kaiten: the plate is the price, the stack is the bill. Check the color chart, take freely from the belt or order fresher from the screen (the jingle above announces its arrival on the express sled). Plates stack at your elbow until staff count them; the hot-water tap and powdered tea at every seat are your free, bottomless ocha.
- Dip the fish, not the rice. Nigiri goes into the shouyu fish-side down — rice drinks soy sauce and falls apart, and the chef notices both. Eating nigiri with clean fingers is fully legitimate; one bite per piece, soon after it’s made.
- Gari is an intermission, not a topping. The ginger resets your palate between pieces. Stacking it on the fish is the one move that makes a counter chef quietly sad.
- The counter is a conversation; the omakase is trust. Address the chef as taishou, let osusume and the Lesson 9 small-talk arc do their work, and if the budget matters, settle the course price before the first piece — the repair drill above is that exact exchange. An izakaya-trained Nihonshu wa arimasu ka (that booster) pairs conspicuously well here.
Checkpoint
Your exit exam, out loud. Each line below sets a scene from this booster — say the Japanese before you tap; the tap plays the answer. Check yourself, repeat after the audio matching its pronunciation, rhythm, and speed, and if one won’t come, replay its section. These are this deck’s speaking cards — in Anki they queue up after the listening cards, so you’ll always have heard a line before you’re asked to produce it.
Vocabulary reference
| # | Romaji | English | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | kaitenzushi | conveyor-belt sushi | the best first sushi outing |
| 2 | sara | plate | the color is the price |
| 3 | omakase | chef’s choice | Omakase, onegaishimasu. |
| 4 | taishou | “boss” — the counter chef | the friendly address |
| 5 | sabi-nuki | without wasabi | say it when ordering |
| 6 | wasabi | wasabi | already inside real nigiri |
| 7 | gari | pickled ginger | free, bottomless, between pieces |
| 8 | maguro | tuna | sushi’s backbone |
| 9 | saamon | salmon | the belt’s best seller |
| 10 | ebi | shrimp | promoted from the open-noun wilds |
| 11 | toro | fatty tuna | the gold-rimmed plate |
| 12 | botan | button | Kono botan desu ka. |
Recognize only — never say these. One per format:
| Script line | It means | You do |
|---|---|---|
| Chuumon no shouhin ga touchaku shimasu. | your order is arriving | clear a landing spot and take your plates |
| Tsugi wa nani o nigirimashou ka. | what shall I make next? | Answer with a fish name, Osusume wa?, or onegaishimasu to keep the omakase rolling |
Anki deck
Drill this booster’s audio anywhere: download the Sushi Restaurants Anki deck. Sentence cards are the course; vocab cards are backup — suspend them unless a word won’t stick.