himawarisushi

Delicious rice that was the perfect temperature and well seasoned. Wide variety of fresh seafood options at various price points. The friendly staff is quick to help if you’d like to order something not on the conveyer. The personal tea station is also a very nice touch.

Great sushi place! Lovely fresh sushi and fast service. We ended up with ¥4000 for 3 people and we were stuffed and satisfied. The three piece salmon roll is delicious! We greatly enjoyed our visit. Everyone is friendly.

for the price and quality, I’ve never had better sushi. good selection, short wait (despite the queue), good prices. they also speak English, always a plus in Japan. be aware: cash only!

This is a keitan-​zushi place, one friendly to gaijin, one of the primary reasons I chose to eat here.
I chose himawarisushi based on Unilocal reviews, thank goodness there are some Unilocal reviews in English in the Shinjuku area.
This is a typical keitan, fairly big with seating for about 30. I was greeted when I entered and ushered around to the far side. I was given a menu (didn’t need it, the food is right there)! I’d read in reviews that the tea was strong, I made a cup but didn’t realize the hot water dispenser was a push… Anyway, the waitress noticed me trying to get hot water, came over, and helped right away.
The chefs were talkative and seemed to be enjoying themselves and the work they were doing. There were quite a few Japanese customers here (always a good sign) and they were ordering quite a bit off the menu.
I had quite a bit of tuna nigiri and it was very good. They had plates with 3 different kinds of sushi, which I also really liked. The selection was pretty good, at one point the chef’s got pretty enthusiastic by holding the line so they could make room for more plates, some plates when tumbling from the line… whoa!
The sushi was good and fresh. The selection was sufficient though I wouldn’t say I got everything I might have wanted. Not having the language skills, I wasn’t comfortable ordering exactly what I wanted. To be fair, I never order what I want from keitan at home, either.

This was one of our first restaurant stops in Japan and it was an amazing start to our trip. After checking in at the hotel and taking the train to Shinjuku station we headed out to find the electronics store. After being severely disappointed we headed out to walk around and look for food where we came across himawarisushi.
We did come close to their closing time, maybe about half an hour prior but we were greeted and shown two seats, while the waiter took my umbrella (borrowed from hotel) and placed it into an holder.
It’s a revolving sushi joint but there weren’t many dishes out as it is late in the day, rather dishes with the pictures, and the waiter handed us a menu, in which they had an English version, and we told him what we wanted.
I’m generally ok with wasabi on my nigiri but my friend is adamant against it and we were accommodated very well for our preferences. They have hot water spouts per 2 seats and green tea powder to make hot green tea, smart idea, I wonder how come we can’t do that in the states.
The states have nothing close to the sushi in Japan, it is just a worldly experience. I ordered the salmon, otoro, Unagi, giant shrimp, seared duck, and some
kind of clam nigiri. I can’t remember everything my companion ordered but she thoroughly enjoyed the sushi. Everything was made fresh and was absolutely delicious. We even ordered seconds of the Unagi and otoro because it was so good.
My companion also ordered the miso soup with clams and it came with quickly with a handful of clams and she said it tasted great.
Beware, it’s cash only. Well actually a lot of places is cash only but when you’re finished, you let them know and they tally it up, give you a slip and you pay near the door.
I think we spent about 3000 yen, which isn’t too bad considering we ordered a lot and I would most definitely come back when I revisit Japan.
Japan has ruined sushi for me forever. God dammit

Disclosure: This is an English friendly restaurant. English menus are available and some of the staff speak enough English to make everything work. They are super friendly as well!
For those new to conveyor belt sushi restaurants this is how it works.
When you walk in, take a seat at the counter. There will be clean mugs on the counter along with soy sauce, pickled ginger and a little short ceramic container. Open the short little container and spoon yourself a few scoops of green tea power into a mug. There will be a spigot (tap) on the counter near you for hot water, push the black button with the mug and hot water will pour out. Green tea is free.
For food, plates of sushi and other items will move by you at the counter on a conveyor belt. Plates are colour or design coordinated to a price. There will be a legend on the counter which will tell you how much each colour costs. The prices ranged from ¥150 to ¥500. When you spot something you like to eat, take the plate off the conveyor belt (if the plate is on a little riser tray or its a plate with a little sign on it leave those on there). There is usually a plate with a sign on it with a picture of sushi and words telling you what it is (English mainly but there was French and Spanish on some as well) and then the plates following will have that item on it.
There’s also an English menu for those who ask for it which will have pictures, the English name and how to say it in Japanese. This is handy because if there is something you want and it hasn’t come around on the conveyor belt you can just order it from the chefs in the centre of the sushi counter.
When you are done with eating, ask on of the wait staff (it the chefs) for the bill (not the cheque, they didn’t understand what I meant when I asked for the cheque) and they will tally up the plates to calculate your bill. You take the little slip they will give you to the front where there a cash register and pay there.
Now for the review on the food!
There is a lot of variety and selection of sushi all of which taste good. It’s an inexpensive restaurant so with that taken into consideration the quality is good for the price. You are getting good value and a fun time & atmosphere. Two people can eat well under ¥3,500. We did it in ¥2,700.

Himawari is one of our favorite places to eat at when we’re in Shinjuku. It’s a kaiten or conveyor belt sushi joint that seats about 20 – 25 people. Although being a chain restaurant, quality is important here. The rice is something that I always pay attention to. It’s moist, and sticks well together and they don’t give you too much rice per sushi. I’ve been to others where their rice is dry, and it falls apart.
Their menu is very extensive making it easy for everyone to find something they love. Plates run from about ¥100 to ¥500. A plate of Ikura is ¥200! In Hawaii it’s about ¥500!
The staff is excellent with great customer service. We came here about 3 different times on our stay. We speak minimal Japanese but they were very attentive to us. They also gave us complimentary sushi after becoming familiar with the sushi chefs and wait staff. We absolutely love Himawari Shinjuku and we will be back!

This was my fiancé’s favorite meal in Japan and we had some really good food. I’m not sure what the previous reviewer was talking about regarding the wasabi. Every sushi we ate had a good helping of wasabi swiped on top of it. It’s a conveyer belt sushi joint, but the chefs are fast a preparing the fish, so the belt was never empty. The fish was extremely fresh here and the staff was extremely attentive. Although, you tend to get that level of service everywhere Japan. The sushi was decently price 150 yen — 500 yen for 2 – 3 pieces. I loved their 3 kinds of fish plate where you can pick the fish (salmon or tuna) and they give you different parts of the fish. I’m allergic to tuna but my fiancé said the toro (fatty tuna) was the best he’s ever had and we went to a couple sushi places after this.
This place is located down a small alleyway near the Shinjuku highway bus terminal, I’m glad we just happen to walk in.

My sushi kept coming out without wasabi.
I was torn between just eating it like that or asking the sushi sensei for some wasabi. I didn’t want to be that one rude foreigner who asked for wasabi because there’s a chance that the sensei deliberately left it out. That would be too insulting to the restaurant and I would never be able to live it down in the Japanese culture.
But them parasite stories thooooo. Ever since those stories came out, I get a little uncomfortable eating sushi without wasabi. To be fair, chances are that the sushi is ultra-​safe even without wasabi. But to be even more fair, chances never roll my way when I’m doing a multiple choice test, so there’s that.
As you can see, I was in somewhat of a predicament at Himawarisushi. To eat and risk the parasite (a very, very low risk, probably more of a mental barrier), or to ask for wasabi and risk insulting the Chef?
My buddy and I just decided to stop ordering. Instead, we took this one interesting sushi dish and dared each other to eat it. It was Shirako, or also known as Milt.
Shirako’s street name is actually just fish sperm. That’s right, we ate fish sperm. And it was actually pretty delicious if you can somehow wrap your mind around it. But I cannot do it again. Pretty sure it was a one time thing. But for that one time, I swallowed.