What is the attraction of sushi?

When the Covid-19 pandemic is over, I would like to go an authentic sushi restaurant.

I want to eat Sushi soon.

So I end up thinking of sushi these days.

By the way, what is the attraction of sushi?

Sushi represents a traditional Japanese dish.

However I think that the majority of Japanese people may not answer this question.

They would probably answer, “Sushi is delicious and it has a long history”. 

But everyone knows about that and there are many dishes like that all over the world.

What is the attraction of sushi?

I have three answers, and I will explain these specifically.

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Ⅰ. Sushi is the dish that makes us feel the changing of the four seasons.

Authentic sushi restaurants give great importance to fish in season.

The taste of fish changes each season.

It is generally said that fish is most tasty before spawning.

The spawning season varies according to the variety of fish.

So sushi chefs pay a lot of attention when buying fish.

It is May now and abalone is just in season and it is the best time to eat it.

Authentic sushi restaurants teach us the delicacies of the seasons in Japan.

We can realize the sense of the seasons when we eat sushi throughout the year.

This sense is very important for an understanding of Japanese beauty.

The reason is that love of the four seasons is the most important emotion which lies at the heart of Japanese traditional culture.

Eating sushi is one way to realize the cycle of the seasons in Japan.

Japanese people in old times obeyed the laws of nature and they enjoyed each season.

Their highly sensibility created a distinctive Japanese culture.

Today, we do not know how appreciate the four seasons as much as they did.

For example, we can eat summer vegetables in winter due to technological development.

Because of that, we are losing our keen sense of the seasons.

This is a critical situation for us.

Authentic sushi restaurants cherish fish in season, so when I eat sushi I feel like my sense of season is returning.

I think that eating authentic sushi means cultivating sensitivity.

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Ⅱ. To eat authentic sushi means to appreciate art.

I believe sushi is an art.

Whenever I see authentic sushi, I think it’s so beautiful and it takes my breath away.

Sushi is not only a delicacy but also a beautiful and simple art.

Although it appears at first glance to be simple dish, it is actually very profound.

When a sushi chef puts sushi on the rest in front of you, you have to eat it right away.

This is because it is the best timing to eat sushi.

So I can only enjoy beautiful sushi for a moment. But that’s why it leaves a strong impression on me.

I think authentic sushi is an impermanent, beautiful art.

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Ⅲ. Sushi chefs have an amazing technique.

I like to observe sushi chefs in action.

They make sushi in front of us, so we can see their skillful technique.

I’m always fascinated by them.

They work in a tense place, and their serious looks are beautiful.

I think they are, so to speak, traditional craftspersons.

Sushi is a traditional Japanese craft that is made of food.

In an authentic sushi restaurant, we order sushi from the sushi chef directly.

The communication with the sushi chef is a part of the attraction of sushi.

I always go to an authentic sushi restaurant  by myself. This is because I want to concentrate on enjoying sushi.

I appreciate sushi and I always enjoy talking a little with sushi chef.

I never talk for long as this is the polite way.

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If you want to enjoy sushi like me, you have to go to an authentic, traditional-style sushi restaurant, not to a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant.

I’m not trying to object to conveyor-belt sushi.

This sushi is very cheap compared to authentic sushi and it tastes OK.

I think that is fine as a kind of fast food.

But it is different from authentic sushi.

Sushi is not only a slice of raw fish on a vinegared rice ball; sushi is one of the aesthetic senses of the Japan.