When I moved from New York to Sydney, I was amazed at how many more “kaiten-zushi” (rotating sushi on a conveyer belt) restaurants there were in the city. There were plenty of sushi takeaways in the Big Apple but not nearly as many kaiten-zushi places. I had heard that New Yorkers were scared that other customers would put the sushi plate back on the conveyer belt after “breathing on it” during inspection.

I think the kaiten-zushi business took off down under because Aussies tend to be more relaxed about things. And hey, it sure is fun watching the sushi morsels go by and marveling at the abundance of options.

Now that Aussies are used to the idea of gulping down raw fish, the kaiten-zushi business is going from strength to strength.

Japan Food Corp. Australia, which wholesales Japanese food ingredients, has seen sushi rice, soy sauce, nori and wasabi sales soar in the last five years. Yasumasa Kazawa, branch manager of the company, pointed out that every month, one to three new sushi restaurants open in NSW alone. He said the state of NSW houses around 500 sushi takeaways, about 10 percent of which are kaiten-zushi. The total was around 350 only five years ago.

Many non-Japanese are attracted to the business because turnover is high and time spent in negative profit is relatively short. JFC Australia recently started wholesaling sushi seasoning, which is a mixture of vinegar, salt and sugar, so anyone starting a kaiten-zushi business can get the right sushi rice balance.

Popular among business starters is the automated sushi robot, which was devised by a Japanese machinery firm in 1981. It shapes the rice for you quicker and more accurately than any novice chef. Surely you can’t be more Japanese than a just-in-time conveyer armed with a robot?