The sushi bar accommodated only about 10 people at a time, but was often packed with hungry customers. Inside the Genroku-zushi Restaurant, soon after it opened in the 1950s. Seated at the left counter, second person from the right, is the inventor, Shiraishi Yoshiaki. In the traditional sushi bar, freshness is the key-the sushi is prepared only after someone orders it. If the orders keep coming thick and fast, the restaurant has to hire more staff.
More staff means more money spent on wages.
Shiraishi needed to find a way to avoid the extra expense. He remembered how, a few days before, he had watched beer bottles moving on a conveyor belt at a brewery. This sparked an idea-if he made the sushi and then sent it past his customers, they could choose for themselves and he could keep costs down. So Shiraishi decided to put his sushi on a conveyor belt. Wood seemed best, except that the raw fish and frequent washing would rot it quickly.