What Osaka company opened the first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant?

Genroku Sushi opened the first conveyor-belt sushi restaurant. Yoshiaki Shiraishi opened the first Genroku Sushi restaurant in Higashi-Osaka in 1958, introducing a system that carried plates past seated diners.

Shiraishi reportedly developed the idea after seeing beer bottles move along a conveyor at an Asahi brewery. His goal was practical: a small sushi restaurant was difficult to staff and manage, so a moving belt could deliver dishes without requiring a waiter for every order.

The restaurant’s name is also rendered Genroku Zushi or Mawaru Genroku Sushi. That variation explains why a quiz may show “Genroku Sushi” while historical sources use a longer Japanese-style name. The later chains Kappa Sushi, Kura Sushi, and Sushiro helped popularize the format, but they were not the original pioneer.

Genroku Sushi gained much wider attention after appearing at the 1970 Japan World Exposition in Osaka. Conveyor-belt sushi then became a recognizable, lower-cost style of dining throughout Japan and abroad.