Sushi Bus: Japan’s first conveyor-belt bus lets you eat sushi while sightseeing around Tokyo

Jiro dreams of sushi, but he never would’ve dreamed of this.

When you’re visiting Japan on a tight schedule and trying to pack as much as possible into your short time here, being able to do two things at once can be a timesaver .

It can also become a weird, surreal and Japan-only experience, if the new “ Sushi Bus ” is anything to go by.

This unusual new attraction combines conveyor belt sushi with a sightseeing bus tour , by putting a working sushi conveyor belt on the second floor of an open-top double-decker bus to create a new experience that’s said to be the first of its kind in the world .

Developed by Sushi Bus Co. in collaboration with Willer Across, which rents out restaurant buses with onboard kitchens, this new service is as impressive as it sounds: p assengers sit on the second floor of an open-top bus while sushi travels around them on a conveyor belt , allowing them to eat as they take in views of Tokyo. ▼ Yes, the sushi really will be moving around the bus.

The bus will depart from the Kajibashi Parking Lot near Tokyo Station, but unlike a conventional sightseeing tour, it won’t be travelling to a specific destination.

Instead, it will go on a spin around the city, much like the conveyor belt inside it, passing famous sites while passengers enjoy all-you-can-eat sushi on the 70-minute tour .

The restaurant bus has a kitchen on the first floor, where staff prepare a variety of sushi.

An elevator inside the bus transports the finished sushi to the second floor, where a staff member places it onto the conveyor belt running alongside the passenger seats. ▼ The elevator system in action.

The current plan is for the bus to have just 20 seats , so there will only be 20 diners on board.

The company says this limited capacity is part of the appeal, and because the bus is so unusual, it’s likely to attract plenty of attention as it travels around Tokyo. making Shibuya Scramble Crossing , Ginza and Kaminarimon in Asakusa some of the likely contendors for sites along the yet-to-be determined route.

The Sushi Bus concept, which has been in development for roughly two and a half years , started with an April 2024 illustration of what the bus might look like.

The road to making it a reality involved a lot of testing and lateral thinking, as the companies involved had to work out a way to install a sushi conveyor belt on a moving vehicle while also dealing with the kitchen facilities and other requirements involved in operating a restaurant bus. ▼ Team members hard at work, to accomplish “a project no one had ever attempted before”.

The conveyor itself required extensive testing with Kitanihon Kako, a major Japanese manufacturer of sushi conveyor systems, to prevent sushi from falling off the belt in the case of sudden braking.