Dishes from around the globe casually glide by on the conveyor belt. Even though you’ve stepped into a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, what passes before your eyes are dishes like roast duck with truffle sauce, roast beef, chicken adobo, and mooncakes. There are also menu items such as ropa vieja and Dawood Basha—dishes so unfamiliar that you may have no idea what they are at first glance. Opened on May 14 in Osaka’s Namba district, Kura Sushi Memorial Store Namba Sennichimae is the permanent successor to the Kura Sushi Osaka–Kansai Expo Store, which became one of the Expo’s biggest attractions. The Expo location featured 338 seats and an approximately 135-meter conveyor belt, making it the largest Kura Sushi ever built, and attracted more than 300,000 visitors during the Expo. While food throughout the Expo often cost over 2,000 yen, this restaurant gained fame by offering signature dishes from 70 countries for just 320 yen each, creating massive daily lines. Many visitors reported waiting up to eight hours, while others gave up on entering altogether. Plenty of people watched it on television and sighed, “I wish I could go.” Now, that excitement is back with the opening of this memorial store. As the company’s largest permanent location, it boasts 288 seats and a 128.3-meter conveyor belt right in the heart of Namba. Rather than simply being a new branch, it incorporates elements from the Expo restaurant, including the antibacterial sushi-cover displays, the conveyor belt itself, and wood-grain flat tables. It also features a cashier counter made from recycled plastic waste, making it a next-generation sustainable restaurant. Interestingly, company president Kunihiko Tanaka initially couldn’t let go of sushi when planning the Expo restaurant and reportedly created around 480 prototype dishes combining sushi with international cuisine. However, he changed course at the final stage. “Otherwise, we’d end up with dishes that were neither sushi nor authentic international cuisine—just some kind of strange sushi-inspired food.” Instead, the restaurant focused on serving representative dishes from 70 different countries. By deliberately placing ordinary sushi and international dishes on the same conveyor belt, the restaurant hoped to convey the message that there are no borders at the dining table. There was also no compromise on taste or ingredients. Ambassadors and others familiar with authentic local flavors repeatedly sampled the dishes to ensure they matched the originals as closely as possible. The goal of making the concept permanent extends beyond preserving memories of the Expo—it is also an effort to expand the appeal and possibilities of Japan’s conveyor-belt sushi culture. That’s why the company chose Namba, one of Japan’s premier destinations for international visitors, as the location for the store. An admirable vision, indeed. But enough introduction—the real question is: How does the food actually taste? We sampled several dishes, including some of the Top 5 most popular items at the Expo, and are ready to give our honest impressions.