I’m in Japan right now (I’m Japanese American) and visiting family. We went to the grocery store today and bought some sushi and it was on par with anything I’ve had in US sushi places. I ended up getting an 8 piece assorted box that went on sale because it was around 8pm, and it was 700 yen (about USD $4.75). The scallop and salmon in particular were standouts. Why the hell is it so expensive back home????
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Skills to make it are less common, and with it still moving throughout the US it is going to be more expensive to justify the cost of adding it to an existing menu or to make a new restaurant.
The cost of importing ingredients that aren’t as common in the US might also add to it. Especially if they are inland getting fish.
There are a lot of reasons but one of the reasons is that Japan is a long, thin island nation with a strong fishing industry on pretty much every section of the coastline. Fish, and a wide array of different kinds, is also culturally ingrained in Japanese cuisine and day to day meals. These things result in a very strong, highly competitive fishing and seafood industry that helps bring down fish prices and increase quality. Whole fish prices in the US can be 3 to 10 times more expensive than in Japan, depending on the species.
In addition, in the US even on the coastlines, most sushi restaurants will use imported fish, not locally caught ones. I have only seen one or two restaurants here near NYC that use seafood other than uni caught along the north altlantic coastline. This heavy reliance on importing fish will increase the prices because someone has to pay for all those thousands of miles of transportation.
Four main reasons
1. Sushi is extremely common in Japan as it’s integral to Japanese cuisine.Competition from the many sushi establishments naturally lower prices. A small suburban town in the US might have 1 sushi restaurant.
2. Fish used for sushi is abundant in Japan as its chain of islands in the pacific. A midwestern town has a long supply chain to deal with that increases costs.
3. The US is much richer than Japan . Yes Japan is a high income country but the average American makes 2-3x what a Japanese salaryman does. The lost decade after japans economic collapse in the 90s took a real toll on Japan and its GDP per capita is roughly 2/3 of what Americas is and incomes even larger disparity. Prices are cheap because you make an American salary. You wouldn’t think it’s so cheap earning a Japanese salary. This is the same as people visiting Vietnam and thinking wow this bowl of pho cost $1. Until you realize the average Vietnamese only makes a few dollars a day.
4. The Japanese yen had crashed from 100 to the dollar to 150 to the dollar in recent years. This is largely indicative of japans economic woes and yes it makes your dollar stronger and travel to Japan cheaper. But this isn’t a great thing for Japanese looking to buy foreign made goods or travel to the US for example. Their currency got devalued by 30%.
For fun
Seriously???? A cultural and geological cuisine is cheaper elsewhere from mainland?? Bruh.
Did you find that in the US the sushi was just “larger” but simply not as flavourful?
What is sushi back?
Everything is expensive in the US
In the US they can profit more by charging a lot more for sushi as almost a luxury fast food.
People eat sushi not associating it with rice rolls.
In Japan everyone eats it there is nothing luxury about it. And literally it’s just rice rolls with some fish.
Because assholes control the market
The yen is trash right now. Letting American tourists like to buy a lot for cheap
Why is American steak back in Japan so expensive?
Another reason: the market charges as much as it can get away with. Low-income demographics aren’t as interested in “exotic” foods so there’s no need to bring down the price for them. They like chicken and waffles. The people who are interested in sushi are usually willing and able to pay $10 for a tray of shitty supermarket sushi, so the store has no reason to charge less. Simple economics.
Why is pizza so expensive in Japan?
Because sushi is super hard to make and has like a lot of ingredients like fish which are rare and pricey ?
Seafood in general is much more expensive here. Just like fruit is more expensive in Japan. Our country just doesn’t eat very much fish, so it’s almost turned into a specialty market, and prices need to be jacked for the seafood industry to make a profit with a lower demand. Also, US companies just demand a higher profit margin than Japanese companies in general – about twice as high on average.
Because of the Moonies
Because EVERYTHING in the U.S. is too expensive.
You can make your own. It’s not that hard.
Tell me what store makes sushi?
その999円の寿司がアメリカだと幾らに変わりますか？
Because EVERYTHING IN THE US IS EXSPENSIVE!
Japan is a system of ISLANDS?
Sushi is cheap in Florida
That damn Joe Byron
Because it’s imported and then transported and then delivered by a wholesaler and then prepared for you to eat
Same reason cheeseburgers are expensive in Japan.
Because everything is expensive here
This dude clearly had his parents pay for his airline ticket and everything possible lmaooo
This is completely common sense
While it’s true that salaries in Japan are lower than the US, that doesn’t tell the full story. Zooming out and ignoring sushi for a second, **food** in Asian countries is much cheaper relative to average salaries. Or put another way, in the US we have remarkably low purchasing power when dining out.
Median salary in the US is $59,428. Median salary in Japan is ~6,180,000 Yen.
To get a decent meal in NYC, I expect to spend around $30/person on the mid-lower end.
To get a solid meal in Tokyo, I expect to spend around 1900 yen / person on the mid-low end.
So ignoring income tax, in the US your annual salary can afford 1981 meals and in Japan your annual salary can afford 3120 meals (1.57X more).
Eating out in America is a really bad value -and I haven’t even touched on how the quality of the food compares.
Same reason as to why sausages and cheeses are so fcking expensive here in Japan
Because our food sucks
Theres only one clear answer, cause US is going down. Its not supposed to be that expensive but everything iss rn. In Finland youre lucky if you can het store bought sushi for less than euro a piece. Restaurants charge 5-6€ per shake pair. Its ridiculous. 10-15yrs ago only the top notch sushi restaurant like kaiten charged that much for a shake pair
The same reason you’re gonna pay like $40 for a medium pizza in Japan. Either you don’t understand basic economics or you’re clout hunting
Because it’s not deep fried and covered in sugar.
Because EVERYTHING in the US is unaffordable.