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Watch This Automated Tokyo Sushi Restaurant in Action

Hillary Dixler Canavan is Eater's restaurant editor and the author of the publication's debut book, Eater: 100 Essential Restaurant Recipes From the Authority on Where to Eat and Why It Matters (Abrams, September 2023). Her work focuses on dining trends and the people changing the industry — and scouting the next hot restaurant you need to try on Eater's annual Best New Restaurant list.

Here's a video from BBC's Spencer Kelly that shows a crazy automated sushi restaurant in Tokyo, Japan. The restaurant is like the ultimate conveyor belt sushi experience. Not only are dishes delivered to the table via conveyor belt, but a tableside touchscreen allows guest to put in special orders. Another computer in the kitchen monitors orders and the number of guests in the restaurant.

Even the billing process is automated. Instead of the plates being collected and tallied by a waiter as is standard in conveyor belt dining, this restaurant has patrons send dirty plates down a chute that tallies their bill. As a bonus, guests who dump five empty plates get the chance to play a game on their tablet, with the possibility of winning a prize that's delivered, of course, by a machine. There are still humans working the kitchen line and the cash register, so it's not quite as disturbing as the all-robot restaurant in Harbin, China. Go, watch:

Video: The automated Japanese restaurant without waiters

· The automated Japanese restaurant without waiters [BBC via Geek]
· All Tokyo Coverage on Eater [-E-]