Sushi for beginners

The first half is a field guide to toppings: tuna, salmon, white fish, shiny fish, shellfish, uni and ikura, group by group, with photos and notes on how they differ. The second half is about eating: a rough order, how to use soy sauce, and whether to use hands or chopsticks, with illustrations.

First, a few words you will hear at any sushi bar.

Gari, agari (tea) and oaiso (the bill) began as staff slang. As a customer, “ginger”, “tea” and “the bill, please” (okaikei) are all you need.

The nigiri most of us picture when we hear “sushi” goes back to Edomae sushi, which took off in Edo (today's Tokyo) in the 1820s. Chefs at street stalls shaped each piece in front of the customer to be eaten straight away. With no refrigeration, they cured fish in vinegar or salt, simmered it, or marinated it in soy sauce, work that made the fish both tastier and longer-lasting. That is the wisdom of Edomae.

First, the big picture. A 2026 survey asked 3,000 conveyor-belt sushi customers which toppings they often eat, and salmon came first for the 15th year in a row.

Maruha Nichiro, Conveyor-Belt Sushi Consumer Survey 2026: 3,000 people aged 15 to 59 who eat at conveyor-belt sushi at least once a month; multiple answers allowed.

Here are the classic toppings in this guide, by group. A ◎ under “For first-timers” means it is easy to enjoy even if you are not used to raw fish.

Tuna is the star of sushi, and the fun part is that each part of the same fish tastes completely different.

Akami: tuna at its purest

The clear red meat from the centre of the body up towards the back. With little fat, it has a clean, savoury flavour and aroma. In fact, in the Edo period tuna spoiled easily and was considered a lowly fish; sushi chefs mostly used lean meat marinated in soy sauce, known as zuke.

Chutoro and otoro: fat that melts

Chutoro balances lean flavour and fat; it comes from the rear of the belly and from just under the skin of the back. Otoro is the belly near the head, so full of white fat that it seems to melt at body temperature. Fatty tuna has only been widely eaten for about 50 years, but today it is the headline act of any sushi bar.

Salmon: the conveyor-belt favourite

Orange flesh with white stripes of fat, mild and mellow, loved by children and adults alike. Surprisingly, raw salmon sushi is fairly new in Japan. In the 1980s, Norway promoted farmed salmon to Japan under “Project Japan”, and salmon that could be eaten raw caught on. Before that, Japanese salmon was always cooked, grilled or salted.

Hamachi and buri: rich yellowtail

Hamachi and buri are the same fish. Yellowtail is a shusse-uo, a “promotion fish” whose name changes as it grows, and the big ones are called buri. Silky fat and a pleasant firmness; winter kan-buri is especially good.

Fish with almost translucent white flesh are light and refined. Their flavour is delicate, which makes them a perfect first piece.

• Tai (sea bream) — the classic white fish: a hint of sweetness and a firm texture
• Hirame (flounder) — mild and springy. Engawa, the muscle at the base of the fins, is rich and crunchy
• Shimaaji (striped jack) — translucent flesh with elegant fat; the best of white fish and oily fish together

Some shops serve white fish with salt and a squeeze of sudachi citrus. In that case, skip the soy sauce and eat it as it is.

In sushi, fish with gleaming silver skin, such as kohada, aji, saba and iwashi, are called hikarimono, “shiny things”. They are full of umami, and curing them in vinegar gives a lovely balance of tartness and sweetness.

Kohada is the emblem of Edomae sushi. It is a young gizzard shad, and because it spoils quickly, chefs began curing it in vinegar. The flesh is soft and full of small bones, so it tests a chef's skill; people say kohada is the heart of an Edomae sushi bar.

Aji (horse mackerel) is usually served raw, topped with ginger or spring onion: rich flesh with a fresh aroma. Saba (mackerel) comes vinegar-cured as shime-saba. Try shiny fish once you are comfortable with sushi, and you will discover how deep it goes.

Hotate (scallop) is plump and tender, and gets sweeter as you chew. It has no strong flavour, so it is a good choice if raw fish is new to you.

Akagai (ark shell) lives up to its name, “red shell”, with eye-catching colour, and is the classic Edomae shellfish. Its charms are a scent of the sea and a crisp bite. Surf clam, whelk and geoduck each bring a different texture too.

How do you make sushi from uni and ikura, which are too soft to shape? The answer is gunkan-maki: rice wrapped in a band of nori to hold the topping. It is said to have been invented by the first owner of Kyubey, a famous sushi bar in Ginza, and it is named after its side view, which looks like a battleship (gunkan).

Uni: melting sweetness, the taste of the sea

Sea urchin melts on the tongue and spreads its sweetness, with the scent of the sea rising behind it. Deep orange bafun-uni and paler yellow murasaki-uni differ in both colour and taste.

Ikura: jewels that pop

Salmon roe, separated bead by bead and marinated in soy sauce or similar. The name comes from the Russian word for fish roe. Each bead pops and releases its flavour, and it looks gorgeous in photos.

Not sure about raw fish? No problem: plenty of toppings are cooked or very easy to enjoy.

Prawn

The Edomae classic is boiled kuruma prawn, with pretty red and white stripes, a springy bite and gentle sweetness. Raw amaebi (sweet shrimp) is soft and sweet.

Squid

White, translucent squid has a sticky sweetness; aori-ika is called the king of squid. Many shops score the surface finely with a knife to make it easier to eat.

Anago (sea eel)

Simmered until tender and brushed with tsume, a sweet sauce made by reducing the cooking liquid. The fluffy eel and the sweet-salty glaze are irresistible. It already has sauce, so no soy sauce.

Tamago (egg)

The sweet, thick omelette is a hit with children. Every shop makes it differently, and some say you can judge a sushi chef by the tamago. It often comes last, almost like dessert.

Rolls

The classics are tekka-maki (lean tuna), kappa-maki (cucumber) and negitoro-maki (minced tuna with spring onion). They are also a refreshing way to finish a meal.

There is no rule that you must eat sushi in a fixed order. Still, going from light toppings to richer, fattier and stronger ones lets you enjoy each delicate flavour to the end.

Eat white fish after otoro and its delicate flavour gets lost in the fat. Before changing direction, have a slice of gari: your mouth resets and the next piece tastes fresh again.

What first-timers wonder about most is soy sauce, and hands or chopsticks. The answers are simple.

• Hands or chopsticks: both are fine — eating nigiri with your fingers is perfectly polite. Wipe your fingers on the oshibori towel first. No knives and forks
• A little soy on the fish — rice soaks up too much and falls apart. Turn the piece over and touch the edge of the fish to the soy
• One bite — nigiri is made to be eaten in one mouthful; try not to bite it in half and put it back
• No need for extra wasabi — there is already some between the fish and the rice. If you don't like it, ask for sabi-nuki
• Glazed or salted pieces as they are — eel with tsume, or pieces the chef has brushed with soy (nikiri), need no extra soy
• Gunkan with ginger — tipping it over spills the topping, so dip a slice of ginger in soy and brush it on top

At a sushi counter

• Eat each piece as soon as it arrives — at the counter, pieces come one at a time. Freshly made is the best moment
• Omakase or okonomi — omakase means the chef serves the day's best in order; okonomi means ordering piece by piece yourself. For a first visit, omakase is the easy choice
• Go light on perfume — strong scents drown out the delicate aroma of the fish
• Ask before taking photos — rules vary from shop to shop

At conveyor-belt sushi

Relaxed conveyor-belt sushi (kaiten-zushi) is great for travellers. These days most shops let you order on a touch screen and send your plates to your seat on an express lane.

• Never put a plate back on the belt — only take what you will eat
• Stack your empty plates — the bill is calculated from their colours and number (some shops have a slot to drop them in)
• Ginger, tea and soy sauce are self-service — they are at your seat. Many shops have powdered green tea and a hot-water tap