Sachi found a kaiten-sushiya, or conveyor-belt sushi joint, in Higashi-Ikebukuro via Yahoo Gourmet. It’s on a side street just off of the Sunshine 60 shopping street. It’s called “Waka Taka,” which I assume is a reference to the sumo wrestlers Wakanohana and Takanohana; the hint is the picture of a sumo wrestler on the receipt (Is that supposed to be Waka?).

It’s not a bad place. I’ve eaten at quite a few sushi shops, and this one was pretty decent. Better, they have a simple pricing policy: every sushi plate is ¥136 ($1.12), with soft drinks priced the same. Beer is more expensive, but pretty much everything else has that basic price. The receipt at right shows the total cost of Sachi’s and my lunch. She had seven plates of sushi, I had six. Not too shabby.

Most sushi joints will have a range of different-colored or -patterned plates; each different plate represents a different price. Waka-Taka just has one plate, meaning that the maguro and the chu-toro are the same price. A few of the more expensive plates have a different way of charging more: instead of getting two pieces of sushi on a plate, you just get one. But that’s as far as it goes, and as far as I could tell, there were only about a half dozen such 1-piece plates out of several dozen different menu choices.

As is usual, they offer free tea, cold water, and ginger. If you’re looking for a quick, cheap lunch in East Ikebukuro, this is a very good candidate.

You’ll find the shop located here.