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The story
Food & Life Companies, which operates the conveyor-belt sushi chain Sushiro, has announced it will open its first US location near Times Square in New York this October. Nigiri will start at $5 (about ¥800) a plate, otoro (fatty tuna) will run $10, and a US-exclusive “Shrimp Double Cheese Roll” will be $14. On the forum, some reacted to the yen conversion by calling ¥800 pricey, but plenty pushed back, arguing it’s hardly expensive given New York’s hourly wages and cost of living — sparking a debate over how to weigh exchange rates against wage gaps.
[New York, Jiji Press] Food & Life Companies (F&LC) President Masahiro Yamamoto held a media briefing in New York on August 31, announcing that Sushiro, the company’s conveyor-belt sushi brand, will open its first US location near Times Square in Midtown Manhattan this October.
The menu will feature nigiri like tuna and shrimp starting at $5 (about ¥800) a plate, with otoro at $10. US-exclusive items will also be offered, including a $14 “Shrimp Double Cheese Roll.”
At the briefing, Yamamoto emphasized: “We’ve expanded overseas mainly across Asia, but now it’s time for a new challenge. We wanted to take it on in New York — one of the world’s biggest cities, a place that broadcasts information out to the entire world.”
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Quit dragging your feet
Kappa's on the verge of "tou-san" — a pun on 父さん (dad) and 倒産 (bankruptcy).
Overseas expansion is a pipe dream for them.
It's a place where hourly wages top ¥10,000
That's ¥8,000 for 10 plates
From a New Yorker's perspective that's dirt cheap
NYC minimum wage to be raised to $30 (¥4,500)!? Could end up more than 3x Japan's
https://www.dailysunny.com/2026/03/16/nynews260316-2/
Even dirt-poor jobs like weeding pay ¥4,500 an hour over there
For it to actually match Japan, wouldn't the dollar need to be worth like ¥50?
Japan's the country almost every foreign visitor calls cheap! (´･ω･｀)
People say it all over the world
Even people who love Japan and want to work here worry that once they move here they won't be able to afford to leave (because the pay's too low)
A guy from Zambia was raving that a ¥13,000-a-night Toyoko Inn was cheap cheap
(´；ω；`) I'm staying somewhere cheaper than the Zambian guy
¥13,000 is actually on the pricier side for a Toyoko Inn!
Is anyone actually going to buy that?
For health-conscious people, Japanese food is super appealing
It just dropped out of the developed world and became a cheap, backwater country
Making money in US stocks while living in Japan is, to put it mildly, the ultimate cheat code
In London the low end is ¥1,000 a plate, and the pricier spots run ¥3,000 a plate
Marugame Seimen is pricey overseas too
Last year in Stockholm, lunch at a conveyor-belt sushi place ran ¥20,000 a person
Genuinely easy to live in
Even foreigners are coming to Japan because they can't afford to live in their own countries
Isn't each plate American-sized too?
Portions over there are massive
It's not "framing"
The weak yen is just a fact
According to city survey data, New York's average monthly income is about $5,128 (roughly ¥740,000-750,000).
Compared to Tokyo's average monthly salary (about ¥370,000-380,000), that puts New York at roughly double.
Starbucks prices are about even between the two, so maybe imported stuff is just pricier there
Sounds like Ippei's old man would raise his hand for that one
No prices listed
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Factor in a 3x wage gap, New York, and the weak yen
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¥800 ÷ 3x wage gap × 0.625 exchange rate = equivalent of about ¥166
To a New Yorker that's not really that expensive
Japanese people are just getting poorer lol
Exactly. It only looks expensive because we're viewing it in yen.
Aren't you double-counting the exchange rate?
The wage gap already gets normalized into one currency via the exchange rate, doesn't it?
Background and Points of Debate
Conveyor-belt sushi chains’ overseas expansion has mostly focused on Asia until now, making this the first step into North America. New York City has been raising minimum wages across industries including food service, and the report cited in the thread about a possible hike to a $30 minimum wage is part of that trend. Opinions in the thread split along a simple line: do you judge the price “expensive” by converting it straight to yen, or “reasonable” by comparing it to local hourly wages and cost of living? Judging overseas prices by exchange rate alone, without accounting for local wage levels and actual purchasing power, is a pitfall that comes up again and again in debates like this one. Some posters also pointed out that the thread may be double-counting the exchange rate and the wage gap, underscoring how tricky a simple comparison like this can be.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread “Sushiro Opens First US Location in NYC This October — Plates Start at ¥800.”
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