Taylor Swfit, Selena Gomez, the Hadids, the Kardashians, Beyonce, everyone who is someone in LA all know that the best place to get sushi is... in a strip mall? Thats right the trendiest spot in all of LA is Sushi park, an unassuming spot that looks like this from the outside
WELL OK THEN?? SO ITS JUST A STRIP MALL SUSHI PLACE THAT'S UNREASONABLY PRETENTIOUS COOL!!! to be clear, there are full-time paparazzi outside this place , so what do people have to say about this food?? the reviews are all either glowing saying it is the best place to get authentic sushi outside of japan (which is kidna funny becasue the owner is Korean) or people who say it way overpriced and not even that fresh of sushi. oh also you don't pick what you eat, the chef picks for you and you have to tell them when your 80% full. its all very "Jiro dreams of sushi" SO WHY IS IT SO POPULAR?? because rich people have no fucking taste and love the grungy strip mall aesthetic with the restrictive "authentic" experience of not choosing what you are eating or knowing the price till you are done. everything that makes this place suck to normal people makes it the hottest place among the super rich and famous
Not entirely - it got pretty big as a fast food for their kinda equivalent of the bourgeoisie during the Edo period
There's definitely average people priced sushi in Japan, though.
Fun fact: the unification church (yes, that one ) helped popularize sushi in the west - https://archive.ph/npz6U