About SushiMap
"A 37-country IT professional who believes the best sushi is not in rankings — it is in the right match for your journey."
SushiMap was born from a simple observation: most sushi recommendations for visitors to Japan funnel everyone toward the same 20 restaurants in Ginza and Roppongi. But Japan has 47 prefectures, each with distinct coastal geography, fishing traditions, and sushi culture. The best omakase experience for your trip might be at an 8-seat counter in Toyama, not a 3-Michelin-star institution in Tokyo.
The founder visits 100+ sushi restaurants a year across Japan, with a background in data-driven decision making from over a decade in the tech industry. That combination of deep sushi knowledge and systematic evaluation became SushiMap's 6-axis FitScore system.
Our Philosophy
We evaluate sushi through three lenses:
Local Advantage
Does the chef source from nearby ports? The closer the sea, the better the neta. This is what makes traveling beyond Tokyo worthwhile.
Intimate Counter
6-10 seats. One chef. Focused attention. The counter experience is where sushi comes alive.
Honest Craft
Proper aging, careful vinegar work, high nigiri ratio. Technique over theater, substance over showmanship.
These three principles shape our entire scoring system. We do not rank "the best sushi in Japan" — we help you find the sushi that fits your trip, your budget, and your preferences.
Scoring Transparency
Every restaurant on SushiMap is evaluated across 6 axes totaling 100 points. We call this the FitScore. The axes, their weights, and the reasoning behind each score are fully public.
Restaurants are labeled either "Scout Verified" (scored from primary scouting data) or "Database Recommended" (scored from publicly available information). We never claim to have visited a shop we have not.
See our full scoring methodologyAffiliate Disclosure
We earn commissions from some booking links. When you book a restaurant through a partner link on SushiMap, we may receive a small commission at no extra cost to you.
This revenue helps us maintain the site and fund scouting trips to new prefectures. However, it never affects our scores or recommendations. Scores are determined solely by our 6-axis FitScore methodology.
Affiliate links are always marked and use rel="nofollow sponsored".
We believe in full transparency.
Contact & Feedback
Found an error? Know a less-known counter we should scout? Have feedback about our methodology? We welcome input from the sushi community.
Sister Project
SushiMap is a Nodis project. Our sister site TravelStack helps travelers find the best eSIM plans for Japan — connectivity sorted, so you can focus on the sushi.