It's actually quite difficult to choose which sushi restaurant to go to for lunch. People tend to gravitate towards famous sushi restaurants because they're the "safe" choice, but many places have different quality and thickness of cuts for lunch, so just because a restaurant is great in the evening does not mean you'll get a great lunch there. However, recently there have been more sushi restaurants cropping up that dish out high-quality sushi for lunch and beyond,typically operated by younger owners. Here we'll be introducing some amazing restaurants for a sushi lunch!

This popular sushi restaurant is quietly nestled in a Ginza alleyway.
The owner is Daichi Ishikawa, who has trained at famous Michelin Star-holding restaurants like "Ikkyu."
His careful work brings out the delicious flavors in seasonal fish, garnering him passionate support from core sushi fans.
The restaurant's sushi rice is cooked al dente and seasoned with red vinegar, giving it a characteristic sour flavor, and it makes for an exquisite combination with boiled clam with a sweet and rich sauce.
The lunch course here, which you can enjoy for prices starting at just 2,500 yen on weekdays only, has some of the best cost performance in all of Tokyo.
Its great reputation has spread even overseas, to the point that the restaurant sees a not-insignificant number of foreign guests.
Be sure to give this restaurant a try amid all of your shopping in Ginza!

This super-popular sushi restaurant is a contender for the #1 or #2 sushi spot in Ginza!
The restaurant's owner, Yuichi Arai, has honed his skills at prestigious sushi restaurants "Kyubey" and "Sushi Sho."
Thanks to its warm reception and the pricey, high quality fish Chef Arai sources at Tsukiji Market, this restaurant quickly gained popularity after its opening in 2018, soon becoming one of the best restaurants in Ginza.
The most iconic dish at "Arai" has to be its bluefin tuna in the winter.
If you order the lunch course, priced at 15,000 yen, you can enjoy 3 top-rate types of fish sourced from "Yamakou," a prominent fishmonger at Tsukiji Market.
The delightful combination of tart sushi rice and fatty tuna is indescribably delicious.
If you're looking to try in-season sushi in Tokyo, be sure to give "Sushi Arai" a visit!

Note: Unfortunately, it is currently difficult to make reservations for Sushi Arai. Foreign tourists' reservations will only be accepted via the tableall link below.

This great sushi restaurant was opened in 2016 by Ryusuke Yamane, who has honed his skills at "Kyubey" and "Sushi-Ichi."
Their most popular selection is their great value lunch course, 10,000 yen for 15 pieces of sushi.
While it is a nigiri course, sides like Kyoto-style grilled mackarel, uni and hair crab chawanmushi, and sometimes even croquettes and other dishes made with truffle or caviar are served alongside as a testament to the restaurant's splendid service.
The sushi rice used varies between two types depending on the toppings (seafood) used.
The high-quality uni, carefully procured every morning by Chef Yamane, is paired with umami-packed red vinegar rice.
Although this is a very highly-rated restaurant, a popular secret is that it's relatively easy to book for reservations.
If you would like to stop by, be sure to contact the hotel concierge at least a month in advance of your desired reservation date.

This skilled sushi restaurant is located along Ginza's Namiki-Dori, the Mecca of Tokyo sightseeing.
Restaurant owner Kazuya Ichiyanagi has trained at restaurants like "Kyubey" and "Sushi Kanesaka."
He is a remarkably talented chef who has trained among the top restaurants in Tokyo's sushi scene for around 10 years.
The number one selling point of Ichiyanagi's sushi, which you can enjoy for lunch starting at 5,000 yen, is its amazing balance.
The sushi rice is not particularly impactful, but because of this it is able to pair with any toppings, and when you take a bite the rice gracefully falls apart in your mouth and blends together with the fish.
The nigiri, shaped small but elegantly, are also popular with female customers.
Lunch in Ginza is meant for couples, so be sure to try out "Ichiyanagi" with your significant other.

This sushi restaurant preserves accuracy to the historic style of Edo-mae sushi founded by the restaurant "Yoheizushi" in Ryogoku.
Now open for around 100 years, Kizushi first made its debut in 1923, and it is currently led by young chef Kazuhiro Yui, the 4th generation master of the store.
Above all else, the greatest appeal to this restaurant lies in its atmosphere, which is steeped in good old-fashioned Japanese culture.
What you'll taste in this dim, serious atmosphere is unique and delightful flavor of old-school sushi.
A variety of accessibly priced lunch courses are available, starting at around just 3,000 yen.
I recommend taking a walk around atmospheric Ningyocho before stopping by for some sushi.

Tucked away in the neighborhood of the National Diet Building, this "hidden" sushi restaurant is known to those in the know.
The lunch here at Suzu is highly regarded by a number of sushi fans as "the most satisfying sushi for lunch in Tokyo."
Owner Youichiro Fujii honed his skills at famous restaurant "Kyubey."
Although people either love or hate his man-of-few-words silent service style, the lunch courses, available from 5,000 yen and up, are definitely quality.
The rice, which has a faint sweetness to it, brings out the best in the great quality fish that Fujii picks out himself at Tsukiji Market every day.
Depending on the day, the 5,000 yen course may contain pieces like the legendary "keiji (particularly fatty young salmon)," only one of which is caught per around 10,000 salmon.
I highly recommend this restaurant if you want to enjoy top-quality sushi in Tokyo with a budget of under 10,000 yen.

This great sushi restaurant, located in a has garnered significant popularity across a wide range of sushi fans, male and female, young and old.
The owner, Takahisa Suzuki, was the right-hand-man to Toshikatsu Aoki of the famous "Sushi Aoki."
He had already passed 40 years of age by the time he established his own restaurant, and the opening of "Sushi Suzuki" didn't make any big news, but the restaurant gradually built up fans of the quality sushi made by Chef Suzuki thanks to his experience at a famous restaurant. Soon enough, Chef Suzuki was even ranked alongside Chef Yuichi Arai of "Sushi Arai," a talented and popular young chef.
Chef Suzuki's sushi is a high-level embodiment of "the Edo-mae sushi popular in Tokyo right now."
Sushi fans who eat at a variety of popular sushi restaurants are enchanted by Suzuki's marriage between fresh, high-quality fish and al dente rice with a faint aroma of red vinegar.
Unfortunately, the restaurant's popular lunches, known for their excellent cost performance, will no longer be offered after the end of this year, when Suzuki moves to Toyosu.
I highly recommend visiting "Sushi Suzuki" for lunch if you're a sushi fan planning to travel to Tokyo by fall of 2018.

This sushi shop is incredibly popular as a stop for foreign tourists.
The restaurant's owner, Hisayoshi Iwa, honed his skills at prestigious restaurants like "Kyubey" and "Sushi Kanesaka." Right after setting out and establishing his own restaurant he won his first Michelin star, and for over 10 years since his restaurant has been a constant in the competitive market of Ginza.
Chef Iwa is said to enjoy sake and sushi together, so he uses well-salted sushi rice that packs a punch.
The clearly defined flavors of the sushi at Ginza Iwa make it very popular with foreign tourists who aren't well-versed in Tokyo's authentic Edo-mae sushi, and supposedly the restaurant sees large numbers of foreign guests every day.
The restaurant staff are also accustomed to dealing with foreign guests.
Even beginners can relax and enjoy sushi at Ginza Iwa!

Since Michelin's debut in Tokyo, this talented sushi restaurant has continued to hold a star for 10 consecutive years.
The restaurant's owner, Shintaro Suzuki, did not train at any famous sushi restaurants, but instead tried the sushi at 200-300 different restaurants and came up with his own original take on Edo-mae sushi that's good enough to make any sushi fan moan.
The sushi rice, made with a blend of two types of red vinegar, is impressively sour.
It is rather firmly shaped so that it almost melts in your mouth along with the large slices of fish.
Many tourists come in with Michelin Guidebook in hand, so the staff is experienced with dealing with foreign customers.
Even foreign guests can enjoy this hard-line Edo-mae sushi without getting too stressed out or nervous.

This is one of Tokyo's most prestigious sushi restaurants, known for training many famous sushi chefs like Shinji Kanesaka of "Sushi Kanesaka," Yuichi Arai of "Sushi Arai," and Ryusuke Yamane of "Sushi Ryusuke."
In the present day, as more and more foreign customers come to visit, Ginza Kyubey supposedly sees as many as 300 guests per single day.
The most popular set is their Oribe course (7,500 yen), a 9-piece course that starts with the restaurant's pride-and-joy, medium-fatty tuna caught fresh in the coastal waters.
Many customers pull out their cameras to photograph the "dancing prawns," where still-living prawns are prepared before the customer's eyes and made into sushi.
Unusual for a sushi restaurant, many of the chefs here are used to dealing with foreign guests, so Kyubey is known for being a place where you can enjoy authentic Edo-mae sushi in a relaxed environment.
I highly recommend visiting here, especially if you're looking for your first-ever experience eating sushi in Tokyo.

This talented restaurant was opened by Hirokazu Igarashi, who honed his skills for 18 years at the famous "Shinbashi Tsuruhachi," a solitary shop that's admired by many sushi chefs.
The chefs in the "Tsuruhachi" group, like those at "Jinbocho Tsuruhachi" and "Shinbashi Shimizu," seem very hard-line, but Chef Igarashi here at the Tsuruhachi Bunten shop operates differently than those chefs, even still uploading pictures from the restaurant to Instagram to build appeal 3 years after the restaurant opened.
The sushi here is executed beautifully, following closely to the famous Edo-mae style of "Tsuruhachi."
The combination of toppings like mackerel, octopus, and clam, which require skillful handling from the chef, and fluffy al dente rice is indescribably delicious.
Chef Igarashi's personality is also a boon, keeping the atmosphere in the restaurant lighthearted.
This is the restaurant to visit if you want to have authentic Edo-mae sushi in a relaxed atmosphere inside a famous shop!

This new restaurant was opened on September 1st by Keita Aoyama, who has practiced at "Sushisai Wakichi" in Hokkaido, and "Sushi Mizutani" and "Sushi Taichi" in Ginza.
As expected of an independent shop opened by a star candidate who came from super-famous restaurants, as soon as "Sushi Keita" opened it garnered plenty of attention from sushi fans.
The rice, seasoned with red vinegar, is characterized by its sharp acidity that surpasses even that of "Taichi."
The combination of the al dente rice with a kick and the tuna and mackerel, fatty in the winter, is absolutely amazing.
Lunch is offered only on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays, but it has superb cost performance at 18 pieces of sushi for just 10,500 yen!
I've also heard that many happy fans are thrilled with Sushi Keita, saying that "There's finally a restaurant at Tsukiji where you can enjoy really great sushi!"
If you're interested, I'd recommend visiting as soon as possible.

This restaurant gets lots of attention from core sushi fans.
Chef Ichijou, who practiced for 24 years at the long-standing restaurant in Ningyocho "Rokubee," produces classic Edo-mae sushi.
Mackerel, gizzard shad, clam, and conger eel are ingredients that shine not just because of freshness, but because of the chef's skills, and those well-versed in sushi who wander around Ginza going from one sushi restaurant to the next are sure to be pleased.
Currently the only lunch course is an 8-piece course for 5,000 yen.
Reservations are fairly easy to make, which is always a plus.
I recommend this restaurant to those who want to try authentic and classical Edo-mae sushi crafted by a super-talented chef.

A unique sushi restaurant run by a female chef who comes from the famous restaurant "Shimizu." She is uniquely able to simultaneously faithfully reproduce the style of her training location, known as being the most "hardcore traditional" in Tokyo, and also create a comfortable and gentle atmosphere. There is a relaxed and pleasant atmosphere in this restaurant that you won't find at Shimizu (lol). It's also nice that it's pretty easy to get reservations here.

Among the many sushi restaurants owned by young chefs, this one truly demonstrates their bright and unique skills. The shari is made with red vinegar and has a sour finish. Lunch courses are priced as low as 12,000 yen, but the quality doesn't cut any corners, as the course comes with things like 4 pieces of hon-maguro (bluefin tuna) and high-class Higashizawa-brand uni (sea urchin).

A sushi restaurant opened and run by Chef Ishiyama-san, the iconic chef from Ginza's "Sushi Ya," which was overwhelmingly popular among foreign tourists. The shari is seasoned primarily with red vinegar, and its mild flavor helps complement the deliciousness of the neta used. I feel that the neta selected is not of the highest quality, but is overall good. This restaurant's popularity isn't skyrocketing despite the previous restaurant's reputation, perhaps because it does not offer anything particularly unique. You can get stable quality sushi here, which I mean in a good way (I recommend the nigiri-only lunch course).

A new restaurant opened by the featured chef of the 2 Michelin star sushi restaurant "Umi." The chef is still in his early 30s, but he makes very solid sushi thanks to his many years of training. The shari is made with a blend of 3 types of red vinegar and plenty of salt, giving it a good kick. Even though it just recently opened, customers clearly expect great things of this restaurant, and it's only a matter of time before reservations become hard to get.

A sushi restaurant newly opened by a chef who quit working at the famous restaurant "Shimizu." It's surprising that a restaurant that hasn't even been open for a year yet was awarded a Michelin star. The traditional pieces, like kohada (gizzard shad), anago (conger eel), and kairui (shellfish), are done in Shimizu's style, and it nearly puts the original to shame. This may be a good alternative for people who cannot visit Shimizu since they can't speak Japanese.

A new restaurant opened by an elite chef from "Sushi Saito." It is so popular already that less than half a year since its opening you need to make reservations several months in advance. The chef often visits the fishing harbors himself to help deepen his knowledge of his ingredients, and he actively pushes for new frontiers of Edomae sushi through things like using natural unagi eel in nigiri. The nigiri made are of the highest quality, using shari seasoned with rice vinegar and a bit of extra salt, and we expect for it to continue to evolve in the future.

An iconic Edomae sushi restaurant in Japan. The neta use and nigiri are both nearing perfection, making for first-class products. The shari is seasoned with rice vinegar and is on the salty side, and it enhances the flavors of the absolute peak hon-maguro (bluefin tuna) that "Yamayuki" has to offer into something sublime. For first-time visitors, I recommend the good-value lunch course.

Having tried the food at over 1000 sushi restaurants in ten years, I encourage you to read this that I wrote.
In it, I introduce the latest and greatest sushi places that I knew must be included while I was actually visiting them.
I present along with detailed store information a diverse array of 178 sushi restaurants including "super famous spots," "hole-in-the-wall places that are easy to get a reservation at," "sushi spots where you get the best bang for your buck," "new spots where soon it'll definitely be hard to get a reservation," and more.
By reading this report which you can get for only $29, you will never flub on picking a sushi restaurant in Tokyo!
Give it a once-over if you're looking for a sushi experience that will move you to the core!!