Fish used for sushi travels a long way before ending up between a pair of chopsticks in Atlanta. That’s because most top-tier sushi restaurants and omakase operations opt for sourcing fish straight from the waters of Japan. The country’s fishing industry is among the most respected and disciplined in the world.
With direct access to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport, many local sushi chefs source fresh fish from Japan through agencies or dealers at fish markets like Toyosu in Tokyo. But it wasn’t always this easy. In fact, up until just a few years ago, only a handful of suppliers, such as True World Foods, founded in the mid-1970s, worked with sushi chefs outside of Japan.
“[True World Foods] are the pioneers of getting fresh fish to Japanese restaurants,” said Jason Liang, chef and owner of Brush and its Michelin-starred omakase counter, O by Brush, in Buckhead. Sushi chefs would need to order fish a week in advance. Specialty fish needed to be ordered at least 10 days in advance.
A number of tourism and business initiatives over the years improved Atlanta’s access to top-grade fish used for sushi. Delta added new nonstop flights to Tokyo’s Haneda Airport in 2020. Three years later, LA-based Japanese food supplier Mutual Trading Co., a subsidiary of Takara Holdings, Inc., acquired Japanese wholesale importer Yamasho, Inc. and expanded its services to metro Atlanta.
Now fish caught off the coast of Japan is flown in daily to the Atlanta airport – the busiest in the world – sometimes having been caught less than 24 hours before the flight.
Atlanta airport fuels sushi boom
Jorom Paler, chef and founder of pop-up sushi counter Mikasa Omakase at Larakin in Midtown, said the increase in flight routes to and from Japan allow Atlanta sushi restaurants and small operations like his faster access to fresh fish. It simply travels to Hartsfield-Jackson as cargo on returning passenger flights each day.
“Hartsfield is such an international hub, so with that strength, it allows so many of the products to be able to be shipped here,” said Sachiyo Nakato Takahara, owner of Nakato Japanese Restaurant on Cheshire Bridge Road.
The extended flight lines increased the network, meaning that local sushi chefs no longer need to have their fish flown through LaGuardia or JFK in New York. Today, smaller, independent agencies and dealers act as the middlemen between Japan’s fishmongers and chefs from around the world, streamlining the sourcing process.
Paler works with one such company, which he calls his “fish concierge.” A team of 12 dealers represent him at Toyosu Market on Wednesday and Saturday mornings each week, providing Paler with live feedback and a list of recommendations based on seasonality or the latest local catch.
“I can order based on their recommendations, but can [also] ask for any ingredient and they can go to that side of the market and see what the price is there,” Paler explained of the convenience of working with fish market dealers.
Once his order is complete, each fish is packaged individually so the cold chain is never disturbed. Fish then travels to Haneda Airport, and then to Atlanta, either directly or via New York or Los Angeles.
“The cold chain is practically undisturbed, because once it’s in those cases, it’s all individually wrapped. At my omakase program, you’re basically eating current events,” Paler said.
He estimates the turnaround time for his fish orders is approximately 18 hours. A fish plucked from Japanese waters on Monday morning can make it to the counter at Mikasa Omakase in Midtown in under 24 hours.
When sourcing wild fish, chefs like Paler rely on their market dealers knowing the behavior and migratory patterns of specific fish. “I trust my fishermen enough to point me in the right direction,” he said.
Like Paler, Nakato also works with multiple fish-sourcing entities.
“Back in the 1990s and early 2000s, we had a direct source at the Tsukiji Fish Market who would pick out our fish products, and even some of the dry goods, and ship it over to us. Now, it’s multiple vendors,” Takahara said.
The ordering process at Nakato usually starts on Sunday or Monday. First, the staff determines what fish they used over the weekend and the additional fish the restaurant will need for the upcoming week. Nakato’s executive chef calls vendors on Sunday night, once the weekend rush is done, so fish orders will process on Sunday or Monday.
On Monday afternoon (Tuesday morning in Japan), the vendors will go to the market, auctioning and bidding on the seasonal products based on Nakato’s requests. The purchases are packaged on Wednesday and usually land in Atlanta by Thursday.
Nakato orders between 65 and 80 pounds of fresh fish per week, using a medical-grade Super Freezer to maintain cold storage during transit.
Takahara also noted that many species of fish change in taste as they age, resulting in promoted names. The aging stages of kanpachi promote from mojako to shiwoko and akhana, before reaching its general name, amberjack. Hamachi, kohahada, and suzuki are other examples of “shusseuo,” which translates to “fish that get promoted.”
The price tag
Fish pricing depends on species and size. Larger fish have to go through major auctions, which have more bidders and are more competitive. Bluefin tuna, for example, can reach nearly 10 feet in length, weighing in at 130 pounds.
“Every time we order, if we get whole tuna for [a] tuna cutting, that’s 200 pounds,” Liang said. The 20-course omakase at O by Brush seats 18 people and costs $285 per person, with optional wine pairings for an additional cost.
As a pop-up at Larakin, Paler offers six omakase experiences throughout the week. His 16-course omakase seats just ten people and costs $165 per person, with the option to add on wine or sake pairings for an additional cost. Paler’s fish orders vary by week, and by the number of reservations he secures. With a weekly average of 45 people attending his omakases, Paler’s fish orders can range between $2,200 to $3,000 per week.
Shipping fees also contribute to the typically high price tag for sushi. Liang said he recently paid $137 in shipping fees for 12 pounds of Hawaiian red shrimp to serve at Brush.
The other financial challenges sushi chefs regularly navigate are tariffs and fuel prices. Both nearly doubled this year. In July 2025, the U.S. imposed a 15% tariff on most Japanese imports.
Sourcing fish closer to home
While Liang sources about 60% of the seafood for Brush from Japanese waters, he remains conscious of the pricing and the restaurant’s carbon footprint, opting to source the other 40% from within North America.
Tuna can come from the Gulf of Mexico, while Liang sources rainbow trout from Virginia. Liang sources live eel from the Chesapeake Bay and shrimp from Hawaii, and can sometimes get mackerel domestically.
While these fish aren’t identical to those caught in Japan, the differences run very close. Liang experiments with dry-aging fish or using smoke to enhance the flavor profiles of fish sourced from North American waters.
“You can see the differences in oxidation color, but taste wise, even side-by-side, you can’t really taste the differences. I’m all about the taste,” Liang explained. “I am proud of sourcing domestic fish to my omakase and telling guests this is as good as Japanese fish.”
Liang receives two consistent Japanese fish deliveries weekly, and two to three domestic deliveries monthly.
In addition to cost (Liang often pays more for domestic fish), the biggest challenge with sourcing North American fish is finding seafood that’s been handled properly. “Japanese fish are handled with great care,” Liang said. “I always say they hold fish like they hold babies. [In the U.S.], they throw fish. The mindset’s different, and then the way we serve fish is different.”
That’s why chefs develop firm bonds with their fish dealers and agencies in Japan. Paler said the nature of doing business in Japan depends on building strong relationships. His fish concierge helps him understand the context around price fluctuations, which depend on fish migration patterns or major weather events.
But the bond between Paler and his fish market dealers in Japan, many of whom he’s met and become friends with during his travels to the country, goes beyond transactional. For Paler, their well-being comes first and foremost.
“This past month, Japan was hit with a large typhoon and two earthquakes in Kumamoto. I get a lot of my sea bream from that prefecture,” Paler said of a recent conversation he had with some of his market dealers.
“Before even asking about the fish, I was like, ‘Hey, is everybody okay?'”
