【Reading】はなばん

【English Name】Hanaban

Hanaban is a trade term referring to a female staff member in charge of customer service at a sushi restaurant. It is a word that has been used mainly at counter-centered Edomae sushi restaurants, denoting the role of mediating between the chef (artisan) and the customer—relaying orders, serving tea, handling the bill, and so on.

As for the origin, since "hana" (flower) is a word evoking gorgeousness and women, and "ban" means a post or shift, it is said to have arisen with the sense of a woman standing at the post of customer service.

At a sushi restaurant, because the chef concentrates on preparing toppings and forming nigiri, the hanaban single-handedly takes on customer-service duties such as serving agari (tea), refilling gari, and processing the oaiso (bill). Such a division of labor is a traditional style of Edomae sushi, and the presence of the hanaban has been considered indispensable in creating the shop's atmosphere and in attentive care toward customers.

In recent years, names such as hall staff and okami (proprietress) are becoming common, but at long-established sushi restaurants and in conversation among artisans, the expression hanaban is still sometimes used. It is known as one of the code words (fucho, trade terms) peculiar to sushi shops.