Originally Posted by
SJUAMMF
Sure, and I would consider sushi bar a casual dinner and not a formal one. Certainly I wouldn't pay Y50,000 for a sushi dinner.
Formal dinners don't have to be kaiseki but will involve many courses anyway. The last item at a formal meal whether a bowl of soba, kamameshi, ochatsuke, or a plate of sushi would be a filler, sometimes called the main dish.
What I really wanted to said to OP is that Japanese food is much more beyond sushi. Sushi is very popular outside of Japan yes. But there are much more things to try while in Japan.
On the topic of good sushi restaurants, the great ones are not only serving great sushi, but the chef would recognize that I am a lefty and place my sushi for my hashi. Same goes for great tempura restaurants. I have yet to get this level of service at Japanese restaurants outside of Japan.
I don't think I would pay 50,000 for dinner anywhere, actually. I don't think I have, but if there was enough alcohol involved, I may have, just don't remember.
In that respect, yes sushi is a more "casual" affair than a kappo dinner or some fancy settai at a ryotei, but it doesn't diminish it to being "filler". Ochazuke is filler, kamameshi is filler, zosui is filler, takenoko gohan is filler. Sushi isn't filler.
Sure, there is plenty beyond sushi in Japan, but if you want to try the best sushi out there, Japan is the place for it. And, sushi is also very popular in Japan, not just outside. You say it yourself: "I have yet to get this level of service in Japanese restaurants outside of Japan". The same applies to the taste and quality for Japanese food in general, and specifically for sushi.
Personally, if I had one last meal in Japan, I would go for sushi, not any of the many other wonderful cuisines available here. Last on my list would probably a very formal kaiseki dinner. Although I enjoy it, I don't get as much pleasure out of it as I do from a high-end sushi pigout.