Sushi is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the

most popular dishes among the Japanese themselves. In Japan, sushi is usually en
joyed on special occasions, such as a celebration.
During the Edo period, "sushi" refered to pickled fish conserved in vinegar. Now
adays sushi can be defined as a dish containing rice which has been prepared wit
h sushi vinegar. There are many different types of sushi. Some popular ones are:

Nigiri
Small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top. There are countless varietie
s of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones being tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, o
ctopus and fried egg.
Gunkan
Small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed filled with seafood, etc. There
are countless varieties of gunkanzushi, some of the most common ones being sea u
rchin and various kinds of fish eggs.
Norimaki
Sushi rice and seafood, etc. rolled in dried seaweed sheets. There are countless
varieties of sushi rolls differing in ingredients and thickness. Sushi rolls pr
epared "inside out" are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan
.
Temaki
Temakizushi (literally: hand rolls) are cones made of nori seaweed and filled wi
th sushi rice, seafood and vegetables.
Oshizushi
Oshizushi is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in
a wooden box. The picture shows trout oshizushi in form of a popular ekiben (tra
in station lunch box).
Inari
Inarizushi is a simple and inexpensive type of sushi, in which sushi rice is fil
led into aburaage (deep fried tofu) bags.
Chirashi
Chirashizushi is a dish in which seafood, mushroom and vegetables are spread ove
r sushi rice. It can resemble domburi with the difference being that chirashizus
hi uses sushi rice while domburi uses regular, unseasoned rice.

Note that "sushi" becomes "zushi" in word combinations in which "sushi" is the s
econd word, e.g. nigirizushi.