Where to Yo! Sushi, the first Boston branch of the UK-based restaurant chain specializing in kaiten-zushi: Sushi and other cold dishes are placed on a conveyor belt that rotates past diners. Select what you want, order hot dishes from a server, and at the end of the meal, your bill is tallied according to how many empty color-coded dishes are on the counter in front of you. (Green dishes, for instance, are $3 each, while yellow dishes are $7.)

What for Japanese food with a side of novelty. Kaiten-zushi is a thing in Japan, but in Boston not so much.

The scene On a cold, rainy afternoon, there’s a bottleneck at the door as a small crowd waits to grab seats at the gleaming white conveyor-belt counter. It snakes around the room, with the kitchen at the center filled with black-clad chefs. There’s a display of the Japanese treat Pocky and a takeout case at the entrance, a pop-music soundtrack, and the glow of blue neon filtering up from beneath the counter. White walls are decorated in cute black-and-white drawings of fish, zig-zag patterns, and mottos like “Only the freshest survive’’ and “Eat with your eyes.’’ Seated in the tall chairs are office escapees, solo and in small groups, as well as a few parents with kids. Stacks of thick plastic dishes in bright pink, orange, and purple wait to be filled with sushi and released into the rotating wild.

What you’re eating From the conveyor belt, a selection of otsumami (snacks) such as edamame and ramen noodle salad, sashimi, nigiri, and assorted sushi rolls. From the kitchen, takoyaki (octopus balls), chicken katsu curry, beef teriyaki “sumo bowls,’’ and more. Desserts — mochi filled with bean paste, pink strawberry cake spiraling around cream filling — also make the rounds on the belt.

Care for a drink? You’ll find green tea, both iced and hot, as well as Japanese drinks like milky Calpico and the soda ramune in an array of fruity flavors — lychee, pineapple, strawberry, melon. Once Yo! Sushi gets a liquor license, it will offer beer, wine, and sake.

Overheard Talk about politics, sleep deprivation, the sinus-clearing powers of wasabi, and rotating food. “For my own mental health, I just need to get off Facebook,’’ a woman declares, flourishing a pair of chopsticks. The decor is being analyzed. “It reminds me of London in the 1980s,’’ someone opines. The world-weary are here doing lunch: “I feel like this is a metaphor for life, watching the same sushi go around over and over again.’’ And then some just get impatient. “I can’t take this anymore,’’ says a woman waiting in line for a seat. “I’m going to Shake Shack.’’

79 Seaport Boulevard, Seaport District, Boston, 857-400-0797, www.yosushiusa.com/boston

Devra First can be reached at dfirst@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @devrafirst.