Guest Blog: Why Are Japanese Restaurants Expensive?

The Efficient Frontiersman's younger brother asks: why are Japanese restaurants more expensive than Chinese restaurants? His theories:

• Japanese food often requires fresh ingredients, and labor-intensive presentation.
  
• There are insufficient Japanese restaurants for an efficient market, so competition doesn't push down prices.
  
• Japanese restaurants cater more to non-immigrants, who are willing to pay a premium for exoticness.
  
• An American dollar goes a long way in China, but not in Japan. If these restaurants are run by and catering to immigrants, the may have a skewed idea of the worth of a dollar.
  

Personally I don't think (4) is true, as many Japanese restaurants are actually run by Chinese. (3) is plausible, except in many parts of the country Chinese restaurants do not cater to immigrants. (1) could be tested but comparing prices of sushi against other Japanese food. I suspect (2) is most likely; there's simply a glut of Chinese restaurants, so competition pushes prices down.