A great many creatures in this world eat other creatures to live, yet only humans cook their meat. From that alone, you should be able to conclude that uncooked meat isn't inherently bad or unsafe... if you ate it immediately after the death of the creature, but that doesn't often happen in modern civilizations. Fortunately, refrigeration allows us to transport fish considerable distances while keeping it quite fresh, otherwise, the only place you'd be able to get good (fresh) sushi would be in a costal town/city.
EDIT: Another major issue with eating raw meat is that it can be rife with parasites. The salmon in the Sea of Japan, surprisingly enough, is sick with them, making local salmon effectively inedible (and potentially life-threatening if eaten raw.)
Norway solved this issue by exporting them their own local, parasite-free salmon, and it's now a staple of sushi and sashimi.
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@squidpuffs
Mostly because it's very fresh.
A great many creatures in this world eat other creatures to live, yet only humans cook their meat. From that alone, you should be able to conclude that uncooked meat isn't inherently bad or unsafe... if you ate it immediately after the death of the creature, but that doesn't often happen in modern civilizations. Fortunately, refrigeration allows us to transport fish considerable distances while keeping it quite fresh, otherwise, the only place you'd be able to get good (fresh) sushi would be in a costal town/city.
EDIT: Another major issue with eating raw meat is that it can be rife with parasites. The salmon in the Sea of Japan, surprisingly enough, is sick with them, making local salmon effectively inedible (and potentially life-threatening if eaten raw.)
Norway solved this issue by exporting them their own local, parasite-free salmon, and it's now a staple of sushi and sashimi.