Sushi is one of those things that varies in quality a lot depending on where you live. If you can get it from a good place, that is able to get fresh seafood, parasites shouldn't be an issue.
I think the raw fish bit is somewhat of an acquired taste, I'm not too fond of it myself, but it is still something to try.
You can also get chicken teriyaki sushi, and cooked tuna sushi, those might be worth a try. Another, more traditional one would be the egg (tamagoyaki) sushi, that kinda looks like a very smooth omelet on rice.
Another good Japanese food item is okinomiyaki, which are essentially cabbage pancakes. Now, I'm not too fond of cabbage but these things are great.