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"Sushi terror" brings Japanese restaurant owners in need of explanation

2023-02-09T14:50:51.775Z


Restaurants where sushi is served on belts are part of Japanese culinary culture. Now videos have appeared showing disgusting breaches of taboos. The excitement is great.


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Sushi restaurant in Tokyo: "This is not okay in view of the corona pandemic"

Photo: Philip Fong / AFP

Short videos of unsanitary pranks with sushi have now sparked a debate about hygiene in the band's restaurants in Japan - and are making headlines internationally.

A video of a young customer licking his fingers and then touching portions of sushi as they roll down the conveyor went viral last week from prominent sushi chain Sushiro.

The man also filmed himself touching a condiment bottle and cup with his tongue.

The prank and similar videos were shared on social media using hashtags like #Sushitero and #Sushiterrorism, sparking a wave of outrage.

The videos caused the share price of the company Food & Life Companies, which runs the sushi chain, to fall by almost five percent at times.

Although the customer has since apologized for his behavior, according to media reports, the company has reported him and insists on compensation.

Apparently, other restaurant chains were also targeted by the sushi terrorists: in a video that was apparently made a few years ago and is now being shared more and more, a man takes a portion of sushi and puts it back on the belt.

In another shot, a man seasons passing portions with wasabi paste.

Restaurant critic Nobuo Yonekawa also explains the incidents by saying that restaurants have recently downsized their staff to cut costs.

"I think these incidents happen because there are fewer staff in the stores to keep an eye on customers," he was quoted as saying by the news channel CNN.

In social networks, users reacted to the pranks with outrage: "This is not okay, especially now that more than 10,000 people have died of Covid in one month for the first time," writes one user.

Japan is currently experiencing a massive corona wave.

Restaurant critic Yonekawa therefore demands that restaurants put their hygiene rules to the test in the face of the pandemic: "In view of these incidents, the running sushi restaurants have to reassess their hygiene standards and food safety."

In fact, the restaurants have apparently already reacted: According to the CNN report, Sushiro is currently only putting photos of the dishes on the conveyor belt instead of real sushi so that customers can choose their dish.

In the future, they want to install acrylic walls to better separate the conveyor belt from the customers on the adjacent seats.

Restaurant operator Kurasushi, who was also affected, instead wants to use high-tech to catch sushi terrorists: "We want to use AI-controlled cameras to monitor whether customers put sushi they have touched back on their plates." , a spokesman is quoted as saying.

Some users also expressed solidarity with the restaurants affected under the hashtag #saveSushiro - including the Japanese actor Yuuya Tegoshi, who captured his visit to a Sushiro branch in photos.

In fact, the operating company's share price has increased significantly in the meantime.

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Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2023-02-09

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