“sushi-terro” or how a joke became a health scandal

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In sushi restaurants in Japan, we do not mess with hygiene. A simple prank turned into a national health scandal.

This story is set in the famous “kaitenzushi” (literally “rotating sushit”), where the dishes parade on conveyor belts. You watch them pass and repass, and when a sea bream sashimi or shrimp tempura catches your eye, you grab the plate, and this, as many times You pay at the end according to the number of plates that pile up on your table – in general this type of establishment is cheaper than a traditional restaurant.

>> In Japan, “sushi terrorism” disgusts Internet users and worries restaurants

saliva sushi

At the beginning of February, three friends film themselves in a restaurant in Nagoya, in the center of the country. One of them grabs the bottle of soy sauce, licks the neck and discreetly puts it down. Then he wets his index finger abundantly with saliva and casually walks it over innocent sushi that parades in front of him on the conveyor belt to the next customer, and that makes them laugh a lot.

The video obviously ends up on social networks. And there, immediate success! Internet users respond to the challenge. Today, there are countless videos where young people have fun licking cups and plates, spraying hydroalcoholic gel or even spitting on kaitenzushi food. others customers had fun putting wasabi on all the sushi on the mats. And youAll the videos that were shot several months or even years ago have resurfaced thanks to these new incidents.

Economic impact, reaction of the authorities

But that does not make the authorities laugh at all. This phenomenon has even been baptized “sushi-terro” as terrorism (a word that the Japanese put a little into all sauces.) The Japanese, in any case, do not mess with hygiene: they do not shake their hand and wearing a mask was common practice long before the Covid.

Customers, shocked and literally disgusted, therefore began to desert the kaitenzushis and the chains, which have already had to reduce their payroll to cope with price inflation, saw red.
The Sushiro brand also filed a complaint for damage to its reputation after the video was broadcast. According CNN Businessshares of the group that owns the brand, Food & Life Companies Ltd, fell 4.8% in early February. However, thehe sector as a whole weighs heavily, with a turnover of more than five billion euros in 2021.

This Wednesday, March 8, the police therefore announced that they had arrested the three thugs from Nagoya, three young people aged 15, 19 and 21. In Japan, forced obstruction of doing business can result in heavy fines and up to three years in prison.

Sushi brands take drastic measures

This may deter imitators, but to be 100% sure that this kind of thing does not happen again and above all to regain consumer confidence, some have chosen the radical method. The Choshimaru Ensign, which operates 63 restaurants in the Tokyo area recently said that its kaitenzushi would stop by the end of April, and that from now on, the dishes would be brought by waiters, back to the old-fashioned table service.

Sushiro, for its part, has set up an ordering system using tablets: the dishes are now delivered only by an “express way” to customers to prevent possible dishonest people from manipulating other people’s food.

The Kura Sushis brand has opted for video surveillance: the entire route of the conveyor belt is riddled with cameras aimed at the plates… At the slightest anomaly, an alarm rings in the kitchen and the teams can trigger a call for help. police. Cameras are also installed above the customers. Apparently it’s for their peace of mind. New technology has no limit, bad jokes either…


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