News Sushi terrorism

thomas · 2 Feb 2023

Posted especially for @johnnyG.

This little sushi punk made national headlines: the parent firm of major conveyor-belt sushi chain Akindo Sushiro Co. will consult police and take strict action after a video posted on social media showed a young man touching sushi with a licked finger.

In the video, a man visiting a Sushiro restaurant is seen licking a soy sauce bottle and a cup and then putting them back, as well as touching sushi on a conveyor belt with a licked finger as it passes him, as if to show another person who is filming the video. It has been viewed more than 22 million times. Food & Life Companies Ltd. based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, announced that it would consult police about the incident and take strict action, from both criminal and civil perspectives.

Food chain to consult police after viral video shows man touching sushi with licked finger - The Mainichi

NAGOYA -- The parent firm of major conveyor-belt sushi chain Akindo Sushiro Co. will consult police and take strict action after a video posted on soc

mainichi.jp

According to Twitter, the sushi licker, along with his parents, has already apologised to the sushi chain.

https://www3.akindo-sushiro.co.jp/pdf/news/230201_news/230201_news.pdf

johnnyG · 2 Feb 2023

mdchachi · 2 Feb 2023

This should help Kurasushi. At least for people who aren't turned off kaiten sushi altogether. All of their sushi on the belt is covered making it more difficult to do this.

johnnyG · 3 Feb 2023

Even when we've gone to kaiten, wife always wants to order special, specifically/exclusively, instead of (the horror!) taking something off the belt.

thomas · 3 Feb 2023

johnnyG said:
Even when we've gone to kaiten, wife always wants to order special, specifically/exclusively, instead of (the horror!) taking something off the belt.

It really depends on how fresh things are. Most modern kaiten bars prepare on demand (screen input, even multilingual). With older bars, you never knew how long these frutti di mare had already circled.

Anyhow, calling it "sushi terrorism" is probably a bit far-fetched:

In the latest edition of people throwing out their morals for five seconds of fame, a new trend in Japan has people committing acts of "sushi terrorism"—filming themselves violating food safety at sushi conveyor belt restaurants. [...] The videos have caused outrage across Japan, where sushi belts have been common since the late 1950s and prompted some sushi chains to take legal action against the "sushi terrorists." [...]The Kura Sushi chain says they plan to put specialized covers on their conveyor belt sushi dishes. In contrast, Hamazushi plans to remove their conveyor belts entirely.

‘Sushi Terrorism’ is the Viral Video Trend Spreading Food Safety Horror in Japan

mdchachi · 3 Feb 2023

johnnyG said:
Even when we've gone to kaiten, wife always wants to order special, specifically/exclusively, instead of (the horror!) taking something off the belt.

Sounds like a smart thing to do, especially now.

thomas · 5 Feb 2023

This is still causing ripples: Sushiro decided to temporarily limit the use of conveyor belts to specifically ordered food, which is actually the rule in all kaiten bars I have visited lately.

Akindo Sushiro Co. said in a press release that customers will be asked to order food on a touch screen panel instead of taking ready-made food served on plates that travel on conveyor belts past numerous diners. [...] Additionally, Sushiro restaurants will install acrylic boards between the seats and the conveyor belt to prevent unnecessary contact between the sushi and customers. If customers feel uneasy about using tea cups and condiments provided on their tables, the restaurants will replace them with different ones when asked to do so.

Japan sushi chain limits conveyor belt use to orders after licking scandal - The Mainichi

OSAKA (Kyodo) -- The operator of the major sushi restaurant chain Sushiro said Friday it will temporarily limit the use of conveyor belts to specifica

mainichi.jp

thomas · 3 Mar 2023

Sushi chain "Kura" is employing AI to detect sushi terrorism: an AI camera system will detect suspicious behaviour among customers toward the plates passing by them.

Kura Sushi Inc., a company operating the Kura Sushi chain, demonstrated the new system to the media at its Dotonbori restaurant in Osaka and other locations. The system can detect unusual behaviour such as customers briefly taking a plate from a conveyor belt before returning it. Kura Sushi is responding to videos that went viral on social media showing customers behaving badly at its restaurants and other conveyor belt sushi chains' outlets. The chain had already installed AI cameras above conveyor belts at all its restaurants by 2021. The cameras capture images at tables to count how many plates are taken from the conveyor belts at each table.

If the new system detects any covers placed on sushi plates being suspiciously opened and closed, an alert will ring at the company's headquarters in Saitama and Osaka prefectures, both manned by six or seven officers at all times. The monitors at the office will show numbers indicating the restaurant, the table and the plate in question.

Conveyor-belt sushi chain Kura installs AI to detect tampering | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Kura Sushi

Kura Sushi (くら寿司, Hepburn: Kura zushi) is a Japanese sushi restaurant chain. Its headquarters are in Sakai, Osaka Prefecture and has 451 locations in Japan, 22 in Taiwan, and 30 in the United States. While it is a conveyor belt sushi chain, it relies on a high level of automation allowing the...

JREF
3 Mar 2023
Views: 1K
Category: Sushi

mdchachi · 3 Mar 2023

Then they call security at the store to take care of the threat

Petaris · 3 Mar 2023

Seems a bit overkill. Why not just have a little red light on it that shows the cover was opened with a cute little Japanese style jingle upon the opening?

thomas · 3 Mar 2023

There was a copycat case last week where students sprayed disinfectant on sushi. Not so amusing. I suggest sushi undercover agents and draconian sanctions, such as shrubbing the toilets for a year.

thomas · 9 Jun 2023

I agree that those punks need to be punished, but it's more than likely that they will never be able to raise 67m JPY. Let them clean toilets or toil in the kitchen, but I'm afraid this will backfire for Sushiro:

The conveyer belt sushi chain operator that became the centre of national attention over a viral video of a boy licking a soy sauce bottle has filed a 67 million JPY damages suit against the boy. Akindo Sushiro, which runs the Sushiro restaurant chain, filed the case at the Osaka District Court on 22 March. According to the complaint, the boy went to a Sushiro outlet in Gifu Prefecture with a friend on 3 January. He was filmed licking an open soy sauce bottle and an unused teacup and touching a plate of sushi with a finger covered in his saliva.

The suit also claims the footage caused its parent company's market capitalization to fall by more than 16 billion yen from Jan 30 to 31. Akindo Sushiro is installing plastic barriers at over 600 outlets nationwide among other measures, resulting in a loss of 90 million yen. The sushi chain operator could seek higher damages reflecting these measures. The 45-second viral video caused a stir in Japan and helped give rise to the term "sushi terrorism" to describe unhygienic behavior in the restaurants. Food is typically served there on plates that pass numerous diners and utensils are set at the tables ready for a succession of customers to use throughout the day. The boy has admitted to licking communal items and expressed remorse. But his defense team argues that the footage was for sharing only among his friends, and that he had no intention of creating a video to be spread online. They claim there is no clear causal relationship between his actions and the fall in customers due to stiff competition among rival sushi chains, according to the documents.

Sushi chain seeks 67 million yen for saliva prank at Gifu outlet | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

nice gaijin · 10 Jun 2023

thomas said:
I agree that those punks need to be punished, but it's more than likely that they will never be able to raise 67m JPY. Let them clean toilets or toil in the kitchen, but I'm afraid this will backfire for Sushiro:

The conveyer belt sushi chain operator that became the centre of national attention over a viral video of a boy licking a soy sauce bottle has filed a 67 million JPY damages suit against the boy. Akindo Sushiro, which runs the Sushiro restaurant chain, filed the case at the Osaka District Court on 22 March. According to the complaint, the boy went to a Sushiro outlet in Gifu Prefecture with a friend on 3 January. He was filmed licking an open soy sauce bottle and an unused teacup and touching a plate of sushi with a finger covered in his saliva.

Sushi chain seeks 67 million yen for saliva prank at Gifu outlet | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

yeah his punishment should be a lifetime of cleaning up after little shits like him at Sushiro. Or traveling around the country and spending one month working at each one. Sushiro has over 500 restaurants, so that would take him about 42 years

Majestic · 10 Jun 2023

I too doubt that they'll see this money. But maybe the goal was to generate headlines with the story of a massive fine for this kind of stupid behavior. Now parents will be able to say, "don't do that or you'll have to pay a 67-million fine". Well, most parents didn't need this sort of financial sledgehammer, but I think this is for the kids/parents whose moral toolbox is a bit on the barren side.

Belkov · 10 Jun 2023

It's made headlines here in UK:

Teenager accused of 'sushi terrorism' is sued by Japanese food chain

Shares in Akindo Sushiro showed a marked drop after a video went viral of the teenager in January and was viewed nearly 40 million times on Twitter.

www.dailymail.co.uk

thomas · 3 Aug 2023

Sushiro has dropped its lawsuit against a 17-year-old "sushi terrorist" from Gifu Prefecture for damages of approximately 67 million JPY for his prank-filled video.

Akindo Sushiro Co., operator of Sushiro, has dropped its claim against the boy for playing damaging pranks in the video that included him licking a bottle of soy sauce at an outlet in Gifu. Mediation between the two sides was successful at the Osaka District Court and the chain operator, based in Suita, Osaka Prefecture, withdrew the lawsuit on July 31, The Asahi Shimbun has learned. The video spread on social networking sites after another person filmed the boy spitting on sushi dishes on the conveyor belt and licking a bottle of soy sauce. According to the complaint, Sushiro claimed that the boy's disturbing behavior "raised customers' suspicions about Sushiro's hygienic management" and caused a decrease in the number of customers and other damages. The defendant generally admitted to the allegations, but countered that the causal relationship between the pranks and the damage claimed by Sushiro was unclear

Sushiro drops suit against boy for licking soy sauce bottle | The Asahi Shimbun: Breaking News, Japan News and Analysis

Majestic · 3 Aug 2023

That kid better stay away from social media for a long while.

But I suspect he'll be back at it, with some new kind of spectacle engineered to gain "likes".

Lothor · 3 Aug 2023

'Sushi terrorism' - Stupid, overblown name invented by people who haven't experienced terrorism. I remember the news gradually filtering through of a terrorist attack in my home city of Manchester in 2017, then a few months later crying my eyes out when I had to pass through the station where it occurred. It turned that some loser doped up on religious fundamentalism took objection to young women going out and enjoying themselves at a pop concert. Twenty-two people, some of them children, lost their lives. Being unhygienic in a sushi restaurant, however unpleasant such behaviour is, is not terrorism. Manchester attack: Who were the victims?

Paint_Black · 5 Aug 2023

that's why i cook maself at home and prefer well boiled soups and cereals....

Paint_Black · 5 Aug 2023

Lothor said:
'Sushi terrorism' - Stupid, overblown name invented by people who haven't experienced terrorism. I remember the news gradually filtering through of a terrorist attack in my home city of Manchester in 2017, then a few months later crying my eyes out when I had to pass through the station where it occurred. It turned that some loser doped up on religious fundamentalism took objection to young women going out and enjoying themselves at a pop concert. Twenty-two people, some of them children, lost their lives. Being unhygienic in a sushi restaurant, however unpleasant such behaviour is, is not terrorism. Manchester attack: Who were the victims?

you, buddy, totally underestimate threat of contageous food and lack of Meal Culture

mdchachi · 5 Aug 2023

Paint_Black said:
you, buddy, totally underestimate threat of contageous food and lack of Meal Culture

Almost nobody dies from contagious or contaminated food in Japan and they probably eat more uncooked seafood than anywhere in the world.

Lothor · 5 Aug 2023

Terrorism: The unlawful use of violence and intimidation, especially against civilians, in the pursuit of political aims (Oxford Dictionary).

This was a ****head being unhygienic and, I'll agree, dangerous for lolz. I doubt there was any malign intent and there was certainly no political intent. I'm not arguing with you about the hygiene issue - I just don't like words like 'terrorism' being cheapened.

thomas · 13 Oct 2023

The verdict is out: for obstructing business by posting a video of himself licking a soy sauce bottle at Kura Sushi, 21-year-old Yoshina Ryoga got a three-year prison sentence suspended for five years. Still pretty harsh, I'd say.

"I did it to satisfy my desire for recognition and wanted to be popular. What I did was very stupid," Yoshino said during the trial. [...] Yoshino's defense had asked for a suspended sentence, saying he had shown remorse. The other man has been given probation.

Man convicted over viral video of sauce bottle licking at sushi chain

A Japanese court has convicted a 21-year-old man of obstruction of business after he posted an online video of himself licking a soy sauce bottle at an outlet of a conveyor-belt sushi chain in Nagoya in February.

english.kyodonews.net

thomas · 17 Feb 2024

In a similar case, the Osaka District Court sentenced a 35-year-old man, who appeared in a viral video engaging in unsanitary behaviour at a Yoshinoya beef bowl diner, to two years and four months in prison and fined him JPY 200,000 (USD 1,300) on Thursday, with the sentence also reflecting a drug offence.

Ryu Shimazu, a construction worker, was found guilty of obstructing business operations and causing property damage by bringing a communal container of pickled ginger directly to his mouth and eating from it in a video shared widely online. Prosecutors had sought a prison term of 3½ years and a fine of ¥200,000 for Shimazu for the offences. Presiding Judge Takahashi Satona called Shimazu's acts in the prank in September 2022 "selfish and malicious," saying he did not consider how they would affect Yoshinoya's business.

Although Shimazu admitted to the charges and showed remorse, the judge deemed he lacked morals and bears "heavy" criminal responsibility. According to the ruling, Shimazu's behavior meant the company had to dispose of the ginger. A male acquaintance of Shimazu who recorded the prank and shared the video on social media was fined ¥300,000 in a separate summary judgement.

Man given prison term after food prank at beef bowl diner in Osaka

Ryu Shimazu was found guilty of obstructing business operations and causing property damage.

www.japantimes.co.jp

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