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Wave of ‘sushi terrorism’ grips Japan’s restaurant world

bishopp135

bishopp135

Member
Oct 29, 2017
981
www.theguardian.com

Wave of ‘sushi terrorism’ grips Japan’s restaurant world

Signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves meddling with dishes
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com

There are breaches of etiquette – drenching your rice in soy sauce, for one – and then there are heinous acts of "sushi terrorism".

Japan's signature cuisine is at the centre of a police investigation after customers at revolving sushi restaurants posted video clips of themselves interfering with food and playing pranks on other customers.

The incidents have sent shares plummeting in a leading kaitenzushi chain and prompted operators to rethink how they serve their dishes.

Several acts of what is being called "sushi terrorism" have emerged on Twitter and other social media in recent days, although some apparently date back weeks, and even years.

A clip of the most egregious culinary crime, which has been viewed almost 40m times on Twitter, shows what appears to be a teenager licking the open top of a communal soy sauce bottle and the entire rim of a teacup, which he then places back on a shelf.

If that wasn't bad enough, the 48-second clip shows him licking his finger and using it to touch two pieces of sushi, presumably ordered by another customer, as they travel past on the conveyer belt.
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View: https://twitter.com/takigare3/status/1619658064898166784?s=20&t=n9BWjoMBbR8YvNgjkgV6CQ

The video, filmed at a branch of the Sushiro chain in the central city of Gifu, prompted stocks in the restaurant's parent company to plunge nearly 5% on Tuesday.

Other videos show people at other chains putting wasabi on passing pieces of sushi and licking the spoon from a container of green-tea powder that is used by multiple diners.
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I thought this was going to be about cream cheese in sushi.
 
Garp TXB

Garp TXB

Member
Apr 1, 2020
6,295
Only done conveyer belt/boat sushi once, and never again. I'm not even the most germ-phobic person in the world, but it just didn't sit right with me.
 
Kuro

Kuro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
20,591
So this is like that stupid ass ice cream "prank" teenagers were doing in the US. Hopefully its just a few idiots who are going to get caught since they posted video.

Also, if you've ever worked in a place that had self serve anything, you'd know how gross kids and old people are lol. Unfortunately its down to vigilant employees to keep things as sanitary as possible.
 
shan780

shan780

The Fallen
Nov 2, 2017
2,566
UK
Honestly, I have always been wary of eating at these sorts of places because of this kind of thing. It sucks that some people have to ruin it for everyone else
 
DrForester

DrForester

Mod of the Year 2006
Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,648
I thought this was going to be about people violating restaurant etiquette. Like not sharing the communal salt saucer, or asking the chef about their past.
 
entrydenied

entrydenied

The Fallen
Oct 26, 2017
7,560
Given that some of the clips are from years to months ago, this seems like an overblown thing that blew up because of social media and the liklihood of someone getting pranked is probably rather low.
 
chrominance

chrominance

Sky Van Gogh
Member
Oct 25, 2017
13,587
Warpdancer said:
Perhaps trusting the patrons to not act like swine is a thing of the past. Which is sad considering how the japanese conveyor belt concept is an iconic part of it's culinary identity.
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I think there are multiple expressions of it, though, and not all of them are vulnerable to this kind of thing. I went to one of the more old-school joints that just had one giant circular counter with the chefs in the middle, the belt surrounding them (so they could drop plates onto it as they finished prepping them), and the customers on the perimeter. In that kind of environment, no way you'd be able to screw with the sushi or anything else without at least getting some side-eye from like five different people, assuming they didn't immediately yell at you or kick you out.

The places where the belts are automated to send you a specific order to your table are a different story.
 
so1337

so1337

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,476
Look at that little shit gleefully ruining other people's meals.

Apparently there was a similar incident where someone was eating pickles straight out of the self-serve container in a Cocoichiban curry restaurant and they were forced to apologize because the chain's reputation took a huge hit. This is so much worse though.
 
shintoki

shintoki

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,079
Should be the punishment for each of these idiots

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sfedai0

sfedai0

Member
Oct 27, 2017
9,936
This is definitely a gen Z issue because of social media. Not to say older folks wouldnt do heinous shit like that either, but I never thought once as a kid to fuck with other peoples food.
 
Stuntman

Stuntman

The Fallen
Oct 27, 2017
2,157
Expected sausages on sushi, that's still gross though.

That doesn't seem widespread to be honest, the media an it's obsession to treat anything they see on the internet as viral is super dumb.
 
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Funkelpop

Funkelpop

Member
Sep 2, 2022
5,047
Yeah I saw a video of a like rice noodles in a water stream that would go down a table full of customers and customers would use chopsticks to pick their noodles out and put on their plate and made me think about all these conveyor belt restaurants.
 
tsmoreau

tsmoreau

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,436
Folks doing shit for the lolz further erode anything like basic decency in life

I want internet likes, fuck real people
 
greepoman

greepoman

Member
Oct 26, 2017
1,959
sfedai0 said:
This is definitely a gen Z issue because of social media. Not to say older folks wouldnt do heinous shit like that either, but I never thought once as a kid to fuck with other peoples food.
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Sorry to inform you but this has always been a thing. Especially with bullies. I remember a favorite was putting pubic hair in other kids food. I was just trying to stay invisible so they wouldnt pick on me. And the internet was dial up when I was in school.
 
Isilia

Isilia

Member
Mar 11, 2019
5,800
US: PA
There was a girl in high school who would lick the salt and pepper shakers all the time.

I'm not sure what is funny about it. Waste of product.

I guess on the bright side, it stopped us from adding even more salt to that terrible food.
 
Illiterate Bookworm

Illiterate Bookworm

Member
Oct 30, 2017
554
For all the times I've eaten at kaitenzushi places, I don't think I've ever actually picked up random dishes from the belt.
We've always used the touch screens and had our orders directly sent to our tables on the little trains they have running in tandem with the seating.
That way it's fresh, I get exactly what I want, and nobody else is touching my food.
 
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,834
This could be why when I was back recently some of the conveyer belt places no longer has rotating sushi on the belts, but you just order it directly.
 
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