Draft:Sushi Terrorism

Sushi Terrorism is a health scandal that occurred in Japan in 2023.

Beginning
On January 5, 2023, three young people between the ages of 15 and 21 decided to make a video of them grabbing sushi from a revolving counter of a kaitenzushi from the Sushiro chain in Gifu. Following that, they consume it by stuffing it into their mouths and drinking soy sauce from the neck of a common bottle. On Twitter, the video has been viewed more than 40 million times.

Subsequently, similar videos taken in other restaurants were discovered on Twitter and TikTok. Some seem to have been shot several weeks or even years back. In other videos, the authors do not lick the containers, but put wasabi on the preparations of other customers.

Of the population
A scandal arose in Japan due to these incidents, which are famous for their strict hygiene and cleanliness standards and became known as'sushi-terro' on social media, meaning'sushi terrorism.'

Some people said ː "Kaitenzushi is Japanese culture we can be proud of but actions of few people like that really ruins that."

One of the explanations for the media hype of this case is that these videos play with the taboo of hygiene. The Japanese never shake hands and use masks on a daily basis when they are sick, to protect others, long before the Covid pandemic.

The restaurant chain Kura Sushi, which had been besieged with customer complaints after the video was broadcast, urgently carried out intense cleaning. Attendance of kaitenzushi decreased after this incident.

The high school where one of the young people seen in the video attended received a wave of complaints by phone.

Although the author of the video taken in January 2023 apologized, they were not accepted.

Economical
In the next few days, Sushiro's Food & Life Companies Co Ltd shares fell by nearly 5%.

The chain responded with a statement stating: “We sincerely hope that these arrests will make society aware that these pranks, which fundamentally undermine our system based on a trusting relationship with customers, are an offence, and that they will not be imitated in the future.” The chain assured to have replaced all the bottles of soy sauce of the restaurant and cleaned all the cups and reinforced its hygiene measures.

Some restaurants decide to replace sushi conveyor belts with virtual ones.

Others have decided to no longer make seasoning bottles available to customers.

The businessman Takafumi Horie simply proposes to increase the entrance price of restaurants.

In the law
A complaint was filed by the company against the three young men who were arrested on March 8th. Two of them were arrested in the Aichi Prefecture. They face up to three years in prison.

Two other chains, Hama-sushi and Kura Sushi, also announced lawsuits, one planning to install cameras to monitor customers.

The company Akindo Sushiro asks one of the three young about 67 million yen.

In politics
Asked about this, Agriculture Minister Tetsuro Nomura said: “It is very unfortunate that such an act took place, as it had a significant impact on food industry operators and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries will pay special attention to the situation in the future.”