Following a wave of unhygienic prank videos posted online by customers at conveyor belt sushi shops, Japanese police have made arrests related to two incidents.
On 9 March, police arrested three diners, aged 21, 19, and 15, over a video filmed at a Kura Sushi restaurant in Nagoya on 3 February. The stunts in the video included licking a soy sauce dispenser.
“We sincerely hope the arrest will spread awareness in society that these pranks, which fundamentally undermine our system based on a relationship of trust with customers, are a crime and that there will be no copycat acts in future,” Osaka-based Kura Sushi, which has more than 500 outlets in Japan, said through a company statement.
In response to the incident, the company installed AI cameras in its restaurants nationwide to monitor for unusual actions, such as taking a plate from the conveyor and quickly replacing it. While the cameras may mitigate diners’ worries about unsanitary pranks, the move will also effectively place customers under surveillance.
“With this system, when an AI camera installed on the rotating lane detects a suspicious opening or closing of the antibacterial sushi cover moving in the rotating lane, an alert sounds at our headquarters, and the person in charge at the headquarters immediately calls the person in charge of the relevant store. At the store that receives the notification, we will promptly remove the sushi plate where the abnormality is detected and talk to the customer,” the company said.
The wave of prank videos, dubbed “sushitero” or “sushi terrorism” in Japan, has been convincing some customers to avoid dining out, especially at “kaiten-sushi,” or “rotary sushi,” shops.
In another viral video, a prankster put wasabi on other customers’ meals at a Hama Sushi, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Zensho. Yet another video included a customer at a Gifu Prefecture Sushiro shop, based in Osaka, licking the rims of teacups and soy sauce dispensers and touching other customers’ dishes on the conveyor belt with his finger after licking it.
Although the boy in the latter case, who is a minor, later apologized, Sushiro, which is Japan’s biggest sushi chain by sales and number of outlets, will pursue both criminal charges and civil damages. The company’s stock price declined five percent on 2 February following news of the incident, though its stock later recovered.
A Sushiro press release on 3 February announced changes to its system. The chain began to store tableware and seasonings, previously located at diners’ tables, separately, and customers now must carry them to the table themselves. The company, which has locations both domestically in Japan and abroad, also installed acrylic barriers between the tables and the conveyor to prevent accidental touching. The shops will only use the conveyer to deliver products ordered through the touch panel located at each table. It will no longer have a selection of dishes constantly moving on the conveyor. The company also asked that people report any additional prank videos to the company, promising, “We will take resolute measures from both a criminal and civil standpoint.” However, it asked people to refrain from directly harming the video creators who had already been exposed.
The most recent incident over a restaurant prank video occurred on 13 April, when police detained two men in Nasushiobara City, Tochigi Prefecture, on a charge of “fraudulent obstruction of business.” Police detained to two men due to a prank video filmed at a “yakiniku,” or grilled beef, restaurant, showing them putting used toothpicks back in a holder.
The men filmed the video in September. At the time of the incident, the restaurant replaced all of the toothpicks and reported it to the police but did not press charges until the video, posted in February, went viral. The restaurant also announced that it would take preventive, sanitary measures including providing customers with individually wrapped toothpicks.
Despite the concerns, sales data shows most Japanese won’t be giving up sushi. Monthly sales data released by Sushiro’s parent company, Food & Life Companies, show same-store sales in February were 98.3 percent of what they were in 2022 – a nearly 10 percent increase compared to January. The numbers follow a general decline from late last year partially attributable to price hikes that took effect from October 2022.
Photo courtesy of Kura Sushi
