Aside from meals, a Japanese restaurant chain until recently offered a special service: slapping. But then an incident occurred.
Was slapping on the menu in Japan? Yes, as South China Morning Post reports, until about two months ago a dish that could be ordered for a few euros from the Yotteba restaurant chain in Japan, called Binta, was a slap in the face. And that really means a slap in the face with the flat of your hand. It is not a prosaic description of a farewell dessert.
You will give out much more than slaps in the face in the new Assassin’s Creed Shadows. There you assassinate in historical Japan. The title will finally be released soon after being postponed again.
Assassin’s Creed Shadows: The official trailer for the open world in Japan
More videos
Autoplay
A slap in the face goodbye
Why should anyone pay for a slap? We can only speculate about the personal reasons of the individual. But the motivation for the offer, according to the South China Morning Post, was to give customers a clear head for the journey home. The chain also serves alcohol with its meals and is particularly known for its cheap beer.
The price for a slap in the face was 500 yen, which is equivalent to around 3 euros. If you added another 100 yen (60 euro cents), you could even choose the person who would deliver the blow. You can find a compilation of some slaps recorded on video on X from the user Bangkok Lad.
Stop after injury
Why was the offer abandoned? As a spokesman for the chain told the South China Morning Post, Binta has now been taken off the menu. The reasons include the desire for a “change in image”. In addition, Binta wasn’t really popular anyway. However, the decision was made after a customer complained about an injury caused by such a slap.
According to the company, the offer was on the menu for around two years.
According to the South China Morning Post report, Yotteba was not the only chain that hit its customers on demand and for payment. Shachihoko-ya offered something similar. However, at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the service stopped and has not been resumed.
How did anyone come up with the idea? Binta likely dates back to the Meiji era (1868-1912), according to the South China Morning Post. At this time, police officers literally took punishment into their own hands: They hit delinquents in the side of the head for misdemeanors.
What is not going down as well in Japan as the government had hoped is the 4-day week. Despite good reasons to work shorter hours, significantly fewer companies and employees than expected are following the nationwide initiatives: In one country, people work more than they have to and voluntarily give up the four-day week