What’s more fun than a meal with friends in a kaitenzushi ? The plates of sushi parade on a conveyor belt in front of each table, to the delight of young and old alike. But that was before. Since the beginning of the year, there has been a wave of “terrorism” targeting these restaurants, which are very popular in Japan and beyond. Strange customers lick the sushi before putting it back on the conveyor belt, or slip a cigarette butt between the fish and the rice, or drink from the neck of small bottles of soy sauce. Then they post the video of their “exploits” on social networks. In the Empire of the Rising Sun (and Raw Fish), a psychosis is born.
On March 9, however, two young men and a teenage girl were arrested for “unsanitary behavior” and “obstructing the activity of a business”. Seated at Kura Sushi, a kaitenzushi Tokyo, they had filmed themselves in full terrorist action. The victim sign praised the “promptness” of the police and hopes “that this action will convince others not to adopt such reprehensible behavior”.
In this country very attentive to hygiene, the “terrorists” have found the perfect recipe to shake the culinary certainties of their fellow citizens. On Twitter, indignant customers write that they will think twice before going to taste sashimi, sushi and other tataki, on a mechanical conveyor. Worried, professionals in the sector call crisis meetings. The Choshimarua brand has decided to stop the treadmills. Food & Life Companies, parent company of industry leader, Sushiro, deplores actions that “undermine customer confidence”. Despite the teenage soy sauce bottle-licking teenagers’ apologies — and those of their parents — the company sued. The Kura Sushik company has installed cameras to monitor the tables. Some establishments offer disinfected dishes on demand. Others force their customers to collect utensils and condiments, previously available on the table, from a central distribution point.
As police investigate, an outpouring of support for kaitenzushi was born. On Twitter, customers post photos or videos of their visits to Sushiro along with the hashtag #saveSushiro. The president of the company, Kohei Nii says he is upset: “I am so grateful, he writes on the social network, that I have tears in my eyes.” But he is reassured: faced with terrorism, the defenders of Japanese gastronomy have entered into resistance.