Sushi terrorism in Japan

Sushi lickers on the loose - 27th February 2023

Japanese chain restaurants are facing a new threat - 'sushi lickers'. Predominantly young boys, sushi lickers record themselves engaging in an antisocial trend of licking soy sauce bottles, biting other people's sushi, and heaping wasabi on the sushi of fellow diners.

One notorious incident occurred in the sushi restaurant franchise Sushiro, where a young man was filmed behaving inappropriately, much to the outrage of other diners. He was captured nervously looking around before snatching and licking a cup and sticking his fingers into his mouth then proceeding to touch various food items on a conveyor belt.

This trend has spawned numerous copycat videos, amassing an online following and 40 million views. Dubbed 'sushi terrorism', this disturbing trend has had serious implications for the restaurants involved. Sushiro, saw its share price plunge 5 percent due to viral footage from one of its restaurants.

The sushi licker trend is part of a broader genre of 'nuisance videos' in Japan, which primarily features attention seeking youngsters wreaking havoc in public. In one particularly egregious instant, a homeless woman fell victim to a young female prankster who offered to purchase groceries for her but then jeeringly abandoned the homeless women at the checkout.

In a country such as Japan, known for its spruceness and hygiene, the trend has garnered widespread condemnation. People have demanded the perpetrators face serious consequences, justified by the fact that the prank could have led to serious harm or even death in customers suffering a wasabi allergy.

Although apologies have been made by some sushi terrorists, Sushiro, along with other restaurants, have filed formal complaints and intend on taking legal action.

Whilst some oppose litigation against the youngsters, supporters are convinced it's the best way for the perpetrators to come to terms with the severity of their offences. In favour of legal action as a deterrent, one supporter tweeted, "By letting this painful experience be widely known, hopefully it will stop future incidents from happening."

Online, solidarity with the restaurants has been demonstrated via the hashtag #saveSushiro and supportive tweets. A week on, Sushiro's plummeting stock price has bounced back.