A wave of ‘sushi terrorism’ has continued to grip Japan after two men were apprehended for eating from a communal serving bowl with used cutlery.
Ryu Shimazu, 35, and Toshihide Oka, 34, were arrested on suspicion of obstructing business and property damage, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News reported.
In video footage, the pair can be seen eating at Yoshinoya, a ‘kaitenzushi’ conveyor-belt sushi restaurant in the Suminoe district of Osaka.
The prank, filmed by Oka on September 29 and shared widely on social media, saw Shimazu using his own chopsticks to chow down on red pickled ginger from a communal container.
Customers are expected to use an attached serving utensil for the popular topping, rather than use chopping sticks they’ve already had in their mouths.
Oka allegedly egged on Shimazu to do something funny while eating. ‘I wanted to make everyone laugh,’ Shimazu told police.
Oka added: ‘I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny.’
But they now face a slew of charges which could land them with fines totalling 800,000 yen (£4,800)fines and three years in prison.
Shimazu was arrested on March 9 and indicted on March 29, with Oka brought in on Monday.
The prank video surfaced in February as similar stunts went viral, with a customer notifying Yoshinoya. The company then reported the clip to the authorities.
A spokesperson said the restaurant where the prank took place was briefly closed to throw away all the ginger and clean its food containers.
It is a ‘source of great regret that this has become news that calls into question the safety and security of eating out in general’, the spokesperson said.
Posted under the hashtag ‘#寿司テロ,’ or ‘sushi terror’, pranksters in Japan have been spiking food bowls with wasabi and sucking on teacup rims before returning them to the belt for other unsuspecting customers.
Multiple sushi bars up and down the country which use conveyor belts to ferry tiny plates of nigiri, rolls and spicy toppings to diners have been targeted.
The antics have caused major headaches for restauranteurs, with one chain, Sushiro, seeing its stocks plunge after a diner was filmed licking a soy sauce bottle.
One conveyor-belt sushi chain is fighting back against the pranksters, however.
Kura Sushi is now using AI-powered cameras to track suspicious opening and closing of sushi dish covers and alert staff, Nikkei Asia reported.
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