Sushi terrorism in Japan

Sushi lickers on the loose - 27th February 2023

Japan's chain restaurants have something new to fear - 'sushi lickers'. Certain Japanese boys have recorded themselves licking soy sauce bottles, biting other people's sushi and putting tonnes of wasabi on others' sushi.

The most famous incident took place in Sushiro, a sushi restaurant franchise. The video shows a young man nervously looking around before grabbing a cup, licking around its edges and sticking his fingers into his mouth and then touching several food items.

Many copycat videos have surfaced as well as some older ones. Combined, the videos have had 40 million views online.

The incidents, referred to as 'sushi terrorism', have led to serious consequences. Sushiro suffered a 5 percent fall in stock price after a video recorded in one of their stores went viral.

The trend is part of Japan's 'nuisance videos', a genre which entails mainly young people causing trouble in public just for attention. In perhaps the worst example, a young woman offered to buy a homeless woman groceries and then left her at the till, running away laughing.

In Japan, a country known for its cleanliness and hygiene, an outraged public wants to teach these pranksters a lesson. It's been pointed out that as some people are allergic to wasabi, these so-called pranks could have killed someone.

Some sushi terrorists have apologised, but not all is forgiven. Sushiro and other restaurants plan to take legal action.

While some believe taking legal action isn't the answer, others think it's the only way for the youngsters to understand the gravity of their actions. One tweet argued for suing them, stating "By letting this painful experience be widely known, hopefully it will stop future incidents from happening."

Online, many have backed the restaurants. They started the hashtag #saveSushiro, and tweeted supportive messages. A week later, Sushiro's stock slump was reversed.