‘Sushi terrorists’ tamper with other diners’ conveyor belt sushi in viral video trend
By Bryan Ke
A popular conveyor belt sushi chain in Japan is now taking action against people who have filmed videos of themselves ruining other diners’ meals to post on social media.
One of the incidents reportedly occurred at a Hamasushi branch in early January. A now-viral video filmed there shows a man putting wasabi on sushi ordered by another diner as their plate passes by him. A repost of the four-second clip has already amassed over 132,000 views.
Hamasushi’s parent company, Zensho Holdings, recently released a statement about the viral incident, with one of its officials saying, “I hope [the perpetrator] will become aware that he did something that should not be done.”
In another viral video filmed inside another Hamasushi branch, a diner can be seen stealing sushi from a plate meant for someone else. The nine-second clip has garnered over 9.5 million views and and 48,000 likes.
Several acts of “sushi terrorism” have also reportedly been filmed in other branches of conveyor belt sushi chains, such as Akindo Sushiro and Kura Sushi.
A 48-second clip of a Japanese student licking his fingers before touching conveyor belt sushi at an Akindo Sushiro branch in Japan’s Gifu prefecture was reportedly viewed over 22 million times before it was taken down.
While both Hamasushi and Akindo Sushiro have reported the incidents to the police, they are also now reviewing ways to combat the rise of “sushi terrorism.”
Hamasushi announced their plan to replace their conveyor belts with a “straight lane” to zipline sushi orders to diners. A spokesperson for the company recently shared that only 10% of the sushi chain’s outlets are now operating with the traditional conveyor belt setup.
As for Akindo Sushiro, they will temporarily suspend conveyor belts in their branches and instead offer touch panels to diners seeking to place orders.
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