A teenager licks his fingers then touches a sushi on the conveyor belt: in Japan, a series of videos of schoolboy jokes scandalizes the country to the point of causing the shares of restaurant chains to plummet.
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In one of the videos, viewed almost 40 million times on Twitter, a young customer licks a bottle of soy sauce and the rim of a teacup which he then puts back on a shelf, then licks his fingers before laughing to touch sushi on the revolving counter.
The video, filmed at a Sushiro chain restaurant in Gifu, central Japan, caused the restaurant’s parent company’s stock to plunge nearly 5% on Tuesday (January 31st).
” It’s disgusting ! »
Other videos show patrons at rival restaurant chains applying wasabi to scrolling plates of sushi, or licking the spoon through containers of powdered green tea.
These apparently isolated incidents, however, caused an outcry in Japan, known for its strict standards of hygiene and cleanliness.
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” It’s disgusting “wrote a Japanese netizen on Twitter, another claiming: “I can’t go to revolving sushi restaurants anymore. »
In a statement, the Sushiro channel said the teenager in the viral video had apologized, but a complaint had been filed against him. “We will continue to react firmly to civil and criminal matters”the company added.
Legal actions considered
The chain assured to have replaced all the bottles of soy sauce and cleaned all the cups of the restaurant and reinforced its hygiene measures.
Two other chains, Hama-sushi and Kura Sushi, have also announced legal action, with one planning to install cameras to monitor customers, the Jiji news agency reported.
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“It has consequences on the image” of Japan, judged Takanobu Watanabe, a 65-year-old real estate employee. “People who do this are horrible and don’t think about our country”he added.
Others, however, said they did not take offense. “On the contrary, there must be fewer people in the queues” restaurants now, philosophized Tetsuya Haneda, 51.
