It was a story that gripped Japan earlier this year and even made international headlines. Now, a sushi chain is demanding damages from one of the perpetrators of a wave of “sushi terrorism”. And it’s not a tiny sum.
I did it for the TikTok
Conveyor belt sushi is, for many tourists to Japan, a “must-do” experience. The conveyor shops are also a booming business domestically. But many conveyor belt chains have considered gravitating away from the concept due to concerns over cost and waste.
That movement accelerated earlier this year in the wake of the “sushi terrorism” wave. As we reported back in January, customers – many of them young and even high-school age – delighted in filming disgusting acts at conveyor belt shops and uploading them to Instagram, TikTok, and other social media channels. The acts varied from taking other people’s special orders to throwing wasabi on top of sushi just minding its own business.
In one case involving conveyor belt chain Sushiro, a male high school student at a store in Gifu Prefecture in January went for a triple-dip of disgusting. After filming himself rubbing a spit finger against some nigiri sushi and putting used teacups back in the unused pile, he licked the bottle of soy sauce on his table.
At the time, Sushiro and other shops said they would consider filing charges or seeking damage against the perpetrators. Now, Sushiro has carried through on that threat in a big way.
Sushiro tries to set an example
Local media discovered this week that Akindo Sushiro of Osaka filed a suit against the young man behind the Gifu incident for a staggering sum of 67 million yen (around USD $481,000) in damages. The company filed the suit on March 22nd.
While a large amount, it’s a fraction of the economic damage Sushiro suffered. The incident led to a drop in visitors to the chain nationwide. Akindo Sushiro saw its stock drop 5% – about 16 billion yen, or USD $114.8 million – in a single day.
In its suit, Suhiro says the damages include not just the loss of business, but the cost of additional sanitary measures it had to take to restore customer confidence. “[These actions] had a significant impact, and we cannot ignore them,” the company said in its suit.
The young man’s attorneys responded to the suit in May, asking a judge to dismiss the case. They argue that the drop in customers could also be attributed to competition between Sushiro and its rivals and can’t be dumped solely in the young man’s lap.
Sushiro is also pursuing criminal charges against the young man with the Gifu police.
What happens to the kid now?
The news has generated a ton of conversation on social media, as well as in the ever-lively and rough-and-tumble comments thread on Yahoo! News JP.
Economist Kadokura Takashi, in a top-rated comment, says, “Some people say we should overlook this as the mere prank of a young kid. But that sort of naive response will spur escalations and copycats, resulting in a great economic loss for both conveyor belt sushi chains as well as customers.”
In another comment with 152,000 likes, a regular user says they’re “exasperated” by the kids’ attorney’s attempt to pawn Sushiro’s loss off as the result of a competitive market. “I hope they’ll calculate the damages accurately and sue him for the appropriate amount….That’ll help with deterrence.”
It’s fair to ask whether society should heap this level of opprobrium on a minor. The kid in question already withdrew from his high school and is facing both a lawsuit and criminal charges. On top of that, the entire country of Japan more or less hates his guts. It’s hard to see how he and his family recover from this and what sort of future awaits him.
On the other hand, it’s apparent that the sushi terrorists hit a raw nerve. No one likes having their food messed with. And these unsanitary “pranks” were far from harmless.
It remains to be seen whether lawsuits like Sushiro’s act as a deterrent – or whether a new wave of bio-terrorism awaits an unsuspecting Japanese populace.
What to read next
As “Sushi Terrorism” Grips Japan, Some Say Ditch the Conveyor
Sources
スシロー迷惑動画、しょうゆ差しなめた少年を提訴…６７００万円損賠請求. Yomiuri Shimbun
『スシロー』ペロペロ迷惑行為の「動画撮影者、投稿者」に違法性を見出すのは難しい？弁護士の見解. Shukan Josei Prime
