4th February 2023 – (Hong Kong) Recently, a shocking video was circulated on Japanese social media, sparking outrage among netizens. A 17-year-old male student licked the mouth of a soy sauce bottle on the conveyor belt at the popular sushi chain “Sushiro” and put it back to its original place. The student then wiped the sushi on the conveyor belt with his saliva-stained fingers after looking around to confirm that no one saw him.
After the employee found the viral video on Twitter on 29th January , the incident was reported to the police on 31st January. Subsequent to the news, the stock price of FOOD & LIFE COMPANIES, the parent company of Sushiro, plummeted. Many customers had doubts about hygiene and safety and refused to dine at Sushiro causing the market value of Sushiro parent company to loss more than 16 billion yen (approximately HK$960 million).
Meanwhile, a netizen posted in an online forum to say that a copycat prank was suspected to have taken place at a Sushiro branch in Hong Kong. Photos of a boy putting an empty sushi plate back on the conveyor belt were also shared. After witnessing the boy’s inappropriate behaviour, his family members did not speak out to stop the boy, but even helped him to stack more used plastic lids on the plate. The boy then continued to try to place the empty plate with the raised lid on the conveyor belt. Although the clip did not continue to capture the boy’s subsequent action, many local diners were concerned of the hygiene and whether the same situation would happen in the future.
Netizen even attached photos of suspected diner doing bad things, which aroused heated discussions among netizens. At the same time, the pranks of many chain sushi chain restaurants in Japan were also exposed one after another. For example, diners ate other people’s meals on the conveyor belt, ate green tea powder, poured soy sauce on the seats, etc. A series of incidents caused the public to question the chain store. Hygienic problems for diners!
In response, a spokesperson for Sushiro pointed out that the promotional materials displayed in the video are not from Hong Kong. However, the spokesperson warned that if similar situation occurs, the case may also be dealt with seriously according to individual circumstances.
