
The worldwide flagship retailer for Kura Sushi, a Japanese conveyor-belt sushi restaurant chain, is pictured right here in January 2020 in Tokyo. Conveyor-belt sushi eating places have been the goal of a spate of pranks.
Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
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Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP by way of Getty Pictures

The worldwide flagship retailer for Kura Sushi, a Japanese conveyor-belt sushi restaurant chain, is pictured right here in January 2020 in Tokyo. Conveyor-belt sushi eating places have been the goal of a spate of pranks.
Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Japanese police arrested three individuals on Wednesday in reference to an unsanitary prank at a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant, in keeping with the Japanese state broadcaster NHK.
The viral movies from early February confirmed certainly one of them — 21-year-old Yoshino Ryoga, dubbed a “sushi terrorist” by the Japanese public and media — placing his saliva on utensils and sushi and licking the spout of soy sauce bottles at a Kura Sushi restaurant in Nagoya Metropolis.
The restaurant chain filed a criticism for damages with police on Tuesday and obtained an apology from Ryoga.
Police additionally arrested two youngsters on suspicion of obstructing the restaurant’s operation, NHK reported. The three met by means of social media, police say.
Japan has had conveyor-belt sushi eating places, which function a less expensive different to ordering made-to-order meals from a sushi chef, because the Nineteen Fifties. Plates of sushi slide by on a conveyor belt, permitting diners to decide on what they like. Utensils and condiments, like ginger or soy sauce, sit on the counter for the innocuous taking (or malicious licking).
Whereas Japanese tradition extremely prizes each its sushi and its manners, these aren’t the primary conveyor-belt sushi pranksters. At different eating places, individuals have taken or touched different diners’ orders or doused them in spicy wasabi.
Akindo Sushiro, the corporate that runs the restaurant the place Ryoga struck, says it has changed its soy sauce bottles, sanitized its cups and moved its utensils and tableware to a single level.
Kura Sushi has additionally put in AI-equipped cameras to detect suspicious conduct, like placing a plate again. Abnormalities sound an alarm for back-of-house employees, and so they can report malicious conduct to police.