The recent phenomenon of so-called “sushi terrorism” threatens to forever change the way millions of people enjoy what many consider its hallmark. Japanese food.

The carefree days of high-tech dining at so-called Kaitenzushi, revolving restaurant-bars where customers take their plates straight from a conveyor belt, seem to be long gone after a series of hygiene breaches forced shopkeepers to adhere to meters.

In the weeks following the spread of a viral video to over 100 million views, in which a young man licks the spout of common soy sauce and then the rim of a cup he conspiratorially puts down for use, it caused an uproar. on the social media of a country infamous for its cleanliness, with Kaitensushi chain owners struggling to restore their reputation for enviable hygiene — even at the cost of removing their main attraction, the rolling bar.

【悲報】图夜寿司炎上界隈にとはますしてななななあらくかあ
今度はスシローで醤油さしや湯飲たをベロベロ舐めまくり＆回る寿司あれゆます pic.twitter.com/RMUk3caZQE

— 滝沢ガレソ🪚 (@takigare3) January 29, 2023

Choshimaru, the Tokyo-based restaurant manager, recently announced that its revolving bar will stop operating and staff will deliver food to customers after another video showed a patron sticking a cigarette butt into a jar of pickled ginger.

In response, employees initially began taking shared condiments, sauces, and cutlery to empty tables only when customers were already seated.

However, the chain later announced that conveyor belts at all 63 of its restaurants were temporarily out of service as customers waited for staff to bring their orders to the table.

A heavy blow to the Kaitensushi industry

Kaitensushi industry, cost $5.4 billion in 2021hit hard by a series of viral videos of customers licking shared sauce bottles, smearing wasabi on the food they pass, spraying sushi with antiseptic and grabbing plates meant for other tables.

Choshimaru has announced that his restrictions will end at the end of April, but the media believe the new measure will be accelerated over the next few days.

The chain isn’t the only one that, with stocks and customers plummeting, has been forced to take action by rethinking the way food is served.

And Sushiro, the industry’s largest company, announced in February that its sushi would be delivered via an “express route” to customers ordering from touchscreen devices to prevent other customers from getting in the way of their plates.

For its part, the network announced last week that it intends to install cameras with AI for table monitoring to scare off troublesome customers.

The approaching end of high-tech dishes has sparked social media outrage from a small group of concerned customers who are causing historic change, their frustration, and a reasonable question asked by one of the users: “If one of the rotating belts of the Kaitensushi restaurant does not rotate, then this is not ordinary sushi -restaurant?

Source: Guardian