Restaurants

‘Sushi terrorists’ pile more pressure on Japan’s beleaguered restaurant sector

The owners of conveyor belt sushi chains are scrambling to halt pranksters filming themselves engaging in unhygienic acts, then posting the clips to social media

A conveyor belt sushi restaurant. One analyst said the format was “not designed for the era when individuals can post videos on the internet”. Picture: Bloomberg

Japan’s famed conveyor-belt sushi restaurants are scrambling to tackle a craze for making viral videos in which customers commit unhygienic acts.

The phenomenon, dubbed “Sushi Terrorism,” gained steam earlier this week after a teenager posted a video to social media filmed in Japan’s largest conveyor belt sushi chain. In it, he licked communal items including a soy sauce bottle and a bowl, and touched sushi as it rolled past with fingers he had put in ...