A Japanese sushi restaurant chain is suing a teenager, who posted a video of himself licking a soy sauce bottle and wiping saliva on a slice of fish at one of its branches.
Sushiro is seeking ¥67 million (about RM 2,217,553), claiming the viral video caused a drop in sales.
The chain, which is also Japan’s biggest operator of revolving sushi restaurants, filed the suit with a court in Osaka.
It says the incident led to public fears about food hygiene and led to a sharp drop in customers nationwide. It also claims that this caused the stock of its parent company, Food & Live Companies, to slump.
According to the complaint, the teenager had licked an open soy sauce bottle and an unused teacup. He then allegedly touched a sushi plate on the running conveyor belt with his saliva-covered finger.
The incident is said to have happened at a Sushiro outlet on January 3 and a video of the incident was uploaded to a social media account on January 29. Earlier this year, a wave of prank videos, described as “sushi terrorism” went viral in Japan, some of which triggered legal action.
In March, police arrested three people on suspicion of forcible obstruction of business after they posted a video of themselves at Kura Sushi.
The video depicted one person grabbing a piece of sushi, shoving it into his mouth and drinking soy sauce directly from a communal bottle.
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