‘Sushi terrorism’ sees Japan’s conveyor belt restaurants grind to a halt

Chains across the country have taken action after viral videos showed people licking communal bottles and touching passing food

Could "sushi terrorism" forever change the way millions of diners in Japan eat their country's signature dish?

The carefree days of hi-tech sushi dining – in which customers take plates directly from a conveyor belt – appear to be over, as restaurant chains scramble in response to a spate of hygiene incidents caused by badly behaved clientele.

In the weeks since a viral video appeared showing a teenager licking the open top of a communal soy sauce bottle and rubbing saliva on passing food at a kaitenzushi (conveyor belt sushi) restaurant, chains have scrambled to restore their reputation for cleanliness – even if it means removing their main attraction.

Choshimaru, which operates restaurants in the greater Tokyo area, recently said its conveyor belts would grind to a halt, forcing staff to deliver orders by hand, after a video showed a diner placing a cigarette butt in a container of pickled ginger.

In response, staff at the chain started taking condiments and utensils to tables every time a new group of diners took their seats.

But then Choshimaru went a step further and announced that, for the time being, conveyor belts at all 63 of its restaurants would be switched off, with customers forced to wait for staff to bring their orders directly to the table.

While the move has removed the fun element, the firm reasoned that the absence of dozens of plates making their way through the restaurant on a conveyor belt would make it practically impossible for pranksters to interfere with other customers’ orders.

The kaitenzushi industry, worth an estimated ¥740bn (£4.5bn/$5.4bn) in 2021, has been hit hard by the spate of viral videos showing, among other misdemeanours, customers licking communal sauce bottles, daubing wasabi on food as it passes by, spraying sushi with hand sanitiser and snatching plates of food destined for other tables.

The incidents have sent shares plummeting at Sushiro, the industry leader, and prompted operators to rethink how they serve their dishes.

Choshimaru said all of its conveyor belts would stop by late April, with some outlets expected to implement the new measure in the coming days, according to the SoraNews 24 website.

The company is not alone in going to extreme lengths to ensure that its sushi makes the journey from kitchen and table in perfect condition.

Sushiro said last month that its sushi would be delivered only via an "express lane" to customers who order via touch-screen devices, making it harder for other diners to tamper with food.

The change came after Sushiro suffered a slump in customers, as more people shunned the convenience and novelty of kaitenzushi amid widespread media coverage of "terrorism" targeting items of food.

The end of hi-tech dining prompted a wave of online commentary, with one user posing the obvious question: "If a revolving sushi restaurant's sushi doesn't revolve, isn't it just a regular sushi restaurant?"

The Kura Sushi chain said last week it would soon introduce cameras equipped with AI to monitor tables at its restaurants in an attempt to deter mischievous diners. The system can reportedly detect "unusual" behaviour by customers, such as removing a plate from the conveyor belt and quickly returning it.

"Our company has been hearing from a large number of customers who tell us they no longer trust or want to go to conveyor belt sushi restaurants," Kura Sushi's head of public relations, Hiroyuki Okamoto, told reporters, according to the Mainichi Shimbun.

"This is a crisis not only for our stores, but for the entire conveyor belt sushi industry," Okamoto said, adding that the use of AI would reassure diners even though it meant they were effectively being placed under surveillance.

The contagion has spread to other parts of Japan's budget restaurant sector. Gyoza no Osho, a popular chain of Chinese restaurants, has removed soy sauce and other condiments from tables – they are still available on request from staff – while the ramen chain Ichiran has removed glasses from its counters and tables.

The Yomiuri Shimbun noted that the sweeping changes were in response to a minority of "mean spirited" diners.

"The trouble stirred up by a small number of thoughtless individuals is changing the way people eat reasonably priced and popular dishes at eateries across the country," it said this week.