Japan battles 'sushi terrorism' with arrests over personal chopsticks in communal bowls

Two men were arrested in Osaka after a video in a budget restaurant was shared widely online

Two men were arrested over a prank at a Yoshinoya restaurant in Osaka — but it was not an isolated incident. AP

Two men have been charged with obstruction of business after staging and filming a prank at a restaurant in Japan in September.

At a branch of the Yashinoya chain in Osaka, Toshihide Oka and Ryu Shimazu allegedly used their chopsticks to delve into a communal bowl of pickled ginger repeatedly. Diners are supposed to use separate utensils to pick up food from communal bowls.

The restaurant closed for thorough cleaning after the video was discovered in February.

Mr Oka told police that he wanted to make people laugh.

“I asked [Shimazu] to do something funny," the Kyodo news agency reported him saying. "I shared it on social media because it was so funny. I wanted everyone to see it."

The beef bowl brand has about 1,000 restaurants in Japan but they aren't the only ones battling bad behaviour from customers.

The incident seems to be part of a trend gathering speed, including one early last month in which a diner grabbed a piece of sushi from a plate as it passed on a conveyor belt, shoving the whole morsel into their mouth and then drinking soy sauce directly from a communal bottle.

Similar so-called sushi terrorism videos filmed at various chains surfaced last month on platforms including Twitter and TikTok, with some apparently weeks or even years old.

Other unsavoury pranks included customers touching moving pieces of sushi with a freshly licked finger, or sucking the rim of a teacup before placing it back on a shelf.