--- title: Gross pranksters hit sushi sales - The Hustle description: A video of someone licking a soy sauce bottle caused a sushi restaurant’s parent company’s shares to dip. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911311136-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-15T023032.654Z.webp --- # Gross pranksters hit sushi sales ![Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://53.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/HubSpot%20Media/Blog%202021/Images/Nav/Optimized/TheHustle_Icon_Dark.svg) [Juliet Bennett Rylah](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah) [Juliet Bennett Rylah Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/JBRylah) Published: February 15, 2023 Updated: October 11, 2023 Is nothing sacred? Apparently not, because Japan is dealing with #sushiterrorism. ![Gross pranksters hit sushi sales](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911311136-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-15T023032.654Z.webp?width=595&height=400&name=911311136-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-15T023032.654Z.webp) Some grade-A dinguses have been tampering with plates at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants, causing a stir and a potential dip in sales. #### **Yoshiaki Shiraishi…** … [opened](https://www.seattlefish.com/2015/03/11/food-move-history-conveyor-belt-sushi/#:~:text=Kaiten%2Dzushi%2C%20literally%20%E2%80%9Crotation,while%20still%20keeping%20costs%20down.) the first ”kaitenzushi” (“rotation sushi”) shop in Osaka in 1958. Plates moved along a conveyor belt for customers to grab, allowing Shiraishi to operate even when short-staffed. Such shops boomed in the 1970s after one appeared at the Osaka World Expo. They also [do well](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/31/business/global/31sushi.html) in economic downturns thanks to how cheap they are to run, and thus, their affordable prices. The industry is now worth an estimated $5.7B in Japan, [per](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/03/wave-of-sushi-terrorism-grips-japans-restaurant-world) *The Guardian*. #### **But now…** … they’re under attack via a gross trend dubbed “sushi terrorism,” [per](https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/08/business/japan-sushi-restaurants-prank-videos-intl-hnk/index.html) *CNN*. A viral video shows a customer at Sushiro, a Japanese chain, licking his fingers before touching food, as well as a soy sauce bottle and a cup. This would have been concerning before covid, but now carries an added worry — even if not widespread. One analyst said it could damage sales for several months, and Sushiro’s parent company, Food & Life Cos. Ltd., saw shares fall 4.8% last week. #### **What can be done?** Sushiro is pressing charges against the licker, but also: - Sushiro replaced food with photos as a rotating menu, and will install acrylic barriers between diners and the belt. - Kura Sushi, another chain, has used AI-powered cameras since 2019 to collect data on what dishes people take. Now, it will use the cameras to monitor behavior. **BTW: **Anime [*Sushi Police*](https://www.anime-planet.com/anime/sushi-police) followed three investigators cracking down on inauthentic sushi. It wasn’t well-rated, but maybe now it’ll make a comeback? Topics: [Food](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/food) [Restaurants](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/tag/restaurants) ## Follow us on social media prev next - ![Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1244337807-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Texas-BBQ_20230928210924.webp) ### Holy smokes, there may actually be a limit to Texans’ love of barbecue - ![Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/908447747-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-dippindots_20231002233115.webp) ### Think your industry is weird? Get a load of the beaded ice cream business - ![When did the packaged food aisle get so cool?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/2070592382-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Packaging_20231003215516.webp) ### When did the packaged food aisle get so cool? - ![The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/258270469-19-News-Brief_2023-09-24T200813.124Z.webp) ### The cereal industry’s forecast has no added sugar - ![One chip, several problems](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/161461033-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-paqui_20230914213352.webp) ### One chip, several problems - ![The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1460885417-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Mushrooms_20230816224353-1.webp) ### The shroom boom is coming to the candy aisle - ![A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/1897903693-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-croc-tarts_20230814231514.webp) ### A Pop-Tarts and Crocs partnership exists because we’re all total suckers - ![L’Eggo my… booze in a jar?](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/858195133-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Eggo_20230822212534.webp) ### L’Eggo my… booze in a jar? - ![Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/62473941-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-Beyond_Meat_stock_20230806234941.webp) ### Investors in search of greener pastures look to lab-grown meat - ![Quiznos’ off-key Spongmonkeys are back](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/464136233-httpsthdaily.s3.us-west-1.amazonaws.comfinal_size-quiznos-spongmonkeys_20230723220935.webp) ### Quiznos’ off-key Spongmonkeys are back Pop up for Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Subscribe to The Hustle Daily Newsletter Get the 5-minute news brief keeping 2.5M+ innovators in the loop. Always free. 100% fresh. No bullsh*t. JOIN FREE ### 100% Free CRM Nurture and grow your business with customer relationship management software. Signup for a free account Close modal ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "datePublished" : "2023-02-15T10:34:07.000Z", "headline" : "Gross pranksters hit sushi sales", "image" : [ "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911311136-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-15T023032.654Z.webp" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/news/02152023-sushi-pranks", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject" } } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@id" : "#article", "@type" : "NewsArticle", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Juliet Bennett Rylah", "url" : "https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/juliet-bennett-rylah" }, "dateModified" : "2023-10-11T19:33:34+0000", "datePublished" : "2023-02-15T10:34:07+0000", "headline" : "Gross pranksters hit sushi sales", "image" : [ "https://7355427.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/7355427/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/Images/911311136-HS-News-Brief_2023-02-15T023032.654Z.webp" ], "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "height" : 112, "url" : "https://fs.hubspotusercontent00.net/hubfs/53/assets/hubspot.com/web-team/WBZ/Blog%202021/Images/Logos/HubSpot%20Logo%20112X112.svg", "width" : 112 }, "name" : "HubSpot", "sameAs" : [ "https://www.facebook.com/hubspot", "https://twitter.com/hubspot" ], "url" : "https://www.hubspot.com" }, "speakable" : { "@type" : "SpeakableSpecification", "xPath" : [ "//title", "/html/head/meta[@name='description']/@content" ] } } ```