Japanese police arrested two men accused of “sushi terrorism” following an incident which forced an Osaka restaurant to close..The two men — Ryu Shimazu and Toshihide Oka — were arrested after posting a clip on social media as a part of a series of pranks targeting popular restaurants..In the video, Shimazu is seen eating ginger from a communal container with his own chopsticks during a visit to a Yoshinoya restaurant in September 2022. Customers are required to use communal utensils when touching communal food..Police accused the men of obstruction of business as well as destroying property. The restaurant was forced to temporarily close its Osaka restaurant in February while it replaced the food and sanitized the communal bowls..Japanese media report Oka, 34, told police he “wanted to make everyone laugh,” adding “I asked [Shimazu] to do something funny, and he suddenly ate it. I shared it on social media because it was so funny. I wanted everyone to see it.”.A spokesperson for Yoshinoya said: “It is truly regrettable the news has made customers feel uncomfortable and uneasy, and the safety and security of eating out as a whole has been questioned. We sincerely hope that it will not happen again.”.Japanese restaurants have been plagued by “sushi terrorism” in recent months, including a 21-year-old who was subsequently arrested following a video in which a man licked the top of a communal bottle in February.
