Pexels.com: Kindel Media / Unsplash.com: Leonardo Ziaja
A man who poured cleaning solution on conveyor belt sushi with the aim of going viral on TikTok has been arrested on charges of forced obstruction of business.
The video, uploaded to TikTok on May 27, showed the man spraying a plate of sushi with cleaning solution from a transparent squeeze bottle as it passed by his booth on a conveyor belt.
The incident took place in Saitama Prefecture at a Hama Sushi location, one of Japan’s most popular conveyor belt sushi chains.
Police were able to identify the poster a week later as an unemployed 43-year-old man living in Moroyama, Saitama Prefecture named Yuta Shinishi.
YouTube: Nippon Television News JapanA screenshot from the now-deleted video shows the 43-year-old suspect pouring cleaning solution onto sushi at a Hama Sushi location.
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Shinishi was arrested for forced obstruction of business and reportedly admitted to the crime, saying he “wanted to increase the number of views on social media.” He also clarified that the substance he poured on the sushi was “water from a detergent container.”
Hama Sushi has since responded to the viral incident, saying in a statement, “Such disruptive behavior is completely unacceptable. We will continue to fully cooperate with the police investigation.”
The chain also confirmed that it intends to pursue legal action against Shinishi, saying it “absolutely cannot accept” his actions.
Unsplash.com: Madeline LiuSome conveyor belt sushi chains have taken measures to prevent food tampering, such as sending out plates covered with lids.
It’s important to note that this sushi wasn’t being sent down the belt to another customer; reports from Japanese news outlet Sora24 state that Hama Sushi sends plates to customers directly, rather than preparing sushi to be put on the conveyor belt until they are eaten by anyone at random.
However, this doesn’t mean the detergent didn’t impact the surrounding area and could still have had adverse effects on other diners.
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This is far from the first time a person has tampered with food for views; a woman went viral in 2021 after spitting into a bag of chips at a grocery store and resealing it, sparking an outage across social media.
And in 2023, a couple was similarly slammed online for licking a tub of ice cream in a store and placing it back on the shelf.
