After sushi terror, what sashimi peace?

Add a new calamity to the global polycrisis - sushi terrorism. And that it has happened in one of the most disciplined and hygienic societies in the world worries us deeply. A few weeks back, a video on social media showed a teenager licking the top of a soy sauce bottle, doing the same with a rice bowl, smear spit on passing food on a conveyor belt. Japan's kaitenzushi restaurants - where customers pick up items directly from a moving conveyor belt - are popular because they are fun, and customers don't have to wait for waiters. The food appears in regular, visible intervals like a toy train making rounds. With the latest spate of sushi terrorism captured in far too many videos, the kaitenzushi industry, estimated at some $5 billion in 2021, looks like it's ready to collapse. All because of a handful of snotty, disgusting punks.

Police investigations are underway in many of Japan's food vandalism-hit revolving sushi restaurants. But once customers have seen the mayhem even in a few videos, it is very hard to restore faith in food that comes trundling via 'unknown interventions'. Customers now are going to sushi restaurants where food is served at tables. But after this sushi horror spree in Japan, what happens in countries/places where hygiene, never mind customer etiquette, is not given a second thought? The mind sashimis and shudders.