A man who hopped on a viral trend, dubbed “sushi terrorism,” was arrested earlier this month by Japanese authorities and has been indicted for his crimes against cuisine.
Ryoga Yoshino, 21, was filmed in February devouring individual servings of sushi while taking gulps of soy sauce between each platter, placing his mouth on the bottle as he did so, according to Yahoo News. The incident allegedly took place at a Kura Sushi location in Nagoya, Japan.
The restaurant is a popular Japanese chain known for its conveyor belt sushi.
Two other individuals, a 19-year-old male and a 15-year-old female were also arrested in connection to this incident, Yahoo News reported. The 19-year-old, whose name has not been released, is allegedly the one who filmed Yoshido guzzling down the sushi. (RELATED: Youtube Bans Dangerous Challenges As Viral Trend Causes People To Blindfold Themselves While Driving)
The two accomplices were later released, according to Yahoo News.
WATCH: Japanese sushi restaurant chain Kura Sushi said that it started using an artificial intelligence camera system to catch unhygienic pranks, after a video of a man licking a soy sauce bottle filmed at one of their restaurants in central Japan went viral online pic.twitter.com/wshSawu8Br
— Reuters (@Reuters) March 20, 2023
Following the incident, Kura Sushi said in a statement they immediately filed a report with police, in addition to submitting additional information captured by the restaurants surveillance systems, per Yahoo.
“We hope that the recent arrests will allow the public to recognize that actions which undermine our trust-based structure for our customers is a ‘crime,'” the chain added, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Four New York Teens Die In Car Crash Linked To Viral TikTok ‘Challenge’)
Yoshino’s lawyer, Kenichi Tamura, said the performance was a way to get “social approval and validation,” The New York Times reported.
The unhygienic trend has reportedly began going viral in January of 2023, and Kura Sushi is not the only restaurant to have fallen victim to it. Two other chain restaurants, Sushiro and Hamazushi, were also targeted, CNN reported.
In response, Sushiro reportedly shut down their conveyer belt method of serving food. Kura Sushi, on the other hand, has avoided such drastic measures. Instead, Kura plans to utilize artificial intelligence to monitor customers for any suspicious behavior. (RELATED: FDA Issues Warning Over Viral Cooking Craze Deemed Incredibly Dangerous)
“We hope there will be no copycat in the future. As always, we will continue to strive to further improve our systems to prevent nuisances so that our customers can enjoy their meals safely and securely,” Kura Sushi said.