Japan restaurant chain seeks Rs 4 crore in damages from teen who licked soy sauce bottle

A teenager in Japan who went viral for licking a soy sauce bottle in a conveyor-belt sushi restaurant earlier this year is now being sued for almost half a million dollars (about Rs 4 crore) after a video of the "sushi terrorism" went viral and sales dropped.

The incident occurred in a branch of Akindo Sushiro, owned by Food and Life Companies on January 3. The teenager and his friend went to the restaurant where the teen was filmed licking a bottle of soy sauce and a teacup, and touching sushi that passed by on the conveyor belt with a saliva-covered finger.

The act has been termed "sushi terrorism" and is being copied by others after it began to trend on social media, sparking massive outrage in Japan.

The sushi chain Akindo Sushiro is now seeking Rs 4 crore in damages from the teen, alleging it saw a decline in business after the video of the incident went viral. Meanwhile, the teen, who has not been publicly named, has admitted to and apologised for the incident with his lawyers claiming that he never meant for the video to go viral, South China Morning Post reported.

In March, another Japanese conveyor-belt sushi chain Kura Sushi announced that it would use AI-powered cameras to track suspicious behavior among customers to crack down on such incidents.