2 arrested over video of unhygienic acts at Yoshinoya restaurant

Yes, teach a lesson to the copy cats.

yoshinoya processed fast food joint on my black list.

No the brightest bulbs on the display....

"I asked Shimazu to do something funny"

And instead he did something disgusting.

I think you two need to work on your comedy routine...

35 years old!

Social Media has destroy us

"I wanted to make everyone laugh," while Oka was described as saying, "I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny."

It's all about traffic and views!

Throw the book at them. I hate when people take advantage and abuse social norms.

After their unhygienic acts, I wonder if they put on their face masks to protect others against airborne transmission of any infectious virus droplets they might have.

"I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny."

1 - Yoshinoya is crap

2 - Contaminating food deliberately isn't funny.

Very sick individuals.

This is the kind of thing you’d expect a couple of stupid teenagers to do, not grown men in their thirties. 

Actually no, I wouldn't expect any teenager to pull a stunt like this, it's insulting to them to even think so.

This type of crap has been happening for generations, look at all the grannies who finger-fruck all the tenpura at the deli counter? Or how about the food server in a greasy spoon that is smoking a cigarette and their thumbs are in the bowls of food they are serving?

I could on, but the point is that thanks to people's stupidity, it is now the "thing" to video the evidence.

I am personally glad to see businesses stepping up and pressing charges

exexalienToday  

Ryu Shimazu, 35, and Toshihide Oka, 34

This is the kind of thing you’d expect a couple of stupid teenagers to do, not grown men in their thirties. Surprised the article doesn’t mention their status of employment, as seems to be the standard.

35 is barely out of puberty these days

also, not to knock anyone’s chosen profession but, if you’re a male at that age and working at a Yoshinoya as a non-manager, there has to be a reason for that.

This will NOT STOP unless it's punished like everything else $$$ and Jail time like 3 to 5 years .

I feel like getting arrested for using your chopsticks to eat the pickled ginger is a bit strong! It's not quite the same as the sushi lickers: more of an unhygenic act or social faux pas than an act of deliberate sabotage.

As another commenter here mentions, there are plenty of dodgy dealings in the business world (including pretty rampant wage theft) that cause far more societal harm and yet go completely unpunished, let alone arrests made.

34 and 35 year olds with mentality of a 2 year old! Society is in trouble and what makes this even worse is that these two might actually reproduce creating even more retards!!!

The police said the two admitted to the allegations, with Shimazu quoted as saying, "I wanted to make everyone laugh," while Oka was described as saying, "I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny."

Not only are they both extremely stupid but they also have a warped sense of humour and what they think the public will find funny.

This is the kind of thing you’d expect a couple of stupid teenagers to do, not grown men in their thirties.

Its Japan, so I'm not surprised

They thought it was "funny." How about if I spit in your mouth, must be hilarious eh? Then sue them and see how funny it is.

@anonymist

I feel like getting arrested for using your chopsticks to eat the pickled ginger is a bit strong! It's not quite the same as the sushi lickers: more of an unhygenic act or social faux pas than an act of deliberate sabotage.

I think the problem is less what he did than posting it proudly on social media. Otherwise it should only be a case of the server saying please do not do that.

Sick man!

Somebody said it's not that serious. The act itself wasn't but posting it on social media is. It will cost the company quite a few million in lost revenue. They should be sued and asked to pay it back - that would put an end to this obnoxious trend.

I find it alarming that something as minor as using your chopsticks to take condiments out of a container will now get you arrested and make you the subject of outrage in national news.

This is developing into a witch hunt mentality and the behavior being targeted seems to be becoming more and more trivial. I’m way more comfortable with eating at a Yoshinoya knowing their is an infinitesimal chance someone else’s chopsticks might have made contact with the ginger than I am eating at one knowing some minor lapse of manners on my part will land me in a prison cell.

Why were they arrested? This sounds like a civil offence. The restaurant should just sue. Police can escort out if they refuse to leave, but not arrest.

In Japanese beef bowl restaurants, tables are typically pre-set with a selection of free condiments and toppings for diners to add to their meals, and pickled ginger is a mainstay of the popular dish. Separate utensils are provided to serve the toppings and ensure proper hygiene between multiple dining parties.

japan needs to stop this practice and waitress should be the ones providing on demand as a customer to prevent these filthy behaviors

Why were they arrested? This sounds like a civil offence. The restaurant should just sue. Police can escort out if they refuse to leave, but not arrest.

Unlikely these two juvenile dropkicks have a few coins between them. A civil suit is pointless.

A criminal record is what the jerks deserve.

A criminal record is what the jerks deserve.

For using chopsticks to get ginger?? This hysteria is getting out of hand.

So two guys in their mid 30’s only got caught because they were smart enough to film the crime and upload it. How many unhygienic customers have done this without getting caught? My guess is a lot because my son did that in front of me once but he was 7 at the time.

Not funny in the slightest.

Good, send them to the yakz, give them a lesson..

Also they weren’t arrested for using their chopsticks and being unhygienic. I doubt the police would get involved with that. They were arrested for uploading the video and harming the brand image of yoshinoya. Nothing to do with hygiene.

This is nothing.

Ever been to an all japanese office dinner/nomikai?

10 minutes and the gentlemen start sticking chopsticks up to their own noses while trying to make funny faces, all in front of the embarassed beautiful office ladies.

These childish acts seem to be very funny for japanese men in their 20-40s.. 15 years in and I still cant get it.

For using chopsticks to get ginger?? This hysteria is getting out of hand.

The actual hygiene is beside the point.

Do you realize how much reputational damage that these incidents do to companies when they hit the headlines?

Also they weren’t arrested for using their chopsticks and being unhygienic. I doubt the police would get involved with that. They were arrested for uploading the video and harming the brand image of yoshinoya. Nothing to do with hygiene.

Yes, they were arrested because the video had been uploaded, which caused reputational harm to Yoshinoya, but the underlying act in question was simply using chopsticks to get condiments.

If I fart in a Yoshinoya and someone else films that, uploads it and it makes Yoshinoya look bad because it creates an association between their brand and a gaijin breaking wind, should I be arrested for that?

Do you realize how much reputational damage that these incidents do to companies when they hit the headlines?

Yeah, I get that, but who is to blame for that? Some guy posting a video of himself taking ginger with his chopsticks - a trivial act so banal that a sane reaction to it would be to just say “knock it off”, or the media and social media system that turns that one stupid act and amplifies it by a million times, turns it into a paranoid national obsession, and causes all the actual damage?

I get that these guys were willingly entering themselves into that media sphere by posting this video in the first place, but the fact that people are getting arrested for acts that seem less and less serious concerns me.

What if the guy taking the condiments with his chopsticks had been filmed by a stranger without permission, and the video was uploaded by that stranger? The guy with the chopstcks would have done the same act which would cause the same reputational harm to Yoshinoya, but should he be arrested for it? He seems less morally culpable than in the current case where the guy was a willing participant, but I think he could still be arrested. Likewise what about the stranger taking the video? He would be the one doing the uploading which led to the reputational harm, but in such a case all he would be doing is revealing to the public that customers engage in such activities, something the public would arguably benefit from knowing about even though it would harm Yoshinoya’s reputation. Should he be arrested for that?

Its stuff like this that concerns me. All this vehement vitriol against these guys for doing something that harms a business’s reputation combined with a law that seems to give police a wide range of discretion in choosing who to arrest for what feels like something that could easily lead to overkill.

I agree the act itself is trivial and probably a lot of customers have grabbed ginger with the chopsticks they were using without realizing. But it’s low hanging fruit for young low level prosecutors, who apparently have nothing more pertinent to go after. They filmed and uploaded the video. No deniability. I would say a fine would suffice and no need to ruin these guys by naming them for being morons… but then they already did that to themselves by uploading it.

I've always been concerned about the condiments left on tables at chain restaurants in Japan. It's just too easy for some creep to contaminate them, as proven in this case.

Shimazu quoted as saying, "I wanted to make everyone laugh,"

Did one person laugh?

I’m wondering if these are the same guys that rev their little motor scooters, loudly at night, thinking anyone gives a darn? Or one of those guys that think yelling out words really loud, makes it amusing.

Where do these fools learn humor?

Oka was described as saying, "I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny."

idk what made them look more like losers:

-eating at yoshinoya (no one goes there, so long as Sukiya exists)

-being in their mid 30s and doing dumb crap that teenagers do

-making male only tik toks……no one watches those. Unless they are videos of women doing things, no one watches men on tik tok.

please lock them up for life. We do not need these clowns, reproducing in anyway.

If it were up to me, I'd make a law that this sort of crime carries a few months in jail, followed up by a good old-fashioned Singapore-style caning.

Televise it and make an example of these guys.

Only a serious deterrent like this will stop such crimes.

One has the right to disagree with me. And I have the right to say that they're just not that serious about trying to stop and deter crime.

shogun36

-eating at yoshinoya (no one goes there, so long as Sukiya exists)

Yes, Sukiya is way way way better than Yoshinoya. But, lots of people go to Yoshinoya. It's extremely popular, regardless of whether or not you or I prefer Sukiya.

What a waste of time and energy these things are. The offences are simple attention seeking, are supposed to be funny without being funny, and the punishment, both to the idiots involved and the restaurants in lost custom are likely to be excessive. I want the police and legal system we pay for to police proper crimes, not nonsense like this.

I hope no-one films someone getting in the onsen without washing first. Its bad form, but loads of blokes do it, usually old timers.

I think any food that is open to the public is apt to be disgusting. Although it may be environmentally unfriendly, having things wrapped in plastic, like in convenience stores, is the only way to have any semblance of avoiding food being contaminated by any stranger. When you think of open-air buffets, not only in Japan, it can seem disgusting what may go on food.

The police said the two admitted to the allegations, with Shimazu quoted as saying, "I wanted to make everyone laugh," while Oka was described as saying, "I asked Shimazu to do something funny. I wanted to show it to everyone because I thought it was funny."

I don't know who laughed then, probably no one except for these two clowns, and I definitely know who's not laughing now. File this under: What could you possibly have been thinking?

Yes, those weird and outstanding cases are bad and spectacular, but the real problem with restaurant hygiene starts when only half or whatever near percentage of customers and sfaff never or just hastily wash their hands after going to a ALL restaurants’ toilets countrywide and then sit at the table or continue cooking and serving. And believe me, that’s quite another dimension and all kind of severe faecal bacteria involved, compared to those few disgusting viral sns videos .

Why were they arrested? This sounds like a civil offence. The restaurant should just sue. Police can escort out if they refuse to leave, but not arrest.

Obstruction of a business and damaging property are criminal offenses here. It's pretty hard to get charged with the "obstruction" charge, which came about due to criminal activity, if I recall correctly.

The penalties are not that severe, but, again if I recall correctly, restitution has to be paid as well.

This will NOT STOP unless it's punished like everything else $$ and Jail time like 3 to 5 years .

You know the media should do better follow-ups on what actually happened to the other recent cases. Were the suspects charged or let go with a slap on the wrist? These cases will continue unfortunately until courts lay the hammer down on these fools.

Yes, Sukiya is way way way better than Yoshinoya. But, lots of people go to Yoshinoya. It's extremely popular, regardless of whether or not you or I prefer Sukiya.

agree! although my personal favorite is Matsuya.

Why are so many of these childish acts committed by grown men in Japan. But that’s another issue.

Throw the book at them as it’s only a matter of time until there is seriously dangerous matter involved.

Those places are unhygienic to begin with. How many people have done the same thing but not taken a video of it? They should give wrapped packets of everything, instead of expecting customers to share them. Just touching the lid is unhygienic. Not to mention the unwrapped chopsticks that anyone can touch before they go into your mouth...

They openly promote eating food sourced from radioactive areas of Fukushima to promote solidarity and reconstruction. So these two fun loving lads should have a health checkup in a few months.

Funny?

A couple of guys wanted to film me recently after a wedding. I had been the officiant. A choir girl explained the situation to me and I gave them a flat “No.” They seem surprised as if I owed it to them. “It’s for YouTube,” they insisted.

Just think, if they were 43 and 53 and they thought this was funny this childish act would still show that they will never grow up being that they were 34 and 35 thinking what they did was funny.

Childish behavior is common here

Those places are unhygienic to begin with. How many people have done the same thing but not taken a video of it? They should give wrapped packets of everything, instead of expecting customers to share them. Just touching the lid is unhygienic. Not to mention the unwrapped chopsticks that anyone can touch before they go into your mouth...

Have you seen the video, which has been shown on TV news? The guy takes the ginger container, puts it to his mouth, and shovels loads of ginger into his mouth repeatly with his chopsticks, in the manner of someone speed-eating rice. The odd person may take a bit of ginger with used chopsticks once or twice, but they would not do this. You cannot compare what (unhygenic) normal people might do to deliberate acts by jokers like this.

What a pathetic world we live in when we see people doing acts like this.

Hang on...

...suspected of damaging property after a Yoshinoya restaurant in Osaka was forced to discard red pickled ginger toppings and sanitize its containers.

You mean they don't normally sanitise the containers every day? I guess they just put more in when empty never cleaning anything. Yuck.

I think the real damage is to the brand.

As part of his punishment he should be forced to undergo a health and hygiene course !! and visit a hospital so he can see people being sick through food poisoning and cross contamination of food.

i am sure he will be then aware of his actions and the reprocutuons it can have