Sushi is of the many things famous in Japan, and pretty much everywhere else in the world.
The Japanese dish involves preparing vinegared rice, usually with some sugar and salt, with a variety of ingredients, such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. In many restaurants, these delicacies are placed on plates, which are then put on a conveyor belt.
Patrons can pick up the sushi they like to eat, by taking the plate and place it on their table, and then eat it.
But this is where some pranksters made a name for themselves, by pranking other patrons by doing what they're not supposed to do.
In a video that went viral, a person is seen grabbing a sushi right from the plate while it's still on a sushi conveyor belt, before gobbling everything down by drinking a soy source directly from communal soy sauce bottle.
This happened at a Kura Sushi restaurant branch.
Sooner than later, this sparked outrage, and the uploader quickly deleted their video.
But this is too late, since the virality of the video has made the internet to have copies of them.
In response, the Japanese police have arrested three people over this "sushi terrorism," for doing their unhygienic pranks that threatened the health of others, and the brand of the restaurant.
The first person arrested, is Ryoga Yoshino, who allegedly drank directly from the communal soy sauce.
After that, two others, aged 19 and 15, were also arrested.
The three had taken part in "extremely malicious nuisance" at its restaurant in the city of Nagoya
The local police said that their actions constituted obstruction of business under Japan's Penal Code.
The group's activities forced employees at Kura Sushi to perform emergency cleaning, "making normal business operations difficult," the police added.
All of the suspects admitted to the wrongdoing, the police said.
This isn't the first time that sushi restaurants deal with pranksters and this kind of offenders.
In the past, a customer was once found placing a cigarette butt in a jar of pickled ginger.
Then, there are also instances of people filming themselves licking presented chopsticks or touching sushi as it glides past them on the conveyor belt, or putting wasabi on others' sushi as it passes. Other unsavory pranks included patrons touching moving pieces of sushi with their freshly-licked fingers, or sucking the rim of a teacup before placing it back on the shelf, or using toothpicks before placing them back, or spraying disinfectant on sushis while on the conveyor belt.
At least one of the video shows a person shoving the piece of sushi into their mouth, before putting it back.
Japan has been dealing with this phenomenon as far back as 2013, and many of the video can be found on both Twitter and TikTok.
But what happened during the rise of COVID-19 infections in 2020 and 2021, were particularly concerning, since the pandemic has made people more hygiene conscious.
In response to this, several sushi restaurants with conveyor belt, known as Kaiten-sushi in Japan, have made public appeals for offenders to stop their food sabotage.
The videos were considered a serious offense to the business, that many of then have created a public relations crisis as customers fret about sanitation.
For precautions, some restaurants bring dishes to patrons directly after they're ordered. Condiments and sauces are only handed out when patrons have taken their seats.
Some restaurants also changed their rules, in which they require patrons to collect their own utensils and condiments from staff to cut down on potential sabotage attempts.
Some have also stopped using its conveyor belts altogether.
Others have installed an alert system, where some of its conveyor belts are equipped with sensors and cameras.
Several sushi chains have even threatened legal action.
Pranks like these only hurt restaurants, especially during global supply chains that have been under strain to a weaker yen, and because of the the war in Ukraine, as well as the COVID-19 pandemic.
While Japan is renowned for its exacting cleanliness standards and culinary etiquette, including when visiting sushi restaurants, some people just don't follow that tradition.
The "sushi terrorism" pranks have not only shocked millions of people around the country but also led to falls in share prices of some famous eateries in Japan.
The acts, which appear to be becoming more commonplace, have been dubbed online as #sushitero or #sushiterrorism.
And the arrest of the three people is the first of its kind.
The company that operates Kura Sushi, which has nearly 500 outlets in Japan, welcomed the arrests in a statement.
"We sincerely hope the arrests will spread awareness in society that these pranks, which fundamentally undermine our system based on a relationship of trust with customers, are a crime, and that there will be no copycat acts in future," a representative for Kura Sushi restaurant said.