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Japan AI

Japan's Sushi Chains Rush To Ensure Food Safety After Viral Stunts (nikkei.com) 61

Major Japanese conveyor belt sushi chains are ramping up efforts to monitor their products and prevent food tampering after a recent string of videos on social media showing such disturbing behavior as customers licking soy sauce bottles. From a report: Kura Sushi will introduce artificial intelligence-based monitoring nationwide by early March. Using cameras already installed to monitor conveyor belts, it will detect suspicious opening and closing of sushi plate covers, for example. The company already had cameras installed to count plates taken by customers, using the data to adjust how much sushi is sent down the belt and calculate the bill. The system will be modified to detect suspicious behavior and alert employees. The phrase "sushi terrorism" has been trending on social media after a spate of unhygienic pranks that went viral. Online video shows young customers licking soy sauce bottles and dinnerware meant for others.
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Japan's Sushi Chains Rush To Ensure Food Safety After Viral Stunts

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  • by backslashdot ( 95548 ) on Friday February 10, 2023 @02:03PM (#63282319)

    You never want food to go viral. Or even bacterial.

    • Bear in mind that people have been doing this & worse since there have been restaurants, taverns, cafeterias, etc.. It's only now that people can show videos to millions of viewers of them doing it.
      • Bear in mind that people have been doing this & worse since there have been restaurants, taverns, cafeterias, etc.. It's only now that people can show videos to millions of viewers of them doing it.

        Right, this has always been a challenge since forever. There isn't a single restaurant where the customers have complete validation for food security. It's not just the neighbor customer licking the lids. It's also the security of the farmers, the grocers, the chefs, the servers/deliverers, the dish/pot washers, and the kitchen cleaners. Sometimes the cooks or servers spit in the food of customers they don't like. Sometimes lazy/tired/underpaid/overworked cleaners don't clean properly. If one wished t

        • The only remedy is task-specific robots. Automate the whole fucking thing. Zeroing humans from the equation is the only hope for humanity. The human brain is prone to all kinds of lapses in judgement, distraction, forgetfulness, anger, paranoia, schizophrenia, evil, negligence, forgetfulness, and just plain stupidity. Why in God's name would you assign humans to do any task that requires any sort of trust and responsibility?

  • by LatencyKills ( 1213908 ) on Friday February 10, 2023 @02:11PM (#63282335)

    Could people get any more stupid? I catch you messing with food that isn't on your plate right in front of you in my restaurant, I'm suing you for every scrap of food in the building. I hope you have $15k burning a hole in your pocket. Wasn't there a girl caught licking ice cream half gallons in a supermarket who ended up paying for the entire freezer case? (note: I tired to find a link for the story I was thinking of, and couldn't seem to sort it out of the DOZENS of others that turned up on Google - I am so done with the human race).

    • by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

      Could people get any more stupid? I catch you messing with food that isn't on your plate right in front of you in my restaurant, I'm suing you for every scrap of food in the building. I hope you have $15k burning a hole in your pocket. Wasn't there a girl caught licking ice cream half gallons in a supermarket who ended up paying for the entire freezer case? (note: I tired to find a link for the story I was thinking of, and couldn't seem to sort it out of the DOZENS of others that turned up on Google - I am

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by NFN_NLN ( 633283 )

      Wasn't there a girl caught licking ice cream half gallons in a supermarket who ended up paying for the entire freezer case?

      "Police find girl who licked Blue Bell ice cream in viral video"
      https://www.nbcnews.com/news/u... [nbcnews.com]

      Girl of color --> No charges.

    • I suspect this is enabled by the fact that in japan you can do nearly ANYTHING and people are so polite they will not stop you, or speak up.
      There are up and down sides to almost everything.

      However on the flip side, licking a soysauce bottle causes less 'harm' than kissing someone. probably farless, as soy is salty, and will kill most bacteria rather quickly.
      It is not some kind of terrifying thing to be horrified by, it is kids being stupid, because thats what kids do.

      People these days REALLY need to get a g

  • by TigerPlish ( 174064 ) on Friday February 10, 2023 @02:14PM (#63282343)

    Sentence for the offenders: For each utensil / bottle licked, the offender must eat nothing but gas station / supermarket sushi for a year. On their own dime, supervised by the po po.

    This is why we can't have nice things. Stupid people see stupid thing on stupid social media, and get stupider.

    • by Anonymous Coward

      Sentence for the offenders: For each utensil / bottle licked, the offender must eat nothing but gas station / supermarket sushi for a year. On their own dime, supervised by the po po.

      This is why we can't have nice things. Stupid people see stupid thing on stupid social media, and get stupider.

      This in Japan, where convenience store food is actually fairly decent.

    • Sentence for the offenders: For each utensil / bottle licked, the offender must ...

      Lick everything. They lick one utensil, they have to lick them *all* -- then, of course, wash them all. They'll get tired of licking things sooner or later and it will haunt them for years. :-)

      • Lick everything. They lick one utensil, they have to lick them *all* -- then, of course, wash them all. They'll get tired of licking things sooner or later and it will haunt them for years. :-)

        Sir, I salute your style. I like that.

        • Lick utensils won't spread much disease. It quickly dries out and dies. Even viruses won't last too long. Licking ice cream then putting it back can, because germs have little problem with freezing.

  • by hdyoung ( 5182939 ) on Friday February 10, 2023 @02:40PM (#63282375)
    These people clearly need a painful fine that removes any monetization that they might get from the social media companies, and then costs them extra on top of that. I would throw in a nice solid 40-80 hours of community service just to drive the lesson home.

    Unlikely to actually cause harm, though. If someone picks me out of a crowd at random, spits in my face and some of their saliva gets into my mouth, it’s gross and might technically count as assault. But the likelihood that I’m going to suffer bodily harm is pretty close to zero. People have a multilayered immune system, and a little saliva from another person has a pretty low chance of causing problems.

    Stil. Ew. Cut that out you idiots. If you really need to express your “freedduummm” and your “individualism” and “stick it to the man” can’t you please just go spray paint a wall somewhere like all the rest of the rebels?
    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      You are far too nice. Let them pay for any and all damage and that includes the new safety-tech. 1000h of community service on top. I think after 10 years, if they are well-behaved until then, they can be let go into private bankruptcy.

    • These people clearly need a painful fine that removes any monetization that they might get from the social media companies

      People making shock videos don't do it because they are getting rich of TikTok. Estimates put TikTok paying out 1/100th to 1/1000th of what Youtube pays out. If you fine them $1 they would already be out of pocket.

      They don't do this for money. They do this because they are attention whores who get dopamine hits from seeing a like.

      I would throw in a nice solid 40-80 hours of community service just to drive the lesson home.

      That's actually a reasonable punishment.

      Unlikely to actually cause harm, though. If someone picks me out of a crowd at random, spits in my face and some of their saliva gets into my mouth, it’s gross and might technically count as assault. But the likelihood that I’m going to suffer bodily harm is pretty close to zero.

      This is probably one of the most tone deaf things ever put in writing immediately after a large part of the world was forced to wear masks f

  • I could see this happening in the US, sure... but in Japan?

    • by war4peace ( 1628283 ) on Friday February 10, 2023 @03:12PM (#63282507)

      Your definition of "Japan" is very far from reality, it seems.
      You should watch their entertainment shows. My God. Better yet, don't. They are straight out nightmarish.

      • Your definition of "Japan" is very far from reality, it seems.
        You should watch their entertainment shows. My God. Better yet, don't. They are straight out nightmarish.

        No, your idea of Japan being represented by their entertainment shows is what is far from reality. It's one of those situations where it couldn't be any further from a reflection of their society. Sure in the west we're dumb enough to find boring arse people doing boring arse things locked in a house "entertaining", but in Japan there is no Big Brother style garbage as they rightfully recognise that normal life is not entertaining.

    • I could see this happening in the US, sure... but in Japan?

      Every race and culture does suffer occasional idiots.

    • This was my reaction to the fukushima meltdown... 'come on guys, I thought if anybody was competent enough to avoid this it would be you!'
      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. The sad state of affairs is that nobody can operate nuclear power-plants safely.

        • Yes, you are right, thats why they are expoding left right and center, and the massive fatalities caused (direct deaths caused by Fukoshima: zero)
          Thank goodness coal mining, wind power, and solar are all perfectly safe (oh wait, all of them kill far more than nuclear).

          So yes, lets just ignore the cleanest safest form of power we have, and regress, because 'OMG!!!!!!'

    • Eeh people are nice and crime is low in Japan but if you look there are people doing fucked up shit there same as anywhere.

  • How is it that so many people manage to grow up to be completely selfish pricks despite the best intentions of responsible adults all around them? Is this a result of too few parenting hours? Did we go too soft on corporal punishment giving the perception that there are no consequences for bad behavior?

    The mind boggles.

    • They can see everything is upside down, the biggest and most obvious criminals get to retire with umbrella drinks.

    • Did we go too soft on corporal punishment giving the perception that there are no consequences for bad behavior?

      In a word, yes.

      I came from that era, the very tail end of that era -- an early Gen X -- , when as a kid you did bad, you got disciplined. If you managed to mangle yourself up pretty good too, you still had to deal with parental wrath, even after they're done patching you up from your own stupidity.

      The generations after mine got a stern talking-to instead of the belt, or worse -- la chancla. They also got participation awards just for showing up. This goes a long way to explain why so many people today ac

      • First we start with:

        > > Did we go too soft on corporal punishment giving the perception that there are no consequences for bad behavior?

        > In a word, yes.

        Second we continue with:

        > There's a line between meting discipline and child abuse. My parents didn't cross that line. I got the belt and la chancla. But, I know some that did cross the line into abuse. That kid turned out criminal, literally criminal. Jail a few times, can't hold a job, etc. I'm not saying beat your kids.. I"m saying make them

      • My dad straight beat the shit out of me and choked me and my mom used to beat me with a coat hanger and I was much worse than this. While my dad choked me as a kid I’d use my tiny bit of breath to antagonize him with childish insults.

        Kids get used to being beat and act out worse.

    • Did we go too soft on corporal punishment giving the perception that there are no consequences for bad behavior?

      The mind boggles.

      Oh, it certainly does. The mind boggles that your first response to the problem is, "should we be abusing children more? Perhaps we should beat them with reeds!"

      Oddly enough, those of us who weren't beaten by our parents growing up... are almost always successful at avoiding the wild temptation to lick all the spoons in restaurants. I gather that you believe you only resist that urge due to having been beaten like a gong by your psychotic parents.

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      You are mistaken. Quite a few of these "adults" are selfish pricks as well, and enough get away with it to give the impression that this is a valid life-choice.

  • It seems part of the warped social media culture of today, where the equation to a young person must seem: Do insane stunt, obtain social media infamy or celebrity, become a "main character" in the otherwise seemingly meaningless and doomed human life today. Profit.
  • Why would you eat in such a place? What a stupid idea, this conveyor belt.
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • The conveyor belt helps display and automate. Lowers costs. Was abused since susceptible. More costly but they can design conveyors that are closed and if you open it then do not deliver to another seat. Scutter bots that visit tables are advancing but bulkier and slower. Or visit a regular sushi bar where most sit at counter in front of chef with a waiter to deliver to tables. These have less capacity due to waiting staff and often more expensive. Not drastic but for families dining out can get expensive q
  • IMHO the youtube/tiktok accounts of people who do such thinks should be closed immediately and should actually be fined for doing crap like that. People should stop doing things like that just to get some extra views. But then again, I do laugh my ass off when some youtuber/tiktokker dies or gets seriously injured while making their stupid videos.
  • ... for everybody? That is not a "prank". That should come with a realistic estimation of the damage done and then they need to pay for that. I would be willing to let them go into private bankruptcy after 10 years or so, but excessively anti-social behavior with massive damage to others needs to come at a price.

  • I keep reading these stories on Reddit and other social media sites about the insanely stupid things people are doing in the name of "funny pranks". I don't want to be "that grouchy old man" everyone makes the "get off my lawn!" jokes about. But a a Gen-Xer, I can tell you the WORST pranks any of us pulled were end of high school senior pranks like the guy who dumped a box of live crickets in the hallway. Our parents and other authority figures in our lives made it pretty clear where the line was between b

  • These restaurants were a lot of fun, but you now have to worry about jackasses licking your food for the LOLs. F-ing people.

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