回転ずしの大手スシローで、醤油ボトルや食器をなめたり他の客のすしに触れる高校生の48秒の動画が投稿されSNSに流出。大きな炎上を招き、店側は対応に追われています。
➣In the 48-second clip widely shared on social media, a customer at a branch of the Sushiro licks the open top of a soy sauce bottle, puts the rim of a communal tea cup in their mouth, and then rubs a passing plate of sushi with a finger covered in their saliva. ➾spit-covered finger
※lickなめる
※communal 共同で使用する
※saliva唾液 発音注意
➣Japan’s famed conveyor-belt sushi restaurants are scrambling to tackle a craze for making viral videos in which customers commit unhygienic acts.
※回転寿司店＝conveyor belt sushi（bar/restaurant）が大半ですが、revolving sushiやrotating sushiもありました。辞書ではsushi-go-roundも
※craze〔一時的で熱狂的な〕流行、はやり
※unhygienic acts 不衛生な行為 ➾unsanitary act
10年前のバイトテロを思い起こさすような、寿司テロと言われる客による迷惑行為です
➣The phenomenon dubbed “sushi terrorism” gained steam.
※gain steam 〔活動などが〕勢いを増す、盛り上がる
※迷惑行為nuisance act／annoying act／disruptive behavior
模倣事件も相次ぎ、スシローの株価は下がりました。すでにコロナで痛手を負っている飲食業界への酷いいたずらです。
➣The video quickly went viral on SNS platforms, sparking a wave of copycat incidents and sending shares in the restaurant’s parent company down 4.8 percent.
※copycat 模倣の、手口をまねした
➣The video pranks come at a particularly sensitive time for Japan, which is suffering its deadliest Covid-19 outbreak since the pandemic began, and as restaurants struggle to survive amid surging inflation.
ひどいいたずら=gross prank／outrageous antic
一般客の反応
"This is sickening," one Japanese Twitter user wrote in response, with another adding: "I can't go to conveyor belt sushi restaurants anymore."
※sickening吐き気［不快感］を催させる➾disgusting
スシローはアクリル板を設置したり、個別に除菌した食器を配ったりすると言います。
➣The chain said it will add acrylic screens（➾plastic screens） at some outlets to deter people from tampering with items on its conveyor belts.
※tamper with ～をいじる、手を加える
➣It would also provide fresh seasonings and disinfected cutlery（→tableware) to those who request it.
※disinfect 消毒する、殺菌する ➾sterilize
監視カメラを増やしたり、特有のサービス、まわる寿司ではなく注文制にする店もあり、客との信頼関係に基づく回転寿司ビジネスモデルが揺らいでいます。
Sushi terrorism’ chips away at Japan’s harmonious reputation（見出し）
※chips away at ~を少しずる削り取る、崩す
➣One company will strengthen its surveillance system, while another will stop the business’s signature serving method of placing sushi on a rotating conveyer belt, instead serving only the items ordered.
➣A critic said, “Conveyor-belt sushi is a type of business that has been built on a relationship of trust with customers, but unless drastic measures are taken to prevent nuisance behavior, they may start losing customers on a huge scale.”
発端となった高校生とその保護者が店に直接謝罪をしましたが、スシローは民事、刑事面で厳正に対処するとのことです。
➣While the man and his guardian have apologized in person, the company said "we will continue to respond firmly with both criminal and civil cases."
※in person
※偽計業務妨害 fraudulent obstruction of businessに当たると言います。
そんな中、有名人を中心に＃すしろーを救いたいという動きもありました。
I’m doing my part! 役割を果たす
➣A growing number of Japanese celebrities have come out in support of Sushiro and voluntarily went there on “patrol” to make sure something like this doesn’t happen again.
