A Chinese student is the subject of serious internet backlash after attempting to order "cooked sushi" at the famed three Michelin-starred Sukiyabashi Jiro in Tokyo. According to Rocket News 24, 23 year-old Chuhan Lin took to Weibo, the popular Chinese social media site, to complain about the service and the food at the esteemed sushi counter after she and her four friends showed up 40 minutes late to the dinner and then canceled the rest of their order. The group found the raw fish "hard to swallow." The diners then asked "to switch to 'cooked sushi' … to go." The internet was not happy with the group's actions: In response to Lin's story on Weibo there was much outrage with some Chinese commenters even going so far as to call her a "national disgrace."
Apparently, the restaurant's respected octogenarian owner Jiro Ono also wasn't so pleased with the group's behavior and asked them, "Is sushi served cooked in your country?" He added, "If you can't handle raw food, you should have informed us when you made the reservation!" To which Lin supposedly responded, "Who knew!?" Perhaps she and her friends should have taken the time to do a quick internet search of the restaurant, which is the subject of the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi, before making the notoriously difficult reservation.
Following the incident, Rocket News 24 writes Lin ranted on Weibo: "If we were Abe! If we were Obama! Would he dare to show such an attitude?" President Obama and the Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe dined at Sukiyabashi Jiro last month. It's probably safe to assume however that they knew the restaurant served raw fish. According to Rocket News 24, Lin posted to Weibo again the next day writing that following the internet scolding, she returned to the sushi bar to "apologize for her earlier behavior." Ono was apparently quite kind and told her "to visit them again when she has acquired a taste for sushi." Aside from Lin's Weibo posts, there appears to be no other proof of the incident however, which means it's possible she really could just be trolling everybody super hard.
· Chinese student Asks for Cooked Sushi at Sukibayashi Jiro [Rocket News 24]
· All Sukiyabashi Jiro Coverage on Eater [-E-]
· All Jiro Ono Coverage on Eater [-E-]