‘Food terrorism’: why Japanese companies are seeking insurance to cover legal and PR fees

Such misbehaviour has been coined baito tero, a combination of arubaito, the Japanese version of the German word for “work”, and an abbreviated form of the English term “terrorism”.

The apparent resurgence in baito tero cases, driven by young people seeking online adulation, is forcing more companies to take precautions.

On February 14, Domino’s Pizza Japan issued a statement: “Deepest apologies to our customers for any discomfort or inconvenience caused. From now on, the entire company will do its utmost to prevent a recurrence and restore trust.”

The apology came after a clip was widely shared on X two days earlier showing a young employee at a Domino’s store in Hyogo Prefecture sticking a finger into his nose and then rubbing it into pizza dough.

The employee who was filmed and a colleague who took the footage and then shared it on social media have been fired and the company is planning to take legal action against the duo, officials told the Yomiuri newspaper.

Quizzed by managers, the employee said: “I did it because I thought it would be funny. I really regret it.”

Makoto Watanabe, a professor of communications at Hokkaido Bunkyo University in Eniwa, told This Week in Asia: “These are largely young people who see they can make money from posting images on social media to get more ‘likes’ and views, so they see this as fun but forget the ethics of the situation, and the code of conduct that goes with working for a company.

“These are lessons that should have been taught by parents or instilled in young people by the society that they grew up in or in their schools but for some reason, they did not learn them.”

Other previous baito tero incidents include a part-time worker in a restaurant squirting whipped cream into a