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The story
On September 5, Kura Sushi announced that after an internal investigation uncovered misconduct by an employee, it would suspend the ongoing “Chiikawa” collaboration campaign effective from opening time on the 6th. The thread filled up with images purportedly showing collab merchandise — apparently sourced before public distribution — popping up one after another on Mercari, drawing criticism over how easy it is to resell items on flea-market apps and how lax the oversight is. At the same time, some posters voiced concern over what would happen to in-store fixtures like the tea cups and banners, and how compensation would be handled going forward.
On the 5th, Kura Sushi updated its official website to announce it would suspend the ongoing “Chiikawa” collaboration campaign starting from opening time on the 6th. The company said this was because its internal investigation had revealed misconduct by an employee connected to the campaign.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Made ¥4,000 in sales with ¥200 shipping, and you're getting arrested over that kind of chump change…
[Image] Mercari listing: "I've got a relative working part-time at Kura Sushi, so I'm listing a bunch of Chiikawa figures!" [779857986]
https://greta.5ch.io/test/read.cgi/poverty/1788387726/
1 Mid-broadcast notice, but reposting to affiliate sites is prohibited (WatchoyW 51bb-Fjrm) sag 2026/09/03 (Thu) 07:22:06.49 ID:QaC7nXzf0 BE:779857986-2BP(1000)
Kura Sushi apologizes over improper handling of "Chiikawa" collab merchandise, investigating the facts: "Will respond strictly, including legal action"
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/12fa3f557a65e11d1deb7421ce7b246b553dc4e5
The whole Japanese nation is basically "Mii-chan" now (riffing on the "we're all national X now" meme format)
His daughter probably said she liked it, so he went out of his way to grab one for her, and…
well, since he raised her wrong to begin with, I guess this coming back around is just karma.
This is the prize fans are going bloodshot-eyed trying to pull??
No thanks〜〜🤮🤮🤮
I saw similar-looking Chiikawa merch at a roadside rest stop — is that a different line?
it's not that they steal something because they want it,
they steal it to resell, and that's the rough part.
That's the double-edged sword of Mercari (Japan's biggest flea-market app).
Back in the Yahoo Auctions-only era things weren't this out of hand.
Mercari's just too easy to use.
It's because there's now an environment where stuff sells so easily.
Flea-market apps need some kind of regulation already.
Stealing to resell, I can kind of understand.
But that should be leftover stock, like one or two pieces.
Cleaning out the whole stash is just moronic.
Lol, they straight-up admitted they're doing it for profit.
What is even going on with young people's brains these days, seriously.
That's just unhinged.
why not just price the tea cups a bit higher and sell them bundled with a menu item?
If they sell out, just run another production batch later — wouldn't that avoid all the fighting?
I have zero interest in this stuff, so I don't get why people are fighting over buying it from scalpers…
They actually tried that for a while, but then it mysteriously got discontinued.
What kind of magic are they using?
Apparently once something sells, you can convert it into Mercari in-app points and keep buying and selling with those.
So basically you could dodge taxes that way? Dunno though.
Mercari's just renting out the space, that's all.
The ones with no morals are the Japanese people using it.
So it's the "the guy running the gambling den isn't at fault" school of logic?
It's just like "everyone somehow ends up going over there for some reason~" —
even the Japanese police admit as much.
Running a gambling den violates the Adult Entertainment Business Law,
but operating a flea-market app doesn't break a single law lol
That place is way too out of control.
It's Japan's dark black hole.
Isn't the real problem the people with no morals?
Obviously Kura Sushi's the one who'll have to pay compensation for it.
Still, this response is more sincere than how the One Piece or Pokémon incidents were handled, no?
What are they gonna do about this?
Just pay compensation for it, that's all there is to it.
HQ's probably doing this to recall everything and flush out which store it was.
Went there twice.
That one's shady in its own way too.
I pulled the sea otter three days straight.
They say anything other than the sea otter counts as a win, so guess I'm cursed.
Background and points of debate
In collaborations between restaurant chains and anime characters, it’s common to hand out limited-quantity merchandise as an in-store perk for customers, and misconduct where employees pocket novelties before distribution and resell them has repeatedly become an issue. In this Chiikawa collab case as well, images purportedly showing pre-distribution merchandise already listed on flea-market apps spread widely, and Kura Sushi says it is considering a response that includes legal action. In the thread, there were both calls for tighter regulation of flea-market apps and arguments that the real issue lies with the morals of the sellers rather than any legal responsibility on the part of the app operators — no single consensus emerged. As of this report, the number of employees involved, which stores were affected, and the specific disciplinary measures have not been disclosed, and how matters like store fixtures will be handled going forward also remains unclear.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Nanchara Jikkyo G) thread “[Sad News] Kura Sushi Cancels “Chiikawa” Collab Due to Employee Misconduct.”
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