A view of Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan. [123rf]
A view of Fukuoka, Kyushu, Japan. [123rf]

A video appearing to show a restaurant worker in Fukuoka, Japan, rinsing used beer glasses with water before returning them to customers has gone viral, stirring controversy among South Korean travelers who have made the city one of their top destinations.

The footage spread rapidly across social media and online communities Monday, showing the interior of a kitchen at an unidentified Fukuoka restaurant.

[Captured from social media]
[Captured from social media]

The person who submitted the video, identified only as A, said they were shocked by what they saw. "I thought Japan, of all places, wouldn't do something that unsanitary," A said. "But at this Fukuoka restaurant, they were washing beer glasses in that filthy way."

In the clip A shared, a kitchen worker wipes the inside of a beer glass — still coated with foam — with a scrub brush, then briefly rinses it under a tap before setting it aside to be served again.

"They were barely dabbing on some detergent and rinsing it off with water again," A said. "It wasn't even run through a dishwasher — that was it." A added: "I don't know if everyone there does this or just that one employee. I just hope that employee pours their own beer into that same cup and drinks it."

Meanwhile, data compiled by Mobu, a Japan inbound marketing firm, based on Japan Tourism Agency accommodation statistics shows Fukuoka Prefecture drew about 7.83 million foreign overnight visitors last year, with South Koreans accounting for the largest share at 36.82 percent.

Taiwanese visitors ranked second at 18.16 percent, followed by Chinese at 13.68 percent and Hong Kong visitors at 10.35 percent.

Mobu attributes Fukuoka's rising popularity among South Korean travelers in their 20s and 30s to a preference for quieter residential streets and everyday Japanese streetscapes over major cities like Tokyo or Osaka — a sensibility shaped by years of exposure to Japanese culture through anime and drama series.


jshan@heraldcorp.com