Popular Japanese restaurant chain to shut 2,000 branches after rat found in soup

Japanese restaurant chain Sukiya will temporarily shut nearly all of its roughly 2,000 branches after a rat was found in a miso soup and a bug in another meal, the company said Saturday.

Sukiya, famous for its beef bowls, apologized in a statement, saying it had a bug contamination at one of its Tokyo restaurants on Friday, two months after the rat incident at another branch.

“Sukiya has decided to temporarily close all restaurants, with the exception of some stores in shopping centers, from March 31 to April 4 in order to take measures against pests and vermin,” it said.

Sukiya said measures had been taken to address cracks in the affected branch that could lead to contamination, the BBC reported.

The fast-food company has about 1,970 stores across Japan.

The Nikkei business daily reported that its stores in shopping centers will also be closed as soon as arrangements are made with the facilities.

Food recalls are rare in Japan, a country with famously high sanitation standards, but food poisoning and recall incidents occasionally make headlines.

Last year, more than 100,000 packets of sliced bread were recalled after parts of a rat were discovered inside two bags.

Sukiya is part of Zensho Holdings, which owns a number of restaurant chains in Japan, according to the BBC. Last Monday, following the disclosure about the rat, Zensho’s share price tumbled before recovering later in the week.