Rochester Business Shares Disheartening Asian Hate Crime Experience
It's so sad and upsetting to hear about something like this happening at one of our local businesses. Rochester, Minnesota restaurant Ootori Sushi shared on their Facebook and Instagram yesterday that they experienced an Asian hate crime last night. They described last night's incident as "disheartening and frustrating."
Ootori Sushi is a popular, local Japanese restaurant in town. They have a wide variety of menu items, like sushi, sashimi, rice bowls, noodles, and lunch options (called bento boxes). They bring Izakaya, a style of Japanese eating establishment, to southeast Minnesota.
They explained what occurred during the incident last night on social media. They kept the details to a minimum because, as they wrote, they wanted to "tone it down". In their post, they say what happened was a woman was dining at Ootori Sushi last night who was rude "from the beginning". Ootori Sushi then writes that the woman made a scene with another customer and lied about how long she had been waiting for her food. They said she made it a bad experience for the employees and other diners and she left without paying.
I hate to hear about these kinds of incidences, no one should experience hate and disrespect like that. To me, it makes it even more important to support businesses like Ootori Sushi. We need to support one another and be there for each other, not spread hate.
You can read Ootori Sushi's whole post from their Facebook page below.