Kura Sushi Cancels Chiikawa Campaign over Prize Embezzlement

Tokyo, Sept. 7 (Jiji Press)–Japanese sushi restaurant operator Kura Sushi Inc. has canceled its collaboration campaign with the popular manga and anime franchise “Chiikawa” after discovering that an employee had embezzled prizes. The company ended all collaboration-related promotions from the start of business Sunday. As an apology for the early end of the collaboration, the company announced a blanket 10 pct discount at restaurant cash registers for two days through Monday. According to Kura Sushi, a large number of Chiikawa collaboration prizes from the “Bikkura Pon” prize game were found listed on online flea market sites. An investigation confirmed that an employee had fraudulently taken the prizes. The company said it is consulting with police regarding further action. The canceled promotion included the distribution of exclusive figurines and button badges and giveaways of original merchandise such as teacups, as well as collaboration menus. The campaign was scheduled to run from Aug. 21 to Sept. 30. “We deeply apologize to our customers who have been looking forward to the campaign, as well as to everyone involved,” Kura Sushi said in a statement released on Saturday. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]