Was it a simple employee mistake, or was it intentional? 

Recently, an incident at a high-end restaurant in Japan's Ginza district has sparked controversy and allegations of discrimination. An unsuspecting Korean customer with the surname Kang was served water mixed with Bleach at the luxury dining establishment, which led to her hospitalization.

The well-established restaurant, boasting 29 branches across Japan and celebrated for its exceptional tempura dishes, has attributed the disturbing occurrence to a staff error. Yet Kang perceives the incident not as a simple mistake but rather as a deliberate act of animosity stemming from her Korean heritage, thereby raising alarming concerns of potential racial discrimination being a factor in the incident.

On the evening of August 31, 2023, Kang and her husband visited this Tokyo department store-based restaurant. What was meant to be an upscale dining experience, with menu prices upwards of 10,000 yen (roughly 89,000 KRW/67.64 USD), spiraled into a distressing ordeal.

Upon complaining of thirst, Kang was served a glass of water and two cups of green tea by a staff member. After noticing an abnormal smell in her water, Kang started experiencing discomfort in her throat. After alerting the managers and waitstaff of the issue, her concerns were initially shrugged off.

When Kang reiterated that the water smelled abnormal, a female staff member attempted to dispose of the offending beverage. However, Kang intervened and preserved the Bleach water as evidence before reporting the incident to the police.

Kang's escalating throat pain resulted in her trying to self-induce vomiting, a decision that provoked further disputes with the restaurant's staff. "The chef also watched us with an annoyed expression," disclosed Kang's husband, shedding light on the restaurant's apathetic response to a serious customer complaint.

Kang's condition deteriorated to the point of hospitalization, where she was diagnosed with acute food poisoning. The restaurant maintained its stance and reiterated that this incident was the consequence of a staff member's unintentional error. They explained that a concoction of Bleach and water, used for cleaning stainless steel water bottles, was accidentally served to Kang instead of the drinking water.

The repercussion for the restaurant following this fiasco, was a four-day temporary shutdown enforced by the local health department. The restaurant issued an apology, expressing regret for Kang's distress, and assured a vigorous review of their hygiene practices to prevent future instances of food poisoning.

However, Kang insists that the incident was deliberate, suggesting that the restaurant's staff could distinguish between her Korean identity based solely on her appearance and accent. She further fueled these allegations by citing visible differentiation between the pitchers of the cleaning and drinking water in the restaurant's kitchen.

Taking her claim to JTBC for an interview, Kang stated, "This is a high-end restaurant. They pulled out the chairs when seating others, but they didn't do that for us. They must have known that we were Korean." Consequently, Kang opened a case against the restaurant for workplace negligence leading to injury.

The local police are currently investigating Kang's claims for evidence of intentional wrongdoing by the restaurant's staff.

Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident for Koreans in Japan, underpinning potential anti-Korean sentiment in Japanese eateries. In 2016, a popular Osaka-based sushi franchise was accused of serving sushi laced with excessive wasabi exclusively to Korean patrons. The following year, another well-known sushi chain, "Ganko Sushi," was criticized for charging a water fee specifically to customers who used the Korean language. Last year also saw another reputed sushi restaurant in Ginza embroiled in controversy for providing biased service against Korean customers.

Korean netizens commented, "The news reported as detergent but it was bleach, which is much worse," "Isn't this attempted murder?" "They straight out tried to murder a Korean customer," "And people still want to go to Japan," "That's just so psycho," "This is attempted murder, they need to investigate it as attempted murder," "That restaurant only closed for 4 days?" "Bleach water is crossing the line," "I think we should boycott Japan," "How do they only get a temporary business suspension?" and "This is so crazy."