A Japanese sushi chain is being accused of "wasabi terrorism" after it admitted to heaping excess dollops of the pungent root into foreign customers' food.
Osaka-based Ichibazushi issued an apology on its website Sunday, owning up to the charges but denying discrimination was at play.
It insisted that the wasabi-laced sushi was a response to many foreign-born patrons ordering extra portions of the fiery green paste used a condiment for the raw fish dish.
The chain did, however, acknowledge that some of its chefs had slipped copious amounts of wasabi - reportedly sometimes twice as much as usual - into unsuspecting customers' food.
It was not immediately clear how many incidents there had been.
