Page 12 - IAV Digital Magazine #548

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
By Rebecca Moon
Some Taiwanese people who legal- ly changed their names to “Salmon” in exchange for free sushi are now stuck with the name one year later.
Sushiro, a con- veyor belt sushi chain restaurant, ran a two-day promotion in March 2021 where individuals with the Chinese characters for salmon, “gui yu,” would receive free all-you-can- eat sushi. The promotion, later called the “salmon chaos,” had 331 partici- pants who paid a fee to legally change their names to those
such
as “Salmon Dream” and “Dancing Salmon.”
One participant stated at the time of the promotion that he went to the sushi restau- rant “almost 15 times.” Another 22-year-old partic-
ipant
said he was not worried about the name change as Taiwan’s govern- ment allows peo- ple three opportu- nities to change their names.
Several partici- pants gained large social media followings after
chang-
ing their names, while others accepted small fees to take friends to the restaurant. While most participants were able to change their names back, some got stuck with
“Salmon” after
hav-
ing used all three of their allowed name changes.
At the time, the Taiwanese gov- ernment criticized the promotion, complaining that it would create heavy amounts of unnecessary paperwork for
government offi- cials, and urged citizens to “be more rational about it.”
Taiwan’s national parliament legisla- ture debated on Thursday whether the name rule should be amend- ed so that individ- uals can change their names back and to prevent a future “salmon chaos” incident.
New Power Party legislator Chiu Hsien-chih sug- gested solutions such as fee changes and cooling-off peri- ods.
Other legislators, however, pro- posed that the name ordinance be revised to become stricter.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Taiwanese Diners Who Legally Changed Their Names To 'Salmon' To Get Free Sushi Discover They Can't Undo It