Taiwan Citizens Change Names To ‘Salmon’ For Sushi Promo, Govt Officials Beg Them Not To Do It

Taiwan Citizens Change Names To Include ‘Salmon’ In Order To Get All-You-Can-Eat Meal

When it comes to sashimi, salmon is arguably one of Singaporeans’ favourite kind. Turns out, we’re not alone.

Recently, a group of young Taiwanese have been flocking to government offices to change their first names to include the words ‘鮭魚’ — salmon in Chinese.

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Turns out, this was due to a promotion ran by a sushi chain restaurant. Under the promo, anyone named ‘salmon’ was entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal with 5 friends.

Sushi restaurant promotion caused Taiwanese to change names

Having hundreds rush to change their names to gui yu (鮭魚) – the Chinese characters for salmon – might seem extremely bizarre and frankly just fishy. 

Dubbed the “Salmon Chaos”, about 150 people turned up at government offices over the past days attempting to change their names, reports Channel NewsAsia (CNA).

The phenomenon was reportedly caused by a promotion at a sushi chain restaurant, Akindo Sushiro.

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Apparently, anyone with the moniker is entitled to an “all-you-can-eat sushi meal” with 5 other friends.

According to Taipei Times, the 2-days-only promotion ended on Thursday (18 Mar).

Taiwan officials overwhelmed by people changing names to ‘salmon’

150 people reportedly turned up at government offices as a result of the promotion, overwhelming officers with paperwork.

However, the officials were not entertained.

On Thursday (18 Mar), an official urged youths to stop changing their names to ‘salmon’.

According to The Straits Times (ST), Deputy Interior Minister Chen Tsung-yen said that such name changes cause unnecessary paperwork and would waste administrative resources and time.

Hence, he pleaded for the Taiwanese public to be rational over the situation.

Participants were mostly youths

To change their names and obtain new identification cards, applicants had to pay a fee of NT$80 (S$3.78).

Most of the individuals who changed their names were reportedly young people.

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Speaking to Taipei Times, a college student who changed her name to “Salmon Rice Bowl” (郭鮭魚丼飯) said that she did it to treat her friends to a meal.

However, she planned on changing it back to her original name just the next day.

Another 2 individuals who changed their name got to eat about NT$13,000 (S$614.64) worth of sushi.

The pair even joked that they wouldn’t be able to eat salmon again for quite a while.

A creative promotion

This was certainly a creative promotion on the sushi restaurant’s part. Chances are, they probably did not expect it to turn into the absolute frenzy that it eventually did.

If this promotion was to happen in Singapore, we’re sure salmon out there would be willing to change their name too.

Would you change your name for all the sushi you can get your hands on? Let us know in the comments down below.

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Featured image adapted from Unsplash and Twitter.