Taiwan urges residents to not change name to get free sushi, asks to 'be more rational'

A top Taiwanese official, on March 18, issued a public plea urging residents to refrain from changing their names to ‘salmon’ for free sushi.  On Tuesday, March 16, in a two-day promotional offer, a sushi restaurant chain announced any customer whose identity card contained "Gui Yu" - the Chinese characters for salmon - would be entitled to an all-you-can-eat sushi meal along with five friends. While the restaurant was looking to use the offer to expand its customer base, it inadvertently triggered what local media is terming is ‘salmon chaos’. 

Salmon chaos

Speaking to media reporters on Thursday, deputy interior minister Chen Tsung-yen reckoned that this kind of name change not only squanders time but also initiates unnecessary paperwork. As per the country’s law, all Taiwanese residents are allowed to change their names a maximum of three times. However, Chen asked people to “cherish” administrative resources. He also called on people saying that he hopes people would be more rational about it. 

As per Strait Times, as many as 150 people flocked to government offices in recent days to officially register a change in their name. Cashing on the hysterical episode, Taiwanese media ran interviews with people who took advantage of the promotion. Speaking to TVBS news channel, a college student surnamed Ma admitted that they changed their name this morning to add the characters 'Bao Cheng Gui Yu' and already ate more than NT$7,000 (S$330) worth of sushi. Another beneficiary, a woman surnamed Tung told SET TV that she along with two other friends changed their first names to salmon only to eat free food. 

While scores of Taiwanese altered their names deliberately, one man in the UK changed his name to Celine Dion while being intoxicated. Formerly known as Thomas Dodd, the man didn’t realize his goof-up until the documents of his name change arrived at his home. Sharing the pictures of the documents, he quipped that Tier 4 lockdown was the least of his worries now that he has “unknowingly” changed his name to that of the iconic Canadian singer. Sharing pictures of the Deed Poll, the document that certifies the name change, he wrote that it all happened apparently “at some point over Christmas”.