One of the island’s most popular sushi restaurant chains, East Japanese, is pushing back against racist comments being directed at Asian people in the wake of the coronavirus scare.

East Japanese on Thursday morning (Jan 30.) responded to an online post which suggested that Asian employees working at the establishment were bringing the coronavirus in to Jamaica.

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The restaurant group, which has several locations sprinkled across Kingston, told its Instagram (IG) following that they had never been to China before, noting that they were not Chinese but Japanese, who had been living in Jamaica for a very long time.

The post from East Japanese went on to note that even if they were Chinese, it was inappropriate to make such a damming allegation.

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East Japanese’s post, which contained some expletives, has been receiving support online, with many IG users adding it to their stories.

“Yesterday I saw that behaviour from some Jamaicans taunting some persons from Asian backgrounds and trust me I was so upset,”said one IG user.

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“ Dats right,” added another user.

A friend of the woman who made the original post has said that it was intended as a joke.

 “I hope dem never bring any of them virus go JA with dem go party,” read the original post by a woman known only by her Instagram handle as @thic_dolly.

East Japanese is the site of the popular Friday night Beer Mug party.