Multilingual spies reveal Itsu’s subtle Japanese PR campaign

Far be it from Itsu to allow something as trivial as an incident of alleged international espionage and subsequent closure of its Piccadilly branch pending the police investigation of the murder of ex-spy Alexander Litvinenko to get in the way of business.

The Japanese restaurant chain has put a positive spin on the event with a self-assured poster in the window of the closed restaurant pointing customers in the direction of its other two London branches and promising a return to increased business.

However, it has not slipped the Diary’s attention that the poster is not the only reference to the incident that can be found when tucking in to Itsu’s food. Hidden among the Japanese scripts on the obento boxes are the words/ "be aware of spies", which, the Diary has had confirmed by one of its Japanese-speaking sources.

But is this another, more subtle, PR ploy; a genuine warning to customers to try to prevent such an incident happening again; or spooky coincidence? The Diary couldn’t possibly comment.