In a Kafkaesque turn of events, Taiwanese people have found out that the bureaucratic government only allows them to legal name changes three times. Several citizens of the small country are now stuck with names with the Chinese character for "Salmon" in them, after a wave of people legally changed their names to qualify for a promotion at a sushi house to eat free sushi.

This issue was brought to the public's attention by Taiwanese parliamentarians at the Legislative Yuan, who proceeded to debate changing the legal limits on name changes.

While lawmakers from both major political parties called for amendments that would allow people to "help those stuck as Salmons, or to prevent another 'salmon chaos,'" other lawmakers from both sides proposed changes that would actually make name changes even more difficult, such as fee changes and cooling-off periods, to discourage frivolous future name changes.

What the heck is "Salmon Chaos," Taiwan?

The whole salmon name hubbub started in March 2021, when the Sushiro restaurant chain ran a free all-you-can-eat promotion for sushi if the customer had the Chinese characters for salmon or "gui yu" in their name.

The Guardian wrote:

"In what was later dubbed 'Salmon chaos,' 331 people took part, paying a nominal administration fee to legally call themselves names including 'Salmon Dream' and 'Dancing Salmon.'"

For the record, the Taiwanese government reacted with dismay at the salmon name promotion, asking the public to be "rational" since the extraneous name changes would place an undue burden on Taiwan's red tape-heavy, paper-pushing, slow-moving bureaucracy.

Unfortunately, the allure of free food proved too much, with 331 Taiwanese people taking the sushi restaurant up on its offer. The Guardian article mentions that "some participants built social media followings off the international media attention, while others ran small businesses taking friends to the restaurant for a fee."

At the end of the day, the portion of the 331 sushi lovers that became stuck with their new salmon name have earned no sympathy from the greater Taiwanese public. Instead, the now unfortunately-named have been derided for wasting the legislature's time.

One commenter said, "Be responsible for your own life, Salmons!"

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