Yes - salmonella mostly. Apparently Japanese chicken is fastidious enough for this to maybe not be a concern?

In any case, h-e-double-hockey-sticks no.

I've gone as far as fugu to find the world's best sashimi. To me, even the best chicken is just basic sustenance food. Can't see it as legitimate sashimi, just seems like a novelty. Which I will pass on.

The reason your told not to eat chicken is that it gets contaminated at the Slaughter factory. Somewhere around 97% of chicken meat sold in US supermarkets is contaminated with gut bacteria.

If the chicken is slaughtered in a way that does not contaminant it with material from the intestinal tract it is just as safe as any other meat.

This. I was wondering how many here eat raw shellfish, tartare, and,
for that matter, any other kind of raw animal (including fish sushi).

Anyway, I've had it, and it's okay - I'd just as soon have hirame or
something.

Eating under-cooked chicken is only dangerous if that chicken is infected with or colonized by Salmonella (or other bacteria. Salmonella is the most common and most notorious one). Salmonella is nearly endemic among chickens in the US. In many other parts of the world, salmonella in poultry is much less of a problem. Chicken that is not contaminated with Salmonella is perfectly safe to eat raw.

There are other bacteria in chicken that will also cause food poisoning, besides salmonella where campylobacter is the main one. In Sweden there is little to no salmonella in chicken, but they still urge you to prepare it well.

It should be noted, however, that salmonella and campylobacter are closely related and the infected chicken is safe to eat undercooked or raw if it has been slaughtered in a way that prevents the campylobacter to spread from the intestines.

I'm reading this thread while eating cooked chicken and feeling a bit sick. I admit that I'm brainwashed by USA norms, but I find it hard to eat undercooked chicken and I would not eat it raw, even in Japan. However, I'm not an adventurous eater and I suspect I wouldn't be intimidated enough to succumb when faced with such a Japanese "test."

I didn't know that the salmonella found in chicken came from the gut. Thanks for the education!

addendum: Ok, I've just had a think about this and it makes no sense. If the offending bacteria came only from the gut, then it would only be present on the surface of any involved meat. If that were the case, chicken could be treated just like we treat lamb and beef- as long as the surface of the meat reaches a temperature that is sufficient to treat the offending bacteria, the interior temp would be irrelevant.

Either Salmonella & Campylobacter are present in the flesh of the chicken, rather than just the gut, or the FDA is providing guidelines that vastly exceed what is necessary. Interesting....

It's mostly in the way chickens are processed in the US, dragged
through vats of liquid in which the bacteria have accidentally been
introduced. The length of immersion has been said to be long
enough so that pathogens can contaminate not only the surface
but also to some degree the interior of the flesh - different from
other meats, which are slaughtered and processed mostly dry, with
any washing being done using running water spray rather than
immersion.

Seems to me that if chicken bathing were done in a sufficiently
concentrated brine, this issue could be obviated.

In any case, I'm comfortable eating rare or even raw chicken in
other first-world countries and eating pink-in-the-middle chicken
anywhere in the world.