17-03-2025
Tokyo gears up for April launch of law against harassment by customers
As the Tokyo Metropolitan Government prepares to implement an ordinance against harassment by customers next month — the first of its kind in Japan — it has released guidelines on how various companies and organizations can incorporate the new rule into their daily operations. The national government is trailing right behind, having submitted to parliament last Tuesday a bill aimed at mandating that businesses take action.
The metropolitan government passed an ordinance last year that would protect workers from aggressive behaviors and unreasonable demands from customers. Known as kasuhara — a portmanteau of the English words 'customer harassment' — in Japan, the issue has gained national attention in recent years.
Ahead of the ordinance's implementation in April, Tokyo released guidelines in December that detail what would be considered such harassment, given the difficulty of pinning it down in everyday situations.
Under the guidelines, all companies in the metropolis will be mandated to make an effort to eliminate customer harassment, such as by setting up a manual on how to handle suspected cases. There are no penalty clauses for the ordinance.
'What is important is to make the ordinance effective,' said Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike at a news conference on March 7. 'I believe that the critical part is carefully assessing the difference between legitimate complaints (by customers) and harassment, and determining at what point to deal with them in a strict manner.'
The metropolitan government followed up earlier this month by publishing a manual that could serve as a reference for companies as well as government offices to establish their own guidelines in dealing with customer harassment.
'Since industry rules (regarding customer harassment) are to be decided from now, we have prepared a manual,' added Koike. 'Here, we have outlined methods of prevention, as well as how to take care of the victims and how to report to and coordinate with the police.'
The manual defines customer harassment as being an act that 'harms the dignity and character of the worker' and includes guidance for companies, such as researching what types of harassment are most common in the industry, as well as specific instructions on dealing with problematic customers, such as recording the interaction in case further legal action is needed.
In addition to utilizing such guidelines, some companies are taking it a step further.
For example, major supermarket franchise Belc announced on Thursday that it would have its employees wear tags saying "staff" instead of their names. With this, the company is looking to protect the privacy of its employees and prevent customers from identifying workers personally and harassing them.
In a trial run of the system in 10 of the supermarket's branches, 97% of its employees expressed support for the move.
Contact Center Association Japan, an organization that represents call center workers, who often become victims of customer harassment, also released its guidelines on Wednesday based on responses from 2,500 call center workers across 50 companies.
In addition to categorizing 12 common cases of harassment at call centers, the guidelines define calls lasting over an hour as "long-term confinement of workers" and calls over three times as being repetitive.
On Tuesday, the Cabinet also approved a bill that included measures against customer harassment. The bill, which will undergo deliberations in parliament, urges companies to undertake measures such as setting up a manual that specifies how employees can deal with cases of harassment and who they can consult about such issues.
