In Japan, there’s an age-old saying, almost like a proverb, ‘The customer is God.’ While it’s not meant to be taken literally, there’s a cultural idea that those working in service should treat customers with utmost kindness and courtesy. Because of this, in Japan, even troublesome customers are often handled with polite care. However, there’s now a growing movement to create rules that protect employees from such customers.
What is customer harassment?
Customer harassment, known as ‘kasuhara,’ refers to unreasonable complaints or disruptive behavior by customers towards businesses and their staff. Specific examples of kasuhara include acts of violence, verbal abuse, blackmail, and demands for employees to perform ‘dogeza’ (prostration).
In response to the problem of customers engaging in harassment at stores, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare created a company manual for customer harassment countermeasures in 2022. Furthermore, Tokyo Prefecture will implement a customer harassment prevention ordinance starting in April 2025.
Creating Guidelines to Protect Employees
The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare’s company manual on measures against customer harassment provides detailed explanations on the occurrence of customer harassment, what actions constitute ‘kasuhara’, how to respond to it, and measures to prevent its recurrence.
Previously, responses to unfair complaints and harassment were often ambiguous. However, with the national guidelines and the upcoming Tokyo ordinance, companies can now more clearly instruct employees on how to handle ‘kasuhara’ and inform customers of the consequences of such behavior. Consequently, many companies have recently announced specific policies to address customer harassment.
Changes in Customer Awareness
Kasuhara is often featured in the news, and I think many people are reflecting on their own words and actions to ensure they’re not engaging in it. Personally, after hearing the experiences of people working in news programs who have encountered kasuhara, I’ve come to have even greater respect for those who provide services in stores.
Improving the Working Environment
While I personally haven’t experienced kasuhara, I have a friend who has told me about encountering difficult customers, and I’ve also witnessed drunk people harassing train station staff. I think it’s very helpful and positive that the government is creating these guidelines to protect workers.
It’s truly wonderful that we’re moving towards a society where people can work with greater peace of mind.
