Police in Fukuchiyama City, Kyoto Prefecture, have referred to prosecutors the owner of a girls bar, the manager, three staff and three customers, all aged between 23 and 38, for professional negligence over the death of a 31-year-old female employee in 2022.
The incident occurred in September 2022, Kyoto Shimbun reported. Police said the employee collapsed to the floor in a drunken state while serving customers, but the bar failed to take appropriate measures.
The bar called an ambulance about an hour after the woman collapsed. She was taken to hospital where she died of acute alcohol poisoning.
According to investigators, the bar manager and others said they thought the woman was just drunk and sleeping. The three customers were also referred to prosecutors for not doing anything to help the woman.
The bar has a "drink back" system, where the more alcohol employees drink from customers' orders, the more they are paid, and police believe that this may have been the reason why the employee drank too much.
© Japan Today
8 Comments
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JeffLee
Yep, the clown or clowns responsible for that policy deserve time behind bars. They never heard of watered-down "lady drinks"?
wallace
"The bar has a "drink back" system"
That needs to stop or end.
Jonathan Prin
In many countried this system would be banned. Why ?
Because it asks to drink alcohol on a working shift basis.
And alcohol is not for everyone and is basically a moderate poison (ethanol).
I like drinking alcohol but being forced to get a higher wage, no way !
Health first.
wallace
Drinking alcohol during all other occupations is illegal and bridges health and safety at work. They need better protection.
Zaphod
wallace
It is very typical for that kind of bar in Japan. In the event, I find the accusations difficult. It is very typical to see drunk people slouched on chairs in Japanese bars, are the prosecutors demanding to call an ambulance every time? Seems it would be difficult for the staff and customers to decide that, unless they were keeping exact tabs on how much she had.
garypen
True. Alcohol is far more harmful than cannabis.
bobcatfish
I would hope that the duty of care for drunk customers would be lower than that of the actual bar staff
daikaka
This is not uncommon, many women die from this each year. The drink back system is also very cheap, the girls there can only get 10-20%, while a guy host would receive 40-60% with a higher base guaranteed pay.
GuruMick
Zaphod...yeah...if a drunk is slouched on a chair, investigate , check breathing, pulse etc.
Maybe call an ambulance.
Australia has fairly new laws, not uniformly enforced, prohibiting sale to someone already intoxicated.
David Brent
The attitude of the average Japanese person towards alcohol is very immature.