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Workplace disciplinary action is always a delicate matter that requires a careful balance of people’s rights and a respect for the needs of the organization. Deductions in pay and public apologies are common tactics in Japan, but some employers just throw that playbook out the window and go straight to mutilation.
That was the case at a bento shop in Takamatsu City, Kagawa Prefecture where staff member Yuko Kono forcibly pierced the nose of a 24-year-old part-time worker. The piercing, which is expected to take three months to heal completely, was administered because the victim arrived late to work.
To make matters more surreal, this very same woman was arrested last April along with the manager Kumiko Chujo, who is also Kono’s mother, for abusing the same part-timer. In the previous incident, a customer complained that a hair had ended up in their bento. Angered, the two women forcibly cut all of the worker’s hair off with a pair of scissors.
The mother-daughter team was also arrested on the eighth of this month for further physical abuses. On 7 June, after a customer complained that a bento was served slowly, so Chujo pushed a part-time worker in her 50s down with both hands and then began kicking her several times, including in the head and face.
In another instance in March of this year, Kono told the 24-year-old worker, “You look sick. Why don’t we get a blood sample and take it to the hospital?” She then allegedly made the worker cut her own cheek with a flathead screwdriver.
These cases all happened so frequently that it’s hard to keep track of their outcomes, and there have been no reports of trials or lawsuits yet, so we can only assume all of the cases are still pending.
According to NHK, Chujo admitted to assaulting the woman in her 50s, saying, “I attacked her because I was angry about the complaint.” As for the hair cutting, Kono has admitted the charges, but Chujo is denying them, saying she wasn’t there at the time.
Meanwhile, Kono is said to have admitted to the nose piercing, but is partially denying the screwdriver charge, telling police, “I never said anything like ‘You look sick.'”
The other big question in all this is how this shop has continued to operate throughout all this, and why the 24-year-old has continued to work there after numerous horrific attacks. It is something that has left readers of the news confused and depressed.
“The haircut and piercing victim is the same person? Unbelievable.”
“What? Is this a bento shop or an S&M club?”
“Those women are clearly yakuza types, but I can’t understand why the other woman stayed there after the haircut incident.”
“Tell me where these savages work, so I can know to never go there.”
“Notice how this all started about the same time as Kagawa’s video game restrictions?”
“This is horrible, but the courts always seem to go easy on women attackers.”
“How do people become like this?”
“Thinking about the hell that woman’s life is, I couldn’t keep from crying.”
“There is a zero-percent chance these horrible women won’t do this again.”
“The head shaving was dangerous, and then it escalated to a nose piercing. This will lead to murder if it continues.”
It looks like the police and courts have a lot to sort through for the time being. Luckily, the younger victim reportedly has several threatening texts which, along with her physical injuries, which should provide ample evidence in her case.
However, it’s worth remembering that in 2016 a fish wholesale manager beat one of her employees to death but only received a suspended sentence after the court determined she showed adequate remorse and paid the victim’s family.
So it remains to be seen what form “justice” will take in this matter.
Source: Real Live, Hachima Kiko
Read more stories from SoraNews24.
-- Self-Defense Force member arrested for carrying two screwdrivers
-- Woman on train groped by two men at once, suspects apparently unrelated
-- Japanese Twitter users surprised that the Foreign Minister did something cool
- External Link
- https://soranews24.com/2020/06/21/bento-shop-staff-punished-part-timer-by-piercing-her-nose-cutting-all-hair-off-and-more/
33 Comments
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ArtistAtLarge
Why aren't they in prison where they belong?
Toshihiro
Yikes, I would never want to visit that bento shop. Poor employees.
I really wonder why there's so much excessive work-related violence? I know that service and productivity is impeccable in Japan but if these are the sacrifices being made to maintain that image, then I hope the Japanese would learn to take it down a notch and cut them some slack.
Yubaru
Wow....I for one believe there is a hell of a lot more here to the story from the victims side that is not being reported and never will be either.
I honestly want to think that the women who worked here could very well have had some type of mental illness and were working there because there was no where else they could find a job.
Many times the special needs type workshops here find positions like this for their charges, and they need the money and have no other options.
Otherwise, why in the hell would anyone stay?
runner3
Those people should be in jail, end of story.
sensei258
Why do they keep doing it? Because there is no consequence.
Bugle Boy of Company B
How is that not an arrest able offense?
that person
Appalling. And a shame for japan
kurisupisu
Modern day slavery alive and well AND accepted by society in Japan?
Zaphod
Jeeze, from what century is this article?
PhantomAgent
This news makes me angry when I think of my hard-working Japanese friends try to do their best at work.
PhantomAgent
"trying.."
Zaphod
kurisupisu
Obviously not accepted. Where does the article say it is?
Lynn Nicole Gatien
What??!?! Jail these psychopaths and never allow them to own or operate a store that give them hierarchy power over another! It’s clear these get off from hurting & almost killing others! They’re beyond any kind of remorse; it’s purposefully premeditated acts of violence!!
Mocheake
Both hateful menaces. Put them in jail and take away their licenses now.
Michael Machida
Employee or slaves?
DaDude
Not everyone is cut from the same cloth. Mind control and feeling of low self-worth can be at play here. I am just happy that it was it was finally reported and the woman is still alive. It could have been fatal.
Richard Gallagher
I want to visit....
oyatoi
Auditioning for Japan’s take on Seinfeld’s soup nazi.
Yubaru
It's a bento shop for cripes sake! They could walk down the street and find another one too!
People here gotta wake up!
Do the hustle
That is criminal assault. These goons should be facing 3-5 years in jail. However, they’ll pay some cash to the victim and get a 12 month suspended sentence. They’ll be back at work tomorrow. If this had happened to me they would be going to jail for sure!
gogogo
what the?
Pukey2
When you've been physically abused once, you leave.
smithinjapan
One of the reasons why the keystones here are so well known for being inept. It seems like here they have literally been waiting for a dead body to actually do anything. I mean, how many times of the same staff being reported for abuse in this article alone (and likely FAR more actual incidents)? And what did police do about it? They let it happen again, and again, and again.
Mable
Power harassment and humiliation at the workplace are still very common in Japan and unfortunately often accepted. Very often the senpai abuses the kôhai, who then proceeds to mistreat his future subordinates after career promotion. That's the reason why I am glad that I work with both Japanese and foreigners. Work climate in a company with mainly Japanese workers is probably going to be different.
albaleo
That's not entirely accurate. While she beat the employee, it was some time later he became unconscious, and she then took "life-saving measures" to help him.
https://japantoday.com/category/crime/company-president-gets-five-years-probation-for-killing-employee
Ken Wyatt
"readers confused and depressed"
Baffled's the word you're looking for...
toolonggone
She wasn't "punished". She was assaulted.
B. Jay
Pure insanity. Mother and daughter must be locked up.
kurisupisu
@Zaphod
My 30 years of experience of living in Japan says it...