Some 35 percent of local government officials in Japan have faced overbearing or abusive behavior from members of the public, a government survey showed Friday, more than three times higher than found in a separate study on private-sector workers.
The result of the survey by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications over workplace harassment in the past three years suggests that public officials, who are considered "servants of the whole community" under the Constitution, regularly receive unreasonable requests from the taxpayers they are paid to serve.
"Private companies can choose their customers, but local governments need to offer administrative services to everyone, which may have impacted the outcome," a ministry official said.
As the issue of "kasu-hara," a Japanese slang term for harassment by customers, increasingly enters public consciousness, more local governments and companies are taking action to protect workers.
The survey of public servants, conducted in November and December, covered 388 randomly selected local governments across Japan and received 11,507 responses from those working in the administrative sector, excluding teachers.
The survey by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare targeting companies and other private entities showed in May last year that 10.8 percent of employees had experienced overwhelming or abusive behavior from customers.
The government has submitted to parliament an amendment bill requiring companies to establish clear rules against abuse by customers and the public and set up a system for victims to file complaints. Municipalities will also be required to take steps to address the issue.
While a Japanese phrase referring to customers as "gods," given their perceived power over service workers, has been widely accepted in Japan for decades, attitudes are slowly evolving.
© KYODO
6 Comments
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MarkX
While I don't agree with any kind of harassment, sometimes workers at city halls and other government institutions can be really unhelpful and a bit condescending to people. And since they are paid with our taxes, people might get more upset or angry when they don't get the help they think they should be offered.
sakurasuki
Sometimes they forgot who really paid them.
wanderlust
The administrative systems and bureaucracy that they are part of are enough to drive anyone mad.
Filling out some ward office forms today, payment required a special cheque issued by the post office, not cash, e-money or bank transfer, but a cheque that you have to pick up in person, then drop off with your form.
The identical application at another ward office was quite different, requiring different supporting documents,
It is no wonder that people get frustrated and angry with staff at public offices, and sadly take it out on the employees.
VoiceOfReason
I'm in agreement with everyone here so far.
Don't be mean to people. Should be a universal rule. And in Japan, just because the customer is king doesn't mean you should be a jerk.AND ALSO
The million steps it takes to get anything done here would drive anyone mad. Took me 3 hours to open a bank account once and about 20-30 Inkan stamps. And whenever you ask a simple question like "is it going to rain today?" the staff member would leave, disappear for 10 minutes as she has to confer with 5 different people before returning and giving me an answer.リッチ
Well when systems and rules and regulations are such to just piss people off and waste time I can understand it. People are tired of throwing away their money to people with zero customer service focus and expect everyone to conform to their style. It’s not harassment it’s demanding service from expensive expenses that people are not getting anything.
Mr Kipling
Elon's DOGE would have a field day cost cutting at my city office. On my last visit they had one employee whose sole job was to hand out special garbage bags for adult diapers. Not exactly rushed off her feet.