Mie Prefecture Proposes Japan's First Law Criminalizing Customer Harassment

Mie Prefecture submitted a bill to its assembly on June 18 to criminalize customer harassment through fines and other penalties [1, 2].

This move marks a significant shift in Japanese labor protections by treating "kasuhara" — customer harassment — as a criminal offense rather than a workplace management issue. The legislation aims to create a stronger deterrent against the abuse of service workers to ensure their safety and mental well-being [1, 3].

The proposed ordinance targets customers who subject employees to unreasonable demands or verbal abuse [1, 3]. Under the new rules, violators could face fines of up to 500,000 yen ^[2]. The prefecture introduced the bill in the assembly located in Tsu City [1, 2].

Officials said that the need for the law grew as customer harassment became a widespread social problem [1, 3]. The legislation is designed to protect workers from environments where they are forced to endure hostility to maintain their employment.

Examples of such abuse include extreme incidents in the service sector. FNN caster Daijiro Enami described a scene at a beef bowl restaurant where a customer scattered change on the floor and told a staff member, "Pick it up, show me your sincerity," because the employee's way of giving change was unsatisfactory ^[1].

While Japan has seen various corporate guidelines regarding customer treatment, this is the first time a prefectural government has sought to implement criminal penalties to protect the working class [1, 2].