The most Japanese complaint you’ve ever gotten

40 comments

1. That’s why most employees don’t wear any company identifying stuff outside work. Like, cover up a jumpsuit when out for lunch, wear a suit to work and change, etc.

2. As a private hire ALT I had to do the whole apology pilgrimage for suggesting to my co-teacher that we change the starting greeting for class because it wasn’t natural. I was told my opinion was unimportant because the co-teacher is a trained professional with a degree and certification in teaching, and I should know my place and keep my mouth shut in the future.
   I also majored in education and was a certified teacher in the US.

   I’m no longer doing ALT work.

3. Reminds me of [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/japanlife/comments/hdp0iq/most_facetious_callouts_at_work/) by /u/rainkinginchains.

4. I have been berated for some dumb shit before, but nothing to that level. I get told that I have an attitude problem a lot, when in reality I just don’t show a lot of emotion. I will still have friendly conversation and laugh around with customers but I’m not gonna go out of my way to fake a smile that just makes me feel drained the rest of the day.

5. Partly explains why drugs aren’t that prevalent. *Everyone* is a snitch.

   Reminds me of the time I went on a date with a girl, had a change of heart later on and said I wouldn’t be meeting her again. I made the mistake of mentioning where I worked (at the time) and she fucking called my company. Not exactly sure what she told reception but luckily my boss was cool about it and basically said “yeah there are some really vindictive people out there, be careful what information you divulge to people”.

   Sure I probably should’ve avoided mentioning my job but you know it just comes up in conversation. I know where she works *too* but I wouldn’t call up her company because I’m not an *absolute fucking pyscho*.

6. [deleted]

7. Only in Japan would someone waste his time and other people’s time to call and complaint about such a petty thing.

   I wouldn’t want to work in a Japanese hotline of those snacks that print a customer support number on the wrapper.

8. To be honest, while not to the pedantic level of eating some minor food on a train, this exact thing exists in at least in the UK. If you work for any business that has been around for a while, they all have a rule about not wearing identifiable items when outside, e.g. name badges, company clothing, etc. This is for a lot of reasons:

   * Your bad behaviour doesn’t reflect poorly on the company
   * You can’t get in trouble if people don’t know who you are
   * You won’t as easily be targeted due to your company/position (this is bigger for companies that are involved with government contracts, health data, etc)
   * You are less likely to lose said identifying objects if stored
   * In my old bosses case, less likely to be bitched at by homeless people when you don’t give them change or enough based on your company/position.

9. When I was still new in Japan I went to Oedo onsen with my then boyfriend. I wasn’t familiar with yukata and there wasn’t a dressing guide in the changing room at that time. I folded the wrong side over and some old lady starts pointing and shouting and calls an attendant to tell me to fix my yukata. I know it has bad implications (dressing a corpse) but give me a break, how was I supposed to know.

10. Off topic but these snitcher types (middle aged and up) are related to the folks responsible for driving kids out of publicly funded parks, doing NIMBY stuff like stopping welfare facilities and nursery schools from being built in areas needing them. I hope these people go away soon, because waiting for them would be too late to fix this country. End of rant!

11. My supervisor in a very poor factory was done for drink driving and the police visited the factory to tell the boss all about it. He was docked his entire annual bonus and demoted in role. He’s already being fined and punished by the cops for his crime as prescribed. What right do they have to go around telling unrelated third parties about his deeds to inflict even more arbitrary punishment on him? He lived right by the factory so he walked to work and didn’t ever drive a company vehicle. To me it seems the cops were breaking the law by doing that.

12. My gym called my office because I left an incline bench in the incline position rather than the flat position.

13. A parent, when I worked in Saitama, recognized me when I crossed the street whilst the light was red. She called the school and said it sat a bad example for students if they see their teachers doing stuff like that.

    Mind you, this was not even within the vicinity of the school. It was at a completely different location and during my free-time. That was fucking insane. Manager was cool about it but still the mass email thing about “don’t forget you represent the school bla bla bla”

14. I used to work at the Tokyo Disney Resort and you would be amazed to hear the kind of complaints Japanese guests make considering the image that the Japanese have for being nice and polite.
    One time I had a lingering cough that lasted a few months after a cold (due to asthma), we didn’t get sick days, and I received 5 days of PTO for the year so I had to go to work. I worked on the floor so there wasn’t anything I could do that allowed me to be behind the scenes. Dress code policy also forbids masks because it ruins the fantasy that everyone’s in a perfect dream land. Customer called and complained that they wanted to come to the shop I was stationed at, but seeing me cough made them uncomfortable, and that they would come again the next day so they better make sure I’m not there. This was in the winter, during flu season, and the park receives 50k+ guests a day but I guess I was the only contagious threat around.
    My coworkers told me about another guest that called corporate to complain they overheard two staff members saying otsukaresama to each other because in a perfect world people don’t work, or something like that.
    I have so many more examples but those came to mind first.

15. Had a short stint at a start up. On the way to the office, I got off on the wrong floor (1 floor off). Stepped out, realised my mistake and immediately got back onto the elevator. Didnt see anyone, didnt speak to anyone, it was about a 5 second thing.

    Later got told the company downstairs complained about a foreigner coming to their offices.

    Still puzzled to this day.

16. Inb4 some wannabe “this ain’t about Japan/Japanese, it happens everywhere!”…

17. Wth I mean, worst case people might lose their job and life just because someone is being an a-hole enough to wazawaza call the company and report that kind of insignificant attitude. The same thing might happened to the a-hole when they’re in a pinch, but I guess they don’t know karma.

    And it’s not unusual to see japanese people eating snacks, onigiri, and drinking sake on train :s

    My most japanese complaint that I got is when I worked in tokyo as a kanrisha for technical trainess where most of the time i relay the trainees message or request to kumiai’s person in charge (more like tsuuyaku). At that time my Japanese is okay and I have no difficulty to interpret or do presentation.
    One trainee in nagoya have a bad toothache and asking the kumiai PIC to accompany her to dentist since she can’t really speak japanese. I relay this message to kumiai person, just as what the trainee said and she got angry while she asked again “so i should take her to dentist!??” And i said calmly “thats what the trainee asked” and she berated that I was rude and not suitable for this job and said that she’s not the trainee’s babysitter, she even called my boss and senpai to report my attitude and I got scolded for this.

    Turns out that kumiai person wished I “soften” (言い回す) the message like inserting “taihen moushiwakegozaimasenga sashitsukaenakereba skrnxjsidb yoroshiidehouka? Otesuudesuga osoreirimasuga blabla” all that shit to the message. Like, fuck I’m not the one asking to go to dentist and my job is to interpret in a quick efficient manner so that we can respond fast to trainee’s problems and request, not to give into her ego.

18. I’ve told this story here before but, I once got in trouble for being on time for breakfast at the hotel. Apparently I was supposed to know to be there before everyone else because I was younger than them. I did get there a few minutes before the set meeting time, but because I got there after everyone else I was late. Then I got in trouble *again* for going to get food from the buffet before sitting down, as clearly for this breakfast meeting where I am not required to speak at all, I should sit there and listen to everyone talk while not eating, and then go get food after.

    I also got in trouble for wearing sunglasses in front of customers. Excuse me for not wanting to crash this Alphard full of customers while driving into the sunlight, because you think sunglasses are just to look cool and aren’t professional, and aren’t actually glasses that block the sun.

19. What kind of pathetic loser do you have to be to make all that effort for such an insignificant thing?

20. This is why Japan is shit to live in after college. This mentality is f***ing stupid. Screw you and your company, I’m just here to provide for my family and grow career. Not to be a company rep wherever I go.

21. I got a complaint from a student for following the curriculum! There was a unit in the textbook about medical issues, and one of the follow up questions was “have you ever been in hospital?” I made it very clear to all the students that they did *not* have to answer this question, although most were happy to do so.

    That one student complained to the office that I had invaded her privacy. Fortunately the school knew what a nutjob she was (Eikawa seems to attract them like moths to a flame), so they just ignored her.

22. I remember reading a 1 star review of a dentist office because the dentist j-walked across the road to go to the conbini or something and was wearing their uniform still.

    Made me think, “but is he still a good dentist?” I guess that doesn’t matter to Japanese people. If he’s a jaywalker, he must be a bad person… ridiculous!

23. Unless you do something that really, legitimately directly affects the company, an apology like this is outrageous.

    I’m an adjunct professor so I go around to as many universities as needed to pay the bills. One time I received a request for a grade review/change from admin. I thought nothing of it, happens every year if not every semester. Long story short, I decided there was enough wiggle room to bump the kid up a letter grade (I keep rigorous track of numbers, but like to curve upward when I can — 88% is close enough to give an S, stuff like that)

    The process at this place turned out to be a real pain though. Had to file paperwork, provide a breakdown in scores, reasoning behind the change, and a letter of apology to the department.

    That last bit touched a nerve because I felt I was just doing my job, giving admin what they wanted, and doing the kid a favor in the process. After a bit of back and forth & runaround with department liaisons, I pressed for a meeting with the department head to clear the air.

    To his credit, he was a nice enough guy and spent most of the time talking about procedures, sharing his own frustrations, and explained that the “letter of apology” is mostly a poor translation, and is really an acknowledgement that something went wrong and admin has extra work because of it. Regardless, I didn’t appreciate the implication that I was in the wrong and wrote something more along the lines of “I’m sorry you feel that way”.

    I didn’t renew my contract.

    tl;dr To answer your question, the most Japanese complaint I got was “why did you do your job?”

24. When I was working at a shitty big chain eikaiwa they told us that we had to be fully dressed and follow all protocols when leaving the house and going back home. We didn’t even have any identifying marks on us because we just had a dress code but we were “representing the company” even on public transportation.

    Absolute nonsense. Why the fuck do I need to wear a tie for the train? Or a coat if it’s too hot. I can just drape it over my arm. Yea you guys are paying for my transportation cost but I’m not on the clock when I’m traveling. If you do want to pay me for my transportation time then I’d be okay with following that ridiculous rule, maybe.

    It’s crazy how much of adult life here is like being back in school where your school and now your company is your secondary caretaker after your parents. I rented a car a few days ago and I had to put my company address and phone number as a contact for some reason. Why would they ever need that information? Maybe if I died in a fiery car crash it would be nice of them to call them and tell them I won’t be in to work the next day, but what other reason? If I get into a fender bender are they gonna call my boss and tell him? WTF?

25. Me: 30s Western programmer in office working overtime due to shitty deadlines.

    Coworker: 40s Japanese that lived overseas a good while, (senior in terms of tenure, but not in rank. Also on the non-IT side whereas I was IT) in office for… reasons?

    Coworker: I wish I could go home

    Me: Ah, still working on something?

    Coworker: No, I don’t have anything to do.

    Me: … ahhhh, why are you still here then? Waiting on a ride or something?

    Coworker: No. I can’t leave before the boss.

    Me: This is a westernized company, and he’s a western dude. The boss does not care. He’s probably going straight out of the meeting room and the office without coming back this way.

    Coworker: I can’t risk it.

    —

    Pain of his own making. I outlasted him. Boss did not, in fact, give any shits about that and would rather people were relaxed and focused at work to perform their best when it *was* actually busy.

26. The most Japanese complaint I ever got was
    “I think bright colors and more formal clothing would look good on you. Have you ever tried it? I bet you’d look handsome.”
    Translation:
    Stop wearing dark blues and gray/black. Stop being casual formal all the time. You would look more professional if you wore a full suit.

    Gotta love the indirect comments.

    Same for when girls expose their shoulders or show too much skin during the summer.
    “Don’t you feel cold? Maybe you should cover up so you don’t get sick”
    (Looks at the thermometer, see’s it’s 32……)

27. I once worked with a company that organized events. We had an event where we handed out a pack of gummies in front of Shibuya 109. These weren’t specially made for handing out, so we had to go and put a line across the barcode which allowed us to recognize that it was something we handed out and also double check that it wasn’t opened or damaged. We had to check like 2000 packs a day so naturally the lines became shorter and more like a tick. Head office got an email from a lady asking what the “love heart” on her pack of gummy was and if the guy who handed her the gummy was hitting on her. If so, she was offended that he would think of her so lightly. 尻軽おんな was the words she used. From that day we had to add another staff member to double triple check that it was a line and not a tick.

28. My wife works at our city hall and every foreigner needs to know – if you do anything at all un-Japanese and an obaa/ojii-san is within earshot or sightline there’s a very high likelihood someone has complained about you. She tells me on a weekly basis there’s five or six complaints about some foreigner or another from these folks. And this is a city under 100k so there aren’t *that* many foreigners.

    I can’t even imagine what larger metropolis’ city halls have to deal with.

    For the most part city hall just expresses concern and understanding but more or less just tosses the complaint unless it was actually something that could cause a serious problem.

    Just assume anyone above 60 *will* snitch on you.

29. I was once told “Foreigners don’t know how to stand in line” for being off-center to the mark on the train station’s platform.

    I was also told “Foreigners don’t know how to stand in line” when I was standing exactly on a mark once, but the person behind me decided social distancing shouldn’t be a thing anymore.

    As it turns out, with or without marks, it doesn’t matter. Foreigners don’t know how to stand in line.

30. This is why I can only work for myself in Japan. Even thought I’m working practically 7 days a week, I’m so glad to be done with this fuckery for the most part. One example I remember was from my chain eikaiwa days. They taught us exactly how to teach in this rote manner and if we went off course we got chewed out.

    So lesson starts and it’s a high level one. 3 female students, all about the same age (50s). The one on the far right was already giving arrogant vibes but whatever.

    Me: “so since it’s the first time to meet each other, let’s start off with introductions”

    Lady on the left: “Hi! I’m Mariko! I’m a researcher at JAXA etc etc”

    Lady in the middle: “Hi! I’m Mayuko! I’m currently a chief in editor for Asahi Shinbun etc etc”

    Arrogant lady on the right: “……well what can i say? I’m nothing compared to these two. I’m just a housewife….”

    Me: “thank you everyone. Let’s start todays lesson”

    And she was PISSED giving low effort all lesson. I think she was used to being top dog but got unlucky being paired with these two haha”

    Of course that meant I made her feel bad right? Well what to do? Yes! Complain! And she screamed at the staff.

    A few hours later the area manager came down and this was the conversation

    Manager: “hey zack, you really embarrassed her and made her feel bad. Don’t do that again”

    Me: “But I just asked her to introduce herself? Should I not do that again?”

    Manager: “NO! That’s part of your job. You have to do that. Just don’t make them feel bad”

    Me: “how did she say I made her feel bad?”

    Manager: “she said you asked her to introduce herself”

    Me: “…….okay so should I have not done that?”

    Manager: “It’s your job!! You have to ask students to introduce themselves. Just don’t make her feel bad”

    Me: “but she felt bad because I asked her to introduce herself. Just tell me what I should do next time and I’ll do that”

    Manager: “…….just don’t make her feel bad”

    Me: “…..but……okay whatever”

31. I guess kind of a different complaint, not work-related, but..

    “That wasn’t very Japanese of you.”

    I probably don’t need to specify, but I am not Japanese, was not raised here, nor did I spend any significant amount of time here until I was an adult and fully socialized by a completely different culture. The person who said it to me had known me for months and was fully aware of this.

    I think it was in response to me saying something “too direct,” like “to be honest no, I think it could be better if you did xyz” (totally random example).

32. I made *~~the fatal error~~* my own bento for work *one time*.
    It was quite simple, not as fancy as the ones my wife used to make and the eagle-eyed Obasan from reception spotted it immediately. Naturally she proceeded to spread gossip about my wife with the other ladies in the office.

    We got a call that evening from my Mother-in-law, who was absolutely livid.
    It turns out that her daughter’s laziness reflects poorly on her Father (my boss) and she must return to making my lunch immediately – lest he be scorned by his own employees.

    I’ve since decided it’s much easier to just grab a sandwich from the conbini and eat it at my desk.

    Obasan’s gonna have a field day when my paternity leave comes around.

33. Office-wide email on the 1st of this month regarding the use of common spaces (lounge counter area, seating, meeting rooms).

    Pretty much only me and one other guy (Japanese) were using these spaces, no one else would use it, they were always sitting at their desks.

    I guess I have bad manners or something, because what if someone else wanted to use the space, and because I was always there, they weren’t comfortable enough to say anything?

    I yelled at the Managing Director to his face, asking if he’s running a kindergarten or a professional business.

    I sense, perhaps, my expectations and this office’s particular culture are no longer in alignment…

    Go figure all this week, NO ONE is using those particular spaces!

34. My friend’s kid lived 10.5km away from his high school and got in massive trouble because he rode in on his bicycle and the limit was 10km. He got kicked off the track-and-field team, the teachers were bullying him, and all the other moms shunned his mom. There was talk of suspension or expulsion. All because he rode his bicycle a few hundred metres farther than the limit.

    (Of course he got caught out because one of the moms saw him, knew where he lived, decided to calculate it out on Google Maps, and then report it to the school.)

35. A while back I was moved to a new team at a faraway site where (I thought) the typical Orwellian atmosphere of the company would be dialed down a bit. I had great managers and was having a much better time than on my old team.

    But in my efforts to get along with people and be friendly, I committed two big faux pas. One was on the train home from work, when I noticed a young part-time lady who was on the team I was once on, doing some of the same work I had done. Said hello, we exchanged pleasantries; we each changed trains.

    Things were going swimmingly… or so I thought. Soon after I was called in to a meeting with the managers, zero notice, one manager in the room and the other on Zoom, so with noise reverberating everywhere I could hardly make out what was going on. It seems that I should never be speaking with any other employees outside of work; once past the office doors it is their *private* time and any interaction is forbidden. Says one manager, こんな会社なの。私も普通に挨拶してて嫌がられた。絶対に話しかけないでください。 I recalled when I joined the company two decades ago and how co-workers talking on the train was normal, and *could not imagine* being a part-timer and being spoken to by a co-worker 20 years my senior and then *reporting* that co-worker to management and the veteran being admonished. “Who is angry at me? Let me apologize to them,” I asked, but of course they insisted it wasn’t just one person. The solution was that I would avoid the elevator and take the stairs down, and take a different entrance to the station so as to avoid bumping into any co-workers.

    But there’s a twist. This young lady — the only possible candidate for who could have been angry with me — continued to say hello to me in the hallways, smiling, acting normal, bantering. I saw an opportunity to apologize to her. Her surprise was genuine: I may not be able to “read the air”, but I can read body language. She had been happy to talk to me, happy to ask what country I came from; remembered what train line I was changing to.

    So *some other person* had snitched on me from the shadows because in *their view* it was inappropriate to talk to a co-worker on the train. And that person got me in some trouble.

    I don’t suppose I’ll ever find out who had a problem with me. And now I’m stuck in the awkward position of having to possibly alienate co-workers who might feel *snubbed* when I have to pretend not to see them or bury my face in my phone when they’re nearby. Even if it’s someone I know well, the mysterious person could be watching and reporting on me.

36. Reading this thread makes me wonder how anything gets accomplished in this country. Oh, wait…

37. We stopped at a 7 eleven on the way back to the office once and the boys had a smoke next to the ashtray with many other people around knock off time.
    We got an angry email from the 7 eleven because one of us made the ashtray catch fire.

    They saw our company name on the side of our vehicle.

    How they could pick the exact cigarette out of 15 people is beyond me. Yet we still got a talking to.

    We all Google reviewed bombed the 7 eleven for not taking proper care of their smoking facilities and suddenly we received an apology.

    The funny thing is other random people were also complaining about the ashtray always catching fire.

38. Many many years ago, I worked at a factory with offices on the same grounds. You didn’t really have to move through the factory to get to the offices though, it was really separate, especially where I worked. The company was also nice enough to have tons of bicycle parking space and showers plus change rooms. So, me wanting to stay in shape, suggested to my manager that I might start biking to work. My manager was a Japanese guy who had lived abroad and made a quite open and smart first impression, quite likable actually. So I go:

    Me: “I might start biking to work and then go to the locker rooms, take a shower and hop into my suit.”

    He starts shuffling around on his chair uncomfortably.

    Him: “You can’t do that.”

    Me: “Can’t do what?”

    Him: “Enter the factory without wearing a suit. It’s forbidden.”

    Me: “So I need to bike the hour to the office in my suit instead of biking clothes??”

    Him: “It’s the rule.”

    And that’s how I found out that he wasn’t as open and smart and likable as I had thought.

39. I hand made christmas cards for my apartment block (only around 15 apartments) with pictures of santa and reindeers and the standard ‘Merry Christmas from Flat 101’ on them. Posted them in each post box of the apartment. The next day I got a knock on the door from the police saying one apartment reported the card as suspicious activity and that they had to come and check up on me….
    I asked them if they had read the contents of said card and they sighed and said yes but that they had to come and check as it was apart of their duty……biggest waste of police time imo. Also fuck that person for ruining christmas.

40. I’ll be 100% honest. I’ve always went with a very “respect Japanese culture but stand your ground” attitude. The worst that has ever happened is I have been asked to not come back next year. Not a problem for me. Ended up In what I consider the best prefecture for education.

    But to answer her question.
    I was told by the BoA I worked for that it was not an issue I was married to another woman and that I was just basically required to use the same level of discretion as anyone else.

    I was asked by a high school student how long I had been married (she saw my ring) I told her. She asked what my husbands name was. I told her
    “My wives name is Yulia”
    It got the perfectly normal reaction that you would think. But the children were polite.

    The Japanese teacher only complained that I should have just. Given a random man’s name.

    I just answer by saying I wasn’t a liar.

    The teacher got very upset and actually cried because she took it to mean that I was calling her dishonest. (I was)

    The principles complained to me that I was “disruptive” and said I should apologize.

    I said no. That moral people don’t apologize for refusing to lie. The school complained to my company (who didn’t help but did just tell them, that’s up to the school board)

    The school board told the school it didn’t do anything wrong. And to drop it. But they also didn’t invite me to work the next year.