Good day,
I have lived in Japan for over a decade. I’ve recently started working at an international school in Osaka. I’ve only been here about a month and I can already see it’s an extremely bad workplace. The kids are great. The teachers are good people. The management, however, is very vindictive. The head teacher and principle actively try to fire people when those individuals bring forth issues they have with situations or how things are done. The teachers want the school to improve. The 2 in power just view these people as complainers and try to lie so they have context to fire them (it happened to the longest serving teacher here last week). I studied psychology and I’m sympathetic to listening. Many of the teachers are disgruntled and the management doesn’t come to hear them out. Just ignore them and hire new staff after good teachers leave. I was speaking with one of these teachers about the recent firing of the long standing teacher and the lies used to get rid of him. While I know cameras can be used for video surveillance, I recall audio recording being illegal during my studies at college. This morning I found out the private conversation between myself and the teacher during our break was listened to. Is it still illegal to record audio? If so I’m having trouble locating the law and would appreciate assistance finding it. If not, there is nothing I can do except confront them.
Thank you in advance,
Will
18 comments
How “private” was this conversation? Was it in earshot of other people of just the two of you in another room? How was it recorded and by whom?
Not an expert of law by any means but came here to say get out of there ASAP. This is next level effed up.
I do believe that the Japanese court admits One party consent recordings as evidence, but I don’t know if that would apply in this case. I’d say just cut the bullshit and call them out
The trick is to not work anywhere that has ‘school’ in the name or description. Do that and you’ll be fine.
I’m a little confused about a few things. You used the word “fired”, but is that actually what happened? Was the employee in question actually fired, forced into voluntary resignation, or simply not renewed? Generally speaking, it’s very difficult to ***fire*** people in Japan, but it’s easier to not renew. Firing people is a process… If the justification is flimsy, an employee can challenge the dismissal and he or she often has a good chance of being reinstated with backpay (although these cases can often last for years). It sounds like this employee just rolled over and accepted his termination.
Additionally, sometimes there’s a presumption of renewal if the employee has been renewed several times. In the case of non-renewal, I’m not sure if an employer can use any flimsy excuse, but I would imagine that the bar is a lot lower than the justification needed to fire someone.
Those are just anecdotes. I hope someone can clarify.
However, in Japan employers can lie to employees with impunity (the act of lying itself isn’t a punishable offense). That’s not an anecdote. My recommendation is to get some kind of union representation because while an employer can lie to its employees without consequence, it’s a lot harder for an employer to lie to a union in the same way.
Honestly how do y’all end up in these places.
Most modern international or private schools have cameras throughout the buildings for crime prevention and safety. This area of the law in Japan is particularly clear – there is no law prohibiting surreptitious voice recording. The right to privacy issues come into play if you decide to broadcast the recordings, but does not come into play if they are to be used in a legal proceeding. You know the cameras are there, so should expect you are being recorded. I would not confront them as they’ve done nothing wrong.
It’s stressful and unfair, but this kind of situation is common in Asia — especially after the pandemic.
I would recommend finishing the contract if you want to work at another international school in the future; if not, then it’s more of a flexible situation and quitting might be the healthiest option.
As for the the audio recording and possible legal situation — avoid it at all costs. It’s not worth your time unless you have an incredibly strong case and set of lawyers.
Have everyone quit and start a new school, right next to the old one.
That’ll teach them.
> his morning I found out the private conversation between myself and the teacher during our break was listened to. Is it still illegal to record audio?
If either of you was aware that the recording was being done (one party consent) it was legal.
If neither of you was aware, and there was no signage indicating that there was recording or the possibility of recording, then the recording is not legal – meaning that it *possibly cannot be used as evidence in court*. If the recording was entirely surreptitious but was being used to protect the recording party’s rights, then it *can* be admissible.
Otherwise, it’s only legally actionable if the person recording publishes the recording, where it can constitute an invasion of privacy or defamation.
If the teachers are all on the same page you can try getting together and making some demands btw. Or all try to agree to quit at the same time of something
Serious question. Is finding a teaching job that hard in Japan? To the point where people will just suck up abuse?
IDK…maybe just my Gen-X showing, but no way I’d tolerate that bullshit. I’d live under a tarp at the beach before I let someone treat me like that.
It is legal to record audio without the other parties consent or knowledge. But I don’t believe that it is usable in court.
But either way, gtfo of there asap as your mental health is far more important.
I don’t believe it’s illegal to record audio, no, even when one party isn’t aware.
The most senior teacher got fired? Iike “pack your bags, you’re done” Steve jobs type firing?
Or was he on endless 1 year shitty contracts and they decided to just not renew?
Many Japanese companies see employees as property. This goes back over the 100’s of years when Japan was a serfdom. They get outraged if their property tries to stand up and enforce any terms they deem unacceptable. You can’t change this mindset. Smile at work and apply for jobs at home.
By “international school” is this an actual school or an eikaiwa style place?
Sounds like your workplace needs to unionise. Contact the General Union.