The fact that some Japanese feel the need or rather the AUDACITY to call the workplace on someone just to spite them is quite disturbing no matter what the culture dictates as a civic responsibility. Think about it. This is someone’s bread and butter!!! It could be an ex getting back at them, stalking them, a former adult student at an eikaiwa, a vindictive ex coworker, a nosy senior citizen, whoever they may be, the perpetrator certainly doesn’t not think nor care of the consequences. Even though Japanese rarely get fired, so to speak, it is still damaging the reputation of the employee (and rather, exposing their personal life). Sheesh.
I remember when I used to work at a private school out here, I would see weekly memos regarding complaints from residents of that city that said students didn’t greet them down the road, held the door of the train, blew soap bubbles on the road, etc…OMFG! How petty! At first, I used to think school uniforms were better; that way you wouldn’t see an economic difference between the students but at the same time, it is simply meant to keep track of bad behavior.
You know, I grew up in a major city running in circles with people from multiple backgrounds, I speak three languages, lived in a few countries before settling here, and I have never heard this being so commonplace as I hear it here. It makes it worse for foreigners because they are easily identifiable.
This is one of the reasons why Japanese people are told to NEVER wear the company logo outside of work (train, bus, subway, etc..).
I did a search in this group and found the “ice-cream incident”, but aside from that, for those of you who have actually lived in other non-English speaking countries, have you witnessed or heard of this type of behavior before?
32 comments
Try the Swiss on for size
What’s even worse is that the police will often visit an employee’s workplace and tell the company about an incident they’ve been involved in, even though it’s completely unrelated to the company. A gross violation of privacy usually resulting in some arbitrary punishment like losing a bonus or position on top of the mandated govt penalty. A manager done for a drink driving charge is one case I witnessed.
I taught in a school in the US. It was no different there, even without uniforms. We got stacks of complaints every week from bored old people in the neighborhood complaining about kids being kids. And, of course, if you are a huge asshole and vids get posted online, you better believe people are going to find out where you work and put your job in jeopardy. No logos need to be worn. People will find you. This is far from a “Japan” thing.
This is why WFH is so great. I can walk about in full view of the general public whilst wearing ominous shades, eating an entire ice cream, listening to music on headphones, riding a skateboard on a BMX bike, smoking a fag, holding an umbrella, reading a magazine about young ladies who simply cannot find a bikini that isn’t six sizes too small, and loudly speaking the English into a cellular telephone, without anyone being able to even call my company’s offices.
Not that it’d do them any good, because the sales guys are probably all out for a liquid lunch with their next mark anyway.
Disclaimer: I don’t actually know how to ride a skateboard, and these POLICE sunglasses make the pavement look too far away.
I’m curious. Why do you think it’s so common in Japan?
They should be more like Americans, who are famous for never reporting or complaining about anything.
I heard that in Taiwan students have to wear a name tag on their school uniform so when they do any mischief outside of school it is very easy to identify them.
I think it’s part of the “don’t cause meiwaku” culture.
It sucks because sometimes you have to be cautious with what you do even in your personal life (outside of work hours). In my ALT days, I remember being surprised by a complaint I supposedly got from a parent. According to them, I met their daughter at the konbini near my home and since it was a Friday night, I was buying some otsumami with a few can of beers. Well, apparently, that made the parent think that I was an alcoholic so they actually complained to the school that I should be more careful what I’m buying in front of students. Like? I should be able to buy whatever I damn feel like buying after work hours.
I lived and worked in 4 different European countries and it never was an issue. When I started working for a very big Japanese group, on the first day they told us don’t wear the company name tag/company badge outside of the office building.
First I found it weird, then a few months later an old hag called the office and complained about some staff not giving her a seat on the train. I was speechless.
It’s absolute cancer.
GF once got a bollocking at work because a parent found her Instagram (stalking much) and complained that she had to audacity to take holidays and post travel pictures during her holiday. Teachers should work and nothing else.
What is the “ice cream incident”?
I think that this problem is mainly due to ageing population. A lot of old people with nothing to do but complain.
I never agreed with the infatuation with keeping students in their uniforms. Even when they appear on TV as a private citizen they are often forced to wear a uniform. I understand the group identity is important in Japan and belonging to a company or school is more important than the west. But, once you retired you never see your workmates again. Well done sticking your identity with a bunch of people who you never speak to again. Same with school to a certain extent.
At my school they told us we’re not allowed to drink anything outside while we’re walking to and from school because they keep getting calls of people complaining about it. Not even littering or anything just some people kept calling and didn’t like it…
I had a neighbor find out where I work and called them complaining about me. Company told him to eat a bag of dicks.
L
W
I think the police don’t always go to the work place but they might lord it over you (We haven’t told them yet…)
But the funny part of it all is it is hard to search for criminal records. So even if they ruin your employment & you were convicted, you could just apply to a new place and they would likely have no way of knowing. So what’s the point.
I think the issue is more that nobody ever tells these people, “Look, no you’re being ridiculous”. This aversion to rejection in Japan I feel is a huge part of many of the social issues here. The fact that they were logged as complaints instead of the person at HR kindly telling the other person they won’t accept that complaint, means they will then continue to complain more and more. They are taken serious, no matter how ridiculous. That’s the problem.
This shit doesn’t happen in blue collar Japan
When I had my exchange year and googled my future university I was so I confused that all negative google reviews where that the students didn’t great people and the likes…
Even after living here for a while this mindset confuses me so much.
Once slaves to Shogun, always slaves to Shogun. Your behaviors reflect on the Shogun’s face.
Now you know why it’s so safe here. Everyone is at everyone’s throats so they don’t dare to do anything shameful at public.
What’s the ice cream incident?
A friend of mine was an alt in a private school. Students weren’t allowed to use their phones when wearing school uniform and residents would report them if they saw them on the train or walking with their phones visible. Absolutely nuts
Yeah, my neighbour does this, unfortunately for him the 3 local cops are mates of mine. So we just have a laugh at him calling to complain some petty bullshit about me and the other houses on our street.
We moved a station down from my daughter’s JHS. The plan was she would ride her bike to her grandma’s house and then walk to school from there. We got a strong ABSOLUTELY NOT from the school. But as soon as we said she wouldn’t wear her uniform while riding and change at grandma’s, they had no problem. At first, I assumed it was a safety thing, but nope they just didn’t want their school name embarrassed.
I’ve heard stories from ALTs who were asked about why they needed time off. And then the staff would tell everyone their private details in the staff meeting.
We used to get complaints at my school in South Africa when a student was chewing gum or eating in uniform, or wearing the wrong shoes, or behaving badly in some way. It was always a huge deal and we’d all get a lecture about it. But Japan is on another level.
I think there are a lot of teachers-pet types in this country, and that kind of rule-following snitchy behaviour is seen as a positive trait.
I myself can’t imagine taking time out of my day to call a company because their employee was drinking juice on the train but hey, a lot of people are old and nosy and bored and want a gold star of some kind.
I moved into a brand new mansion with all the other new residents.
The management company had set up an online bulletin board where the residents could “exchange information “.
It became toxic within weeks.
We had these nice friendly female cleaners who would make a cheery greeting and chat with anyone. I really liked them.
However, someone complained about them on the bulletin board, saying something like, “They are chatting instead of working… they should work in silence.”
They were fired soon after and we now have these grim-faced male cleaners who never say a word.
Shortly after that episode the residents started turning on each other on the bulletin board and it became so toxic that the management company just shut it down.
So much for harmony in Japan.
This happened to me when I attended a private secondary school in Japan. Residents who had grievances against students would write or call the school and then they would be rolled into announcements that were read aloud to the students. My American parents thought it was wild. This was right around the time motorola razors came out and all the sudden the complaints started including “looking at phone on the train” or “looking at phone while walking”
It’s the way people keep order. It’s not the guilt of doing something bad, it’s the shame of being exposed so if you are wearing the badge of some organization the bastards are coming after you and reporting you to them.
An ex-girlfriend rode the wrong way up a street on a motorbike following me, a cyclist, and got caught by the police. She got booked, her employer informed, fined and her bonus was reduced. Order was restored to society.
This happened to me my first year (really first few months) as an ALT in 2013. I was super excited about my job, and I ended up absolutely loving said job, but because of that I posted pics of this or that on Facebook.
Well one picture was of a student’s work. Mind you, no name/class number/grade etc was visible. I made sure of that. I just posted a picture of a funny, accidental misspelling.
Well a couple of days later I’m pulled into a meeting with my fuckin kōchō sensei and immediate boss to discuss it. So, someone who I had met and added to Facebook within those first couple of months saw my post and, rather than talk to me about it, decided to call my school.
I never got into trouble. My kōchō was a super cool guy and understood I wasn’t trying to do anything devious or bad, whatever. But it was still very upsetting to me.
To this day, I still don’t know who did it.
And until this post, I just thought I had bad luck. I had no idea this was such a prevalent problem, but it makes total sense.
Learnt a lesson the hard way. Parked in the wrong parking spot (can’t read Kanji or much to be honest) poorly marked park for a grocery store and a company next to grocery store.
They saw my school parking permit and called to abuse me at work, they parked a car directly behind mine to hem me in (noticed all their other parks free, so this was purely to force a confrontation). Managed to 100 point turn my small car out though to avoid that. Wasn’t in the mood for confronting them, even though I was in the wrong their whole approach rubbed me the wrong way. Honestly would have preferred a fine. (I know I’m lucky I didn’t get towed). Which I think they were gunna do anyway if I didn’t slip out.
Apparently my boss had to kotow a lot for them to accept it.
My boss (nice guy honestly) forgave me when I showed a photo of said park and how confusing it was for a non Japanese person. (I haven’t shopped at that grocery store since out of spit for their shit parking signs).
But couldn’t get over them calling my place of work to abuse my boss.