Japan Enacts First Ordinance Penalizing Harassing Customers

Mie Prefecture in central Japan issued the nation's first ordinance on October 13 to penalize customers who engage in harassment, under which violators can face fines of up to 500,000 yen (about $3,170) or detention if they fail to comply with a cease-and-desist order.

This is Japan's first legally binding regulation establishing specific sanctions for customer harassment, expanding the scope of enforcement beyond the administrative measures or internal guidelines that many companies and local governments had previously adopted.

Under the new rules, customers who engage in harassment will first receive a cease-and-desist order from authorities. If they fail to comply, violators may face fines of up to 500,000 yen or detention.

Mie Prefecture's passage of the ordinance marks a new legal step amid growing recognition that customer harassment, commonly known in Japan as "kasu-hara," is a serious problem affecting service-industry workers.