20 Pct of Restaurant Industry Workers Face “Customer Harassment”

Tokyo, Oct. 28 (Jiji Press)--Nearly 20 pct of workers in Japan’s restaurant industry have experienced “customer harassment,” such as unreasonable demands and behavior by customers, a government white paper showed Tuesday.

The proportion of such workers came to 18.8 pct, according to the 2025 white paper on measures to prevent “karoshi,” or death from overwork, which was adopted at the day’s cabinet meeting.

The white paper also noted that workers in managerial positions tended to work long hours.

By job position, the customer harassment experience rate was highest among area managers at 30.0 pct, followed by 21.3 pct among restaurant staff and 19.5 pct among restaurant managers.

Harassment acts included repeated complaints, intimidating language and behavior, threats, and slander.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]