How are NPO support centers balancing staff protection and abusive behavior?: Strategies for managing customer harassment InsightsEssays: Civil Society in Japan

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Posted on December 10, 2025

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How are NPO support centers balancing staff protection and abusive behavior?: Strategies for managing customer harassment

Kenji Yoshida, Managing Director, Japan NPO Center

 

I recently received a consultation from the leader of an NPO support center that manages a publicly funded facility dedicated to assisting nonprofit organizations. The question was direct: “How do you handle customer harassment?” I must admit, I was slightly caught off guard, as it wasn’t something I had deeply considered before. However, the question quickly made sense; this is likely an issue faced by front-line staff at other NPO support facilities and service counters.

Consequently, I reached out to leaders of several organizations that operate NPO support facilities to exchange information on this topic. Through these discussions, the complexity and difficulty of handling these on-site situations—which cannot simply be dismissed as “customer harassment (or kasuhara*)”—became evident.

* “Kasuhara” is a common Japanese abbreviation for customer harassment—abusive or excessive demands made by customers against workers. This issue has recently received significant media attention and is widely recognized as a major social problem in Japan, partly rooted in a culture of customer supremacy (where the customer is traditionally afforded ultimate deference). The Japanese government is now implementing legal measures to mandate employer protection against this specific behavior.

 

Here are a few of the cases that were shared during our information exchange session (edited slightly to maintain the original intent):

• Public Outbursts: Following a procedural error, a visitor shouted, “What do you think you’re doing?!” ensuring the entire angry exchange was audible to other patrons in the facility.
• Demands for Escalation: After a scheduling miscommunication, an individual began yelling, “Call your supervisor!”
• Unreasonable Demands for Personal Services: A patron insisted on remaining in the facility and demanded that staff contact or call a chiropractor because the patron claimed to have injured their foot.
• Deliberate Vexation: An individual intentionally asks subtle, unanswerable or frustratingly ambiguous questions every time they visit, seemingly with the specific intent to cause inconvenience or trouble for the staff.
• Targeted Harassment: A person singles out a specific staff member and visits the center with the apparent sole purpose of harassing them or creating difficulties for that individual.
• Endless, Disorganized Consultations: A person books an appointment for “consultation,” but the discussion turns out to be rambling, incoherent, and lacks any clear topic, making it impossible to conclude the meeting as they continue to stay.

The initial theme of our information exchange session was “customer harassment,” but the conversation quickly broadened beyond just cases recognized as harassment. It became a forum for discussing the broader question of how NPO support centers should operate as spaces that welcome and include citizens, necessitating consideration for the acceptance of even seemingly difficult or challenging behaviors.

The shared examples revealed a difficult mixture: alongside cases of overreactions to mistakes or intentional harassment, there were also complaints that seemed to indicate deeper issues of social isolation, mental health struggles, or severe personal difficulties behind the expressed frustration. These situations suggest that a social support approach might sometimes be necessary. Should we simply dismiss such cases as “Kasuhara” and adopt an exclusive operating policy, we risk overlooking critical community issues.

Because these centers are hubs for community engagement and supporting civic initiatives, staff members at these NPO support centers are caught in a difficult conflict: on one hand, there is a strong desire not to simplify complex situations or dismiss legitimate concerns as mere harassment; on the other, there is a clear need to protect staff from excessive demands and abusive or violent complaints.

Front-line staff struggle with the bewilderment of navigating this delicate balance. Yet, the exchange also highlighted a positive aspect: the potential to build relationships with the individuals involved or connect them with relevant social service agencies through these very challenging interactions.

The recent amendment to the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures in Japan added provisions that obligate employers to implement employment management measures to prevent customer harassment in the workplace. The question of how to operate these centers—balancing staff protection while simultaneously functioning as an inclusive hub for diverse citizens—remains a core operational challenge.

We intend to continue this information exchange and collaborative discussion going forward. We encourage you to share your organizational challenges, successful mitigation techniques, and best practices with us.

 

Call for Input:
Has your organization experienced instances of abusive customer behavior or challenges related to staff safety? We invite you to contribute your relevant case studies and innovative response strategies. Please submit your examples, with any sensitive details sufficiently anonymized, to the editorial team at (news@jnpoc.ne.jp). (Submitted information will be edited to protect confidentiality before being utilized for publication or further discussion.)

 

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Original text by Kenji Yoshida (JNPOC’s Managing Director) originally posted on November 27, 2025; translated by JNPOC.

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References / Further Reading

• Definition of Customer Harassment (Kasuhara)

  The Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW) of Japan provides the following official definition of Customer Harassment (Kasuhara):

  
  “Among claims or behavior from customers, clients, etc., those acts or methods used to achieve demands are deemed socially unacceptable when weighed against the legitimacy of the demand itself, and which, due to the means or manner employed, damage the work environment of the employee.”

  Source: Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare (MHLW), For the Prevention of Harassment in the Workplace (職場におけるハラスメントの防止のために). Link to Japanese source: https://www.mhlw.go.jp/stf/seisakunitsuite/bunya/koyou_roudou/koyoukintou/seisaku06/index.html

• Legal Context
  In response to the growing social problem of Kasuhara, the Japanese government has strengthened legal protections:
  “Strengthening Harassment Countermeasures through Partial Amendment of the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures” (労働施策総合推進法　一部改正でハラスメント対策強化)
  Source: Government Public Relations Online, Easy-to-Understand Terminology Commentary (わかりやすい用語解説). Link to Japanese source: https://www.gov-online.go.jp/article/202510/entry-9434.html

 

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