Sighing, body odour considered new types of workplace harassment in Japan

UNCONVENTIONAL forms of misconduct are gaining recognition in Japanese workplaces, with even sighing and body odour being labelled as potential offences dubbed “mood harassment” and “odour harassment.”

Osaka-based Japan Harassment Counsellor Association , Kaname Murasaki told South China Morning Post that the rise in awareness of harassment and the implementation of more countermeasures by companies prompted the public to be increasingly conscious of the issue and beginning to question whether certain behaviours also qualify as harassment.

“The different types of harassment have become a hot topic of conversation and generated a lot of public sympathy for people who have experienced it,” he was quoted as saying.

“As a result, new and slightly different types of harassment are being recognised.”

One such example is “mood harassment” – inflicting mental distress through facial expressions, sighs or negative attitude.

“Sighing is a good way of relieving stress, so my advice is to find a place where there are no other people and sigh there ... All of us need to take care to not sigh or look annoyed so that the people around us do not misunderstand,“ he said.

Another emerging issue is “odour harassment,“ which he defined as “any smell that interferes with another person’s ability to do their work,“ including body odour, overpowering perfumes, cigarette smoke or poor hygiene.

Due to these new variants, workplace bullying, termed “power harassment,“ remains the predominant complaint at 95% of cases handled by the association.

A study done in March by Tokyo-based staffing agency Workport Inc revealed that nearly two-thirds of young and mid-career employees had experienced “power harassment” from their superiors, with half taking no action in response.

Additional findings released in April indicated that around 65% of the 661 participants reported experiencing verbal abuse, having their accomplishments ignored, or facing “excessive or harsh work.”

Nearly 10% encountered sexual or physical harassment, and almost 5% reported being assaulted or injured at work.

Nikkei Asia also reported a significant rise in workplace abuse complaints, which reached 88,000 cases in 2021, tripling over the past 15 years.

“Japan’s first law against power harassment only went into force in 2020, so before that it was not illegal. That made it very difficult for people to voice their concerns,“ Murasaki was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Chisato Kitanaka, an associate professor of sociology at Hiroshima University and an adviser in the university’s harassment consultation office said that more individuals are coming forward with complaints, despite previous fears of retaliation or punishment from superiors.

“There has been a clear increase in the number of complaints that we are receiving, mainly I believe because people are more aware than before that they have the right to complain,” she was quoted as saying.