In Japan, body cameras made available to employees to deal with the increase in customer violence

Initially used by the police, in Japan, body cameras are beginning to spread in other sectors. It is no longer a question of protecting citizens, but employees, more and more often victims of violence from their customers.

In Japan, companies are forced to react to the resurgence of aggressions committed by heinous customers. We speak of “Kasuhara” to designate this kind of violence, that is to say harassment by customers. They make scandals in a hotel due to the dust behind a television or howl on the teams, because they do not find the product they had come to seek. These customers often use insults or heinous comments. They film everything with their smartphone, especially badges with the names of the sellers, threatening to broadcast images on social networks.

In many cases, they also require employees to kneel in front of them, in the store, to apologize, forcing employees to perform. In 2024, the UA Zensen union conducted a study on the subject with dozens of thousands of workers in the service sector: 47% of respondents acknowledged having been attacked, at least verbally, by customers in the previous two years.

Some companies believe that body cameras could help limit these abuses. This is particularly the case in the service sector and in public transport that regularly faces these heinous customers. The Seibu Railway railway company has just started to distribute these small cameras to its employees who work in 82 stations in the country, in direct contact with the public. These are the same cameras used by the police: small boxes attached to the reverse of their costumes. These devices record both the image and the sound, and a small red light lights up when they are in operation. Management hopes that it will cool overly aggressive customers, who could calm down by understanding that they are filmed. In the event of trial, the company would have arguments to defend itself, the image archives being kept for several weeks.

Companies that sell these cameras, including the Valtec group, claim that lots of industries are now interested. This is the case of bus companies that can equip their drivers, or in the care sector. Many clashes are reported in the country’s hospitals due to the impatience of certain patients.