Danica Davidson
July 2, 2025 
Japanese etiquette has different styles of bowing for different scenarios, including the dogeza, where a person gets on their hands and knees and rests their head on the floor. It’s a way to show that you’re really, really sorry. But there’s a difference in someone doing this willingly and someone feeling forced to pose this way, as shown by the recent decision by Kuwana City.
Kuwana City, Mie Prefecture, Tokyo, Hokkaido, and Gunma prefectures have all recently put in ordinances in an attempt to prevent customers from harassing workers. One extreme case of worker harassment involved a customer who made a worker apologize by shaving his (the worker’s) head.
Now customers in Kuwana City who mistreat workers are given one warning, and if the mean behavior continues, the harasser will be publicly outed for their actions.
A recent case involved a customer demanding that a worker get into the dogeza pose. An incident report went to the mayor of Kuwana City, and then a customer harassment countermeasure committee got involved. The committee’s findings in this case were made public. Kuwana City decided that this, like making someone shave their head against their will, counts as harassment.
SoraNews24 shared some of the online responses from Japanese people who learned about the case. They were mostly on the side of the worker, not the customer wanting the dogeza.
“Does making people bow down make them happy?”
“It’s called coercion.”
“I can’t even imagine if someone told me to get down on all fours.”
“A written warning, lol. Is that assuming the first time might have been a mistake?”
“They need to crack down on customer harassment more. Those people are getting too bold.”
“If I were the courier, I guess I could see that just bowing down and apologizing might be faster than sitting there listening to someone complain on and on.”
“Give the delivery companies their address too so they can blacklist them.”
Source: SoraNews24
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Danica Davidson is the author of the bestselling Manga Art for Beginners with artist Melanie Westin, plus its sequel, Manga Art for Everyone, and the first-of-its-kind manga chalk book Chalk Art Manga, both illustrated by professional Japanese mangaka Rena Saiya. Check out her other comics and books at www.danicadavidson.com.
