Japan Also Struggles with 'Kasuhara' Issue
New Name Tags to Prevent Personal Information Exposure
Harassment of public officials is not only a problem in South Korea. Japan is also struggling with so-called 'Kasuhara' (a contraction of customer harassment) caused by some malicious complaints. Amid this, a local government in Japan has attracted attention by unveiling a 'name tag design without names and photos' as a secret weapon to stop Kasuhara.
Japanese daily newspaper Mainichi Shimbun and NHK broadcast on the 2nd (local time) focused on the new name tag design revealed by personnel officials in Miyazaki Prefecture. It is known that Japanese public officials perform their duties wearing name tags containing their personal identification information around their necks.
The problem lies in the fact that the existing name tags are exploited for collective harassment of public officials, so-called Kasuhara. There are cases where personal information written on the name tags is used to track the identity of public officials on social networking services (SNS) and harass them, or personal information is carelessly exposed online.
Comparison of past Japanese government official name tags (left) and new name tags [Image source=Yahoo Japan homepage capture]
Because of this, Miyazaki Prefecture announced that from the 1st, instead of 'full name name tags' containing both the surname and given name of public officials, name tags will be distributed that omit the given name and only display the surname. In the case of Taro Miyazaki mentioned in the example, only the surname Miyazaki will be written on the name tag. This is interpreted as a kind of compromise to protect employees' personal information while not hindering citizens' accessibility.
Moreover, the new name tag design only includes the employee's affiliated department and name, and the introduction photo will also be omitted. This is because incidents of personal information being exposed on SNS due to name tags have increased. This design is spreading not only in Miyazaki Prefecture but also to other prefectures and cities, and there are signs of adoption in private sectors such as hospitals and companies.
Mainichi Shimbun pointed out, "In Japan, it has been common until now for employee name tags in hospitals, companies, etc., to display the affiliated institution, full name, and photo. However, with the spread of SNS, name tags have been exploited to track personal information and infringe on privacy."
Memorial altar set up in front of Gimpo City Hall during the 'Gimpo Public Official Power Abuse Death Incident' [Image source=Gimpo City]
Meanwhile, in South Korea, the number of public officials suffering from overwork and workplace harassment caused by malicious complaints is increasing. According to the National Public Officials Labor Union and others, there were as many as 10 cases of local public officials dying due to harassment issues between January and May.
Earlier in March, a 30-year-old Grade 9 public official A in Gimpo City, Gyeonggi Province, was found dead inside a parked car. It was confirmed that A had been suffering from complaint calls after a pothole repair work caused traffic congestion five days earlier.
At that time, two of the complainants were found to have illegally disclosed A's personal information online, posted malicious posts targeting him on internet cafes, and even made threatening calls to the Gimpo City Hall duty office, causing shock. The Gimpo Police Station booked these two suspects without detention on charges including defamation under the Act on Promotion of Information and Communications Network Utilization and Information Protection, etc.
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