How big of a jerk do you need to be before your own town sues you?

The town of Mihama in Aichi Prefecture has a problem in the form of a single man in his 60s who will not leave them alone. Back in 2020, he contacted the town hall regarding a matter which they had no authority over. When they informed him of that, he began verbally abusing them… nonstop… for the next five years.

What exactly the man wanted isn’t completely clear, but piecing it together from various reports, he apparently wanted subsidies from the town to improve the earthquake resistance of structures on his property. However, since his buildings were not of cultural significance to the town, they weren’t eligible for the subsidies.

While that’s unfortunate for him, most people would just take the loss and move on. This man, however, took a different path and proceeded to call and visit the town hall almost every day. Interactions with him tended to involve demands to speak with a supervisor, insults of “stupid,” and even more irrational demands like needing to speak with a woman rather than a man.

In addition to the relentless mental strain it put on the staff, he would sometimes monopolize workers’ time for up to an hour as he berated and argued with them. In just the seven months from April to November of this year, he is said to have made and sent over 800 phone calls and letters to nearly every department in the town hall. Feeling this had to stop, Mihama attempted to take legal action.

However, this falls into the rapidly growing problem of customer harassment, a problem so new that the law hasn’t really caught up with how to clearly define it. Some places, like Tokyo, have enacted ordinances, but they tend to focus on companies taking measures to protect their employees rather than penalizing those who do the harassing. The city of Kuwana in Mie Prefecture did put a penalty on the books, but it only amounted to a written warning, followed by a naming and shaming.

So, Mihama decided to take matters into its own hands and drafted a resolution allowing itself to sue people for excessive complaints. The motion passed unanimously, and Mihama started drawing up a lawsuit for four million yen (US$25,000), an amount based on the estimated employee salaries wasted due to his disruption of work.

Once word of the lawsuit went out, the man suddenly stopped all communication with them. Mihama Town Hall said they will not pull the trigger on the lawsuit if his behavior improves. Meanwhile, readers of the news online felt that the town is being far too lenient with the man and hoped they’d go through with the lawsuit to make an example of him.

“That seems like a criminal offense. They should arrest him too.”
“What he did goes beyond mere harassment.”
“When I went to city hall, there was an old man yelling at someone. It probably happens a lot.”
“The damage is done. They shouldn’t hold back and just sue the guy.”
“These people are just bullies. They only yell at people who can’t yell back.”
“Can someone be evicted from their town?”
“That’s obstruction of business. They could go to the police too.”
“Sue him, and set a precedent.”

In defense of the town, much like companies that are reluctant to take action against their own customers, Mihama probably doesn’t want to be known as the town that sues its own residents for complaining. Even if this man is very clearly in the wrong, it leads down a slippery slope which begs the question of where to draw the line of “excessive” complaining. It’s this kind of ambiguity that makes customer harassment a difficult problem to deal with in Japan, both legally and practically.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun, YTV News NNN, CBC News X, Itai News
Top image: Pakutaso
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