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Tweeted photo of employees bowing in apology angers Japanese internet users

Preston Phro Sep 22, 2013
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dogeza2

We’re all human, which means we all, eventually, make a mistake or two. Some of us might make more mistakes than others, but in general it should be easy to understand that accidents happen and sometimes the best course of action is to forgive and carry on with your life. However, not everyone is happy with a simple apology–some people require a bit more…humiliation.

There are many ways for angry customers to demand satisfaction, from sending letters to corporate headquarters to leaving angry reviews online. Of course, for the more sadistic among us, you could always demand the offending staff perform dogeza–prostrating oneself on the ground.

While dogeza has long existed in Japanese culture, historically as a way to show respect or deference to the upper classes, it’s rarely seen these days, usually only when expressing very sincere apologies. It’s become so rare, in fact, that when Twitter user Manami posted the above photo, it became a bit of an Internet scandal.

▼ Sorry kitty is sorry.

According to the tweet accompanying the photo, Manami made the two women, employees of Shimamura Group, a chain clothing store, perform dogeza as penance for their poor management of some goods. Apparently, their mismanagement had caused some damage to the Twitter user, though she never explains exactly what the damage or problem was. While a number of Internet users seem upset with her behavior, the biggest issue seems to be that she included the employees’ names in the tweet.

While demanding dogeza is certainly extreme behavior, some have speculated that tweeting photos of the employees and including their names may be a violation of privacy laws, if she didn’t have permission. And it would be difficult to imagine that the staff gave her the green light to share the humiliating photo.

Of course, many details are left blank, and Manami seems to have responded to angry tweets with a hard-line “Why are you sticking your nose in other people’s business?” It kind of makes you wonder if the Hokkaido resident really understands how the Internet works.

▼ “There will be more happy in the Happy Meal next time. I promise!”

Here are a few of the comments prompted by the dogeza tweets.

It seems like she’s taken the phrase, “The customer is god” a little too literally. [This is Japanese phrase is similar to the English phrase, “The customer is always right.”]

Is this how far claimants will go now? I think she’s been watching too much Naoiki Hanzawa [a banker in a popular Japanese TV show who has a notoriously sharp tongue].

Human garbage. For making me feel so disgusted, send me a picture of you performing dogeza!

What’s with this customer? She was just looking for something to make them do dogeza.

I wish some suitable punishment would befall her for this madness.

What a freak!

So scary!

Yikes! There certainly are a lot of different types of people in the world.

Dogeza…just how special do you think you are?

You can just see a child’s shoes off the side. That’s the worst.

I read about ten of her tweets, and just closed the window. Urgh.

As a number of other commenters pointed out, we may not have all the information here, so it may be that Manami was justified in her dogeza demand. But uploading the photo and naming the employees seems a bit extreme. To be honest, though, we have a hard time not grouping this in with the same sort of extreme complaining done by “monster parents.”

Sources: Byoukan Sunday, Paruhosoku, Twitter
Images: Twitter, Kiyokiyo Tumblr, Koala.jp