Labor & Employment Law

Setting the Stage for Respect: Japan’s Anti-Harassment Rules for Entertainment Workplaces

Japanese Attorney at Law - Bengoshi L.L.

• 6 min read
Slide summarising Japan’s anti-harassment duties for entertainment: legal coverage of freelancers, on-set risk factors, reporting channels and prevention checklist.

TL;DR

  • Harassment risks in Japan’s entertainment industry stem from power gaps, precarious freelance work and high-pressure sets.
  • The Power Harassment Prevention Act, Equal Employment Opportunity Act and 2024 Freelancer Protection Act oblige studios and agencies to prevent, investigate and remedy harassment.
  • Effective compliance requires clear policies, project-based training, third-party hotlines and contract clauses covering intimacy scenes.

Table of Contents

  • Why is the Entertainment Industry Vulnerable to Harassment?
  • The Legal Framework for Prevention
  • Current Anti-Harassment Initiatives in the Industry
  • Remaining Challenges
  • Conclusion

The global conversation surrounding harassment, amplified by movements like #MeToo, has increasingly cast a spotlight on workplaces worldwide. Japan's vibrant entertainment industry – encompassing film, television, theatre, music, and more – is no exception. Recent high-profile allegations and growing awareness have intensified the focus on preventing harassment within this sector, prompting legal changes and industry-specific initiatives. Understanding the unique challenges and the evolving landscape of prevention measures is crucial for anyone involved in creative production in Japan.

Why is the Entertainment Industry Vulnerable to Harassment?

While harassment can occur in any workplace, certain structural and cultural factors prevalent in entertainment production can heighten the risks:

  • Concentrated Power Dynamics: Directors, producers, lead actors, agency heads, and other key figures often wield significant influence over casting decisions, role assignments, and career trajectories. This power imbalance can create environments where abuses are less likely to be challenged. Hierarchical structures, like senior-junior relationships or traditional master-apprentice dynamics, can also contribute.
  • Precarious Work & Fear of Retaliation: Many performers (actors, talent) and crew members work on a freelance or project basis. Their next job often depends on maintaining good relationships and a positive reputation. Speaking out against harassment carries the risk of being labeled "difficult" or facing career repercussions (e.g., losing future roles or opportunities), leading many to endure inappropriate behavior in silence.
  • Project-Based Teams: Productions often assemble temporary teams comprising individuals from various agencies, companies, and freelance backgrounds. This fragmented structure can make it difficult to establish and enforce consistent anti-harassment policies and training across the entire production unit.
  • High-Pressure Environments: The intense drive to achieve artistic goals within tight deadlines and budgets – sometimes described as a "sakuhin fāsuto" (作品ファースト, "the work comes first") mentality – can lead to stressful environments where interpersonal respect and well-being are deprioritized. Financial and personnel constraints on smaller productions can exacerbate these pressures.
  • Ambiguity and Artistic Expression: The line between demanding artistic direction and abusive behavior can sometimes be blurred, creating uncertainty and potentially enabling harassment under the guise of creative process.

Japanese law mandates that employers take active steps to prevent workplace harassment. Key laws include:

  • Power Harassment (Pawahara): Amendments to the Labor Measures Comprehensive Promotion Act (労働施策総合推進法) obligate all employers (including small and medium-sized enterprises since April 2022) to implement measures to prevent power harassment – generally defined as abusive behavior leveraging workplace superiority that exceeds the necessary scope of work and harms the working environment.
  • Sexual Harassment (Sekuhara): The Equal Employment Opportunity Act (男女雇用機会均等法) requires employers to establish measures to prevent sexual harassment in the workplace.
  • Other Harassment: The EEOL and the Child Care and Family Care Leave Act (育児介護休業法) also mandate measures against harassment related to pregnancy, childbirth, and family care leave (often termed matahara, ikuhara, kaigohara).

These laws typically require employers to: establish clear anti-harassment policies, conduct awareness training, set up effective consultation and reporting systems, investigate complaints promptly and fairly, take appropriate disciplinary or corrective action, protect privacy, and prohibit retaliation against complainants.

The Freelancer Protection Act: Critically for the entertainment industry, where freelance work is common, the new "Act on the Promotion of Appropriate Transactions for Freelance Workers" (特定受託事業者に係る取引の適正化等に関する法律), expected to take effect in late 2024, extends certain anti-harassment obligations. It requires businesses commissioning work from freelancers to take necessary measures (such as establishing consultation systems and responding appropriately) to prevent harassment (power, sexual, maternity-related) committed by the commissioning business's own employees or executives against the freelancers they engage. This closes a significant gap where freelancers previously lacked direct legal recourse against harassment originating from the client side under labor law frameworks.

Current Anti-Harassment Initiatives in the Industry

Responding to legal requirements and growing societal pressure, various initiatives are emerging within Japan's entertainment sector:

  1. Policy Statements and Guidelines: Production companies, theaters, industry associations, and even individual directors are increasingly issuing public statements condemning harassment and publishing specific prevention guidelines for their projects or organizations. These aim to clarify expectations and prohibited conduct within the specific context of creative work.
  2. Production-Specific Training: Recognizing that teams are often project-based, there's a move towards implementing mandatory training sessions for all cast and crew at the start of a production. Methods like "respect training," which encourage dialogue about appropriate behavior in creative settings, are gaining traction, partly influenced by practices adopted by international streaming platforms producing content in Japan. Government support, such as the Agency for Cultural Affairs' program to subsidize harassment prevention training costs for specific projects, aims to make this more accessible.
  3. Consultation and Reporting Channels: Efforts are underway to establish confidential channels for reporting harassment, moving beyond internal company structures where power dynamics might inhibit reporting. This includes industry-supported third-party hotlines and public initiatives like the Tokyo Metropolitan Government and Arts Council Tokyo's "Arts Noto" support center, which offers consultation on harassment among other issues. However, creating truly trusted and effective mechanisms that function across fragmented project teams remains a challenge.
  4. Intimacy Coordinators: The use of intimacy coordinators for scenes involving nudity, intimacy, or simulated sex is becoming more recognized. These specialists work with directors and actors to choreograph sensitive scenes safely, ensuring actor consent and comfort while fulfilling the director's artistic vision. Their role helps prevent misunderstandings, boundary violations, and potential harassment during vulnerable moments on set.
  5. Contractual Measures: Anti-harassment clauses are being incorporated more frequently into contracts between production entities and performers/crew. Model contracts, like those promoted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, now include provisions requiring parties to maintain a safe environment and prevent harassment. Clauses requiring explicit, detailed prior consent for scenes involving nudity or simulated intimacy (sometimes termed "Nude Clauses" in international contexts) are also being discussed as a way to enhance actor protection.
  6. Industry Standards and Certification: Initiatives like the "Eiteki" (映適) mark, established by the Japan Film Production Appropriateness Mechanism, aim to certify productions that meet certain standards related to working conditions and contractual fairness, potentially including harassment prevention protocols, although the scope and impact are still developing.

Remaining Challenges

Despite progress, significant challenges persist:

  • Implementation Gaps: Ensuring that policies and training translate into real change across all levels of production, especially in lower-budget or independent projects, requires sustained effort and resources.
  • Building Trust: Overcoming historical skepticism and fear of retaliation is essential for reporting mechanisms to be effective. Ensuring investigations are perceived as fair, independent, and lead to meaningful consequences is crucial.
  • Freelancer Protections in Practice: The effectiveness of the new Freelancer Protection Act will depend on its interpretation and enforcement within the unique dynamics of entertainment industry contracts and working relationships.
  • Cultural Shift: Moving away from deeply ingrained hierarchies and pressure-cooker environments towards a culture genuinely prioritizing respect requires long-term commitment from industry leaders and participants at all levels.
  • Data and Accountability: Unlike some countries (e.g., South Korea's film industry surveys via KOFIC), Japan lacks systematic, industry-wide data collection on harassment prevalence. Such data is vital for understanding the scale of the problem and measuring the impact of prevention efforts.

Conclusion

Japan's entertainment industry is at a critical juncture in addressing workplace harassment. Prompted by legal mandates, high-profile incidents, and internal calls for change, various stakeholders are implementing new policies, training programs, and support systems. However, the industry's unique structure, characterized by significant power imbalances and project-based employment, presents distinct challenges. Truly fostering a safe and respectful environment will require not only compliance with legal minimums but a concerted, ongoing effort to change workplace culture, empower individuals to speak out without fear, ensure accountability, and embed principles of respect into the creative process itself. The success of these efforts will be vital for the industry's sustainability and its ability to attract and retain talent in the future.