As Japan opens its doors to more and more foreign workers, the problem of racial harassment in the workplace is under renewed scrutiny.
While racial harassment — including slurs, jokes or the targeting of a person due to their race or ethnicity — is considered offensive and illegal in many countries around the world, awareness of the problematic phenomenon is still lacking in Japan.
Although no regulations and punishments exist to curb such behavior at companies and in society at large, more foreign residents have been speaking up in recent years about the discrimination they face and are now calling for change.