Sekentei (世間体): appearances before society. The Daijisen dictionary gives the example sekentei ga warui, it looks bad to people. Fugen jikkō (不言実行): to do what must be done without saying so. Yūgen jikkō (有言実行): to achieve without fail what one has said. The second phrase was made as a play on the first.
Public Exposure
In the Edo period, sarashi, exposure, was a punishment. An encyclopedia describes it as setting the offender down by the roadside and exposing him to the eyes of the public as a warning, a penalty of disgrace.
Another encyclopedia, citing the Osadamegaki, the code of law completed in 1742, says that in Edo the exposure lasted three days at Nihonbashi, and the offender was taken back to jail each evening.
No Longer Human
Dazai Osamu’s novel Ningen shikkaku (No Longer Human) was published in 1948. Its first notebook opens with the narrator saying that he has lived a life full of haji, shame.
Tsuburaya Kōkichi
At the Tokyo Olympics in 1964, Tsuburaya Kōkichi won the bronze medal in the marathon. On January 9, 1968, he took his own life at the Self-Defense Forces physical training school in Nerima, Tokyo, at 27. In the note to his family, he wrote that he was completely exhausted and could no longer run.
The writer Kawabata Yasunari called the note sorrowful beyond any number of words. Some writers have linked his death to the pressure of the next Olympics, in Mexico City. These are their accounts, not established fact.
Naming Violators
Since May 10, 2017, the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare has posted on its website the names of companies that broke labor standards laws, starting with cases published from October 1, 2016. Each entry gives the name of the company or workplace, its address, the provisions it broke and a summary of the case.
Masks at School
From March 13, 2023, the government left mask-wearing to each person’s judgment. In August and September 2023, the internet company Nifty surveyed elementary and junior high school students and received 1,724 answers.
Those who still wore a mask at school all the time gave their reasons. 81 percent did not want to show their bare face, and 66 percent said it was a habit. 59 percent chose Tanin no me ga ki ni naru kara. Because they are worried about the eyes of others.
Scolding in Private
Japanese management advice repeats one rule for scolding: not in front of others. An article in President Online says that scolding is basically one-on-one. A career guide by Mynavi Agent says that being scolded in front of others hurts a person’s pride, even when there is a reason for it, and suggests a private room where voices do not carry.
Scolding in Front of Others
A guideline of the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, in force since June 1, 2020, defines power harassment at work. Under psychological attacks, its examples include “repeatedly scolding a worker loudly and in an intimidating manner in front of other workers.”
The same guideline lists cases that do not count. One is warning a worker firmly, to a certain degree, after repeated lateness despite warnings.