Harassment of foreign teachers by Japanese students in online English conversation classes is rampant. These range from things such as smoking and drinking alcohol during lessons to verbal and sexual harassment.
According to one company, up to five cases of malicious issues such as discriminatory words or genital exposure occur per month. The number of cases increases when a Japanese person, believed to be the same person, repeatedly uses multiple accounts to harass teachers.
As countermeasures, the company records lessons and has tutors leave evidence. If the company considers a student to be highly malicious, it issues a warning or suspends its use, and also consults with the police and lawyers.
