Foreign teachers working for online English conversation schools say sexual harassment is rampant and that older male Japanese students are mainly to blame.

A 24-year-old Filipina said she received unwelcome comments and sexual suggestions based on her looks on more than 10 occasions in three years.

All the perpetrators were Japanese, mostly men in their 40s to 60s, although some were in their 20s.

The case that upset her most was when a student told her: “I will go to your country and book a hotel, please go there. I’d rather sleep with you than prostitutes, (because) they are dirty.”

In a session with another student, she turned off the screen camera function only to hear sounds that suggested the student was engaged in some sort of sexual activity.

In yet another case, she had to remind a student, “The (lesson) is designed for (you) to learn English, not find a girlfriend.” But then the student gave the instructor a low grade.

“It made me feel so sick and disgusted,” she recalled. “I was so taken aback that I couldn’t do anything, not even lash out at that person.”

According to the teacher, the company that manages the online school has received complaints of sexual harassment from other instructors, such as a student masturbating on-screen.

The management company’s rules prohibit students from “excessively exposing their skin” and “causing anxiety or burden to the instructor.”

When the woman consulted with the management company, it initially acted by issuing a warning to the students. But it eventually stopped listening to her complaints, she said.

“The company would not be able to survive if instructors’ rights are not protected,” she said.

The Asahi Shimbun requested an interview with the management company but received no response by the deadline for publication.

So, it interviewed another company that manages an online English conversation school.

According to the company, the harassment that instructors receive varies, such as smoking and drinking during lessons, to verbal abuse by uttering discriminatory remarks and attacking their integrity.

In some cases, the harassment can be gross, such as when a student exposes the lower half of his body.

It said there have been instances of a Japanese student operating multiple accounts, just in case the company caught on, to repeatedly harass instructors.

As a precaution, the company records lessons and has instructors preserve the evidence. If the harassment is deemed to be malicious, the company issues a warning or suspends the account. In cases deemed to be excessively malicious, the company consults with police and lawyers.

BUT IS IT A CRIME?

Takehito Suzuki, a lawyer who used to be a public prosecutor, said that although the act of exposing one’s lower body or openly masturbating online may be considered “public indecency,” a criminal offense, it is “difficult” to make a case.

According to Suzuki, the prerequisite for the crime of public indecency is that the act must have taken place in Japan. In addition, it must be a situation in which the act can be recognized by an unspecified number of people, or the public.

But, typically, online English conversation lessons are conducted one-on-one between a teacher and a student. For this reason, it is difficult for an act of indecent exposure to be recognized as such by an unspecified number of people, or the public. As a result, Suzuki said that in many cases no crime can be established.

However, if the class is not conducted one-on-one, but rather in an environment in which an unspecified or a many students participate simultaneously via the internet, it is then possible to charge the student with a crime.

“Even if a crime is not established on the part of the student, it is possible for the person to be held civilly liable for damages based on wrongful behavior against the instructor,” Suzuki said.

“But it is difficult for a single instructor who has been victimized to deal with the situation alone,” he added. One way for instructors to protect themselves, Suzuki suggested, is for them to “take video footage of the harassment and ask the management company to take action.”