Japanese businesses are working on improving the customer service experience of sexual minorities and the disabled. Spurred on by new laws and the revision of older laws, companies are making their stores more welcoming and inclusive, but also facing backlash.
Wacoal, a popular Kyoto-based lingerie brand, has introduced new customer service guidelines to create a welcoming sales environment for all customers, regardless of gender identity or disability. Recognizing that it can be challenging to identify the diverse needs of customers—including LGBTQ individuals and those with disabilities—based solely on appearance, a company representative stated, “I want to minimize assumptions and respond flexibly.”
Reasonable accommodations
The new guidelines outline a few key points that will make the store a more inclusive environment for disabled people.
The first is to ensure that aisles are more than 90 centimeters wide to accommodate wheelchairs and service dogs. The guidebook encourages the use of specific and clear-to-understand instructions. For example using right, left, and forward instead of less easily understood directives.
Reasonable accommodations should be made for those who are blind or deaf. These include writing down directions or reading things aloud. It also gives examples of how to respond to those with intellectual disabilities or the elderly who struggle with processing visual and vocal information.
The other points address gender bias and inclusive language for LGBT+ customers. Previously, employees only offered try-on services to customers they assumed were women. The new guidelines highlight that transgender customers may not look like their gender identity, so avoid assuming gender based on appearance.
Male-presenting customers should not be asked questions like “Is this for your wife or girlfriend?” Employees should practice discretion and take care not to “out” someone’s gender identity without explicit consent. The guidelines encourage listening to the customer’s needs first and then providing the appropriate help.
A reaction to Japan’s LGBT Understanding Bill
Wacoal’s policy change is a response to the June 2023 LGBT Understanding Promotion Act. It requires the government to create a basic implementation plan to promote understanding of LGBTQ people and to protect them from “unfair discrimination.” It also stipulates that government entities, businesses, and schools “need to strive” to take similar action.
The law does not explicitly ban discrimination against LGBT +, nor are there any penalties for those who discriminate against sexual minorities. It is more like a suggestion to treat people as equal human beings but lacks repercussions.
The bill unsurprisingly met with opposition from conservatives who are against anything that protects or acknowledges the human rights of the LGBTQ community. However, many LGBTQ advocacy groups also opposed the bill. They feel it doesn’t go far enough in offering actual protections against discrimination.
To appease those who opposed it most, the government changed the bill’s wording. It calls for guidelines that give all citizens peace of mind. In other words, the guidelines aren’t on protecting LGBT individuals but on maintaining the comfort of the majority.
Disability Act gets a new revision
The other law influencing Wacoal’s decision to update its policies is a revision to the Disabilities Discrimination Act. Despite the original law passing in 2013, disabled people in Japan still face widespread discrimination and accessibility issues.
The new version went into effect in April 2024. The latest amendments mandate all businesses provide reasonable accommodations to persons with disabilities, including employees, clients, and business partners. In previous years, the obligation focused mainly on government agencies and the recruitment process. Again, there are no explicit penalties if businesses don’t comply.
Social media backlash
When news of Wacoal’s new policy broke, it received a significant amount of backlash on Japanese social media. While there seems to be little talk of accommodating disabilities, gender has been a far more controversial issue.
Frequently mentioned were gender-neutral changing rooms endangering women. Curtains separate the changing rooms, and customers often find themselves nearly nude.
Groping and underwear theft pose serious issues in Japan, so this fear is not completely unfounded. However, these crimes are committed mainly by heterosexual men. There’s no evidence that trans-women are perpetuating these assaults.
There’s also no supporting evidence that men will take advantage of the gender-free policy to gain entrance to these spaces. These are common anti-trans tropes.
In Japan, sexual assaults often happen in crowded public places. Suspects can have plausible deniability and escape easily. An enclosed dressing room in a store full of cameras where you need staff permission to enter seems an unlikely place for assault.
Other comments were less about safety and more outright transphobic. Some comments said things like, “You may have to try on a bra a man wore.” Others equated self-identified trans-people and those who dress in gender non-conforming clothes with perverts.
Wacoal’s response
Wacoal’s response to the criticism seemed to waffle on the issue in an attempt to please everyone.
It assured customers that not all stores will have gender-free dressing rooms. Customers who appear or verbally confirm they are women will be guided to dressing rooms accordingly.
Those who don’t fit that criterion need to disclose their gender identity. If gender-free facilities are available, they may be accommodated. If not, they’ll be directed to stores where they are available.
Despite their efforts, Wacoal’s policy is only a small step forward towards inclusion. Like the laws promoting understanding when faced with pushback, the comfort of the majority takes precedence over the rights of sexual minorities.
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Sources
接客に思い込みは禁物、ワコールが新指針 LGBTQ、障害者ら全ての人を尊重し柔軟対応. Kyodo News
変態が集うんじゃないかワコールLGBTQ接客指針で試着室の“不安”が噴出、同社の見解を聞いた. Yahoo News
LGBT理解法の成立 権利保障の制度を早急に. Mainichi Shimbun
