Japanese shocked by bad behaviour posted online by young workers

One of the first pictures to emerge on a social media site was of a young man lying on the ice creams in the freezer at the 24-hour store in Kochi prefecture where he worked. The image went viral and triggered a sharp intake of breath among older Japanese.

Days later, two secondary school students who worked part-time at a ramen noodle restaurant in Osaka upped the ante by posing with pictures of frozen ingredients used in the restaurant's dishes in their mouths.

The escalations continued and soon an employee of a pizza chain appeared on another social media site with a pizza base plastered across his face, while another youngster was snapped lounging amid a pile of hamburger buns at a fast-food restaurant.

The editorial writers at Japan's conservative Yomiuri newspaper were finally unable to contain their anger at the declining standards of a new generation of service-sector workers, describing the rash of pranks posted online as "deplorable".

"The young people who caused these problems seem to be exhibitionists who want to attract others' attention in cyberspace," the paper said in its August 30 editorial. "Some young people may want to show off to get others' attention, but the problem is how they go about it. If they had considered the consequences of their acts, the incidents would not have occurred."

The antics of a new generation of young workers, combined with the dangers of modern communications technology, triggered a wider outpouring of moral indignation in Japanese society which traditionally prides itself on politeness, respect for others and general common sense.

The owner of the store in which the member of staff climbed into the freezer lost his franchise with the parent company after it was inundated with complaints. Customers claimed the owner had failed to educate his staff and that it had poor standards of sanitation.