It's common in old school Japanese companies
None of this sort of harassment is common in any
decent company, old school Japanese or gaishikei. It is especially important for any publicly traded company to maintain a firm grip on this sort of behaviour, as lawsuits affect stock prices. Firms like mine are often hired to make certain that company practices are in line with the law.
That said, it does happen, primarily in the sort of company referred to as black kigyo. Other employees don't take action because they fear repercussions from their managers. The management in these companies commit all manner of labour abuses, and foster a culture of bullying and intimidation. In any company where these sorts of things are the norm, you'll also find excessive amounts of (unpaid) overtime, employees who are forbidden to use their vacation days, low salaries combined with a system of "fines" to help management keep employees in line, and convoluted or non-existent contracts and/or rules of employment to make sure employees don't understand the agreements.
The worst offender last year was Hikkoshisha, the moving company, with such lovely tactics as printing up employee errors as "crime" posters with their name and face, and plastering them over the walls of their various offices as well as in the company newsletter, and assigning staff who objected to the various abuses to work in a shredding center in poor safety conditions in attempts to make them resign. Taisei Construction (one of the vendors for the Olympic sites) were a strong second, with some workers putting in nearly 200 hours of overtime a month, leading to site injuries and one death due to fatigue.
The problem is that unless it crosses the line into actual criminal offenses as in the video above, the employees are generally unaware of their rights, and also unaware of the options available to them to ensure that their rights are protected.
The labour bureau operates centers around the country - including many with multilingual staff for support of foreign workers - where employees being subjected to labour abuses and harassment can report these issues and have action taken on their behalf. Power and sexual harassment cases can be further taken on by lawyers and damages claimed from the company as well as the specific individuals involved.
