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The story
At “Sendai Central Meat Wholesale Market,” the meat wholesaling operator based in the city-run Sendai Municipal Central Wholesale Market, an employee working at the cattle holding pen during the brutal heat of July 2025 was reportedly told by the company president, “I don’t care what happens to you guys. Just make sure the heat doesn’t kill the cattle.” That remark is said to have triggered a wave of resignations, with 11 employees driven to quit since October 2025. On 5ch, opinions split between “prioritizing the cattle is just common business sense” and “that’s a dehumanizing thing to say — he’s unfit to run a company,” sparking a broader debate over whether cattle or employees should come first.
It has come to light that more than 10 employees were driven to resign after suffering power harassment from the president at a meat wholesaling company operating within the city-run Sendai Municipal Central Wholesale Market.
The wave of resignations tied to alleged harassment occurred at “Sendai Central Meat Wholesale Market,” a meat wholesaler located in Miyagino Ward, Sendai, within the city-run market. According to those familiar with the matter, abusive treatment of multiple employees by the president had become routine at the company. In July 2025, during a spell of severe heat, an employee working at the cattle holding pen was reportedly subjected to verbal abuse from the president, including the remark: “I don’t care what happens to you guys. Just make sure the heat doesn’t kill the cattle.”
As a result of this alleged harassment, 11 employees at the company have been driven to resign since October 2025.
Source: news.yahoo.co.jp / Original article here
What people said
Sounds like standard company philosophy to me.
The problem is the relationship between him and the workers was bad enough that it felt like harassment.
But still, if you're raising cattle, you'd better prioritize the cattle.
There are plenty of foreign workers to replace them.
Working in that overwhelming stench…
Isn't this just him stating the obvious?
It's not "the obvious" — the point is that managing the heat is literally your job as the boss.
You can't beat the heat through sheer willpower.
He might lack the imagination to realize that someone who's just been told "you don't matter" isn't exactly going to bust their butt keeping the cattle alive.
You're not even on my radar
you are not…
I've always wanted to say that
Go for it.
What happens after is on you though.
It just means "take care of the merchandise." That's basic professional ethics.
Also, there's the Animal Welfare Act to consider.
If you can't manage the animals properly, changing careers might be the only option.
The cattle not dying is a pretty big deal, isn't it?
He could've just said "keep the cows comfortable" and left it at that.
Exactly.
He's the kind of garbage human who should never be put in a management role.
Subjecting your own employees to psychological abuse straight-up disqualifies you as a business owner.
It's just a fact though — if the cattle die, there's nothing to be done.
That's not a fact.
A human life outweighs the whole planet.
Who cares if some cattle die —
they're getting slaughtered to feed you anyway.
Being told something like that would leave me fuming right before bed.
No point getting fumed up about it.
If the cattle die, your job disappears with them.
So keeping the cattle alive and healthy being the top priority just makes sense to me.
Doesn't matter if the cattle live if you drop dead yourself.
Oh, how noble, sacrificing yourself like that?
That pace is an absolute disaster.
Maybe it's just because I've got a glass jaw (lit. "tofu mentality"), but I'd quit a place like this.
"Boss… I see."
"I'm sorry… I'll be taking my leave."
Somehow saying it in Osaka dialect makes it forgivable.
That's got some real warmth to it.
Background and Key Points of This Story
The Sendai Municipal Central Wholesale Market is a city-run facility, but the actual meat wholesaling business is carried out by private companies operating within the market — and “Sendai Central Meat Wholesale Market,” the company at the center of this controversy, is one of them. Under Japan’s legal definition of power harassment (per the Act on Comprehensive Promotion of Labor Measures), conduct that exceeds what’s necessary for business purposes, backed by a position of authority, and that harms the work environment can qualify — even work-related instructions can count if delivered repeatedly in dehumanizing language. On the thread, opinions split between defenders arguing that “taking measures to keep the cattle from dying is simply a reasonable business order” and critics countering that “the way it was phrased is itself dehumanizing and amounts to an abdication of managerial responsibility.” The fact that 11 employees quit within roughly half a year suggests sustained pressure rather than a single outburst — a situation that can’t be dismissed as either a matter of animal-welfare compliance or a matter of workers’ dignity alone, but likely both.
*This article is compiled and summarized from the 5ch (News Speed+) thread ““I don’t care what happens to you guys. Just make sure the heat doesn’t kill the cattle” — Power harassment allegedly rampant under the president of a meat wholesaler at the Sendai Municipal Central Wholesale Market.”
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