The following study investigates mistreatment among resident doctors in Japan, through a multi-institutional, cross-sectional survey conducted at 37 hospitals. Findings show that mistreatment, especially in the form of verbal abuse, during residency is a universal phenomenon. Deliberation on the occurrence of this universally wrong tradition in medical culture will lead to the establishment of strong preventive methods against it. Current results indicate that alcohol-associated harassment during residency is a Japanese culture-specific problem and effective preventive measures against this are also urgently required.