Five teenage girls have been arrested in Tokyo for allegedly burning the arm of another teenage girl nine times with lit cigarettes — an act known as konjо̄ yaki — as part of a romantic dispute over a boy, media reports have said.
The five girls — ranging between 14 and 16 years old — allegedly assaulted a 15-year-old junior high school girl in January at a park in Tokyo’s Adachi Ward, slapping and kicking her in addition to the cigarette injury.
The suspects also threatened the victim by reportedly saying, "Get your arms out so I can burn them," broadcaster FNN reported Wednesday.
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, the suspects admitted to the act, explaining that they were angry with the victim because she was dating their friend’s boyfriend, the report said.
TV Asahi also reported that the suspects recorded the incident on video.
Initially, konjо̄ yaki — literally "burns (to test your) endurance" in Japanese — was a way for juvenile delinquents to prove how tough they were simply by enduring the pain of a cigarette burn to the arm. The act eventually evolved into a method to bully others.