Japan's primary-school children appear to have become more violent, according to statistics from a recent report by the Education and Science Ministry. To use a contemporary Japanese expression, they have become "kire-yasui." This expression, which literally means their "nerves tend to snap easily," describes their tendency to easily lose control of their emotions and resort to violence. It is impossible to blame this tendency among children to one factor or even a set of several factors. The complexity of contemporary Japanese society also plays a role.

For the academic year that ended on March 31, 1,890 violent acts by children were reported at public primary schools -- an increase of 18.1 percent from the previous year. This marked a record high for two consecutive years since the first survey was taken in 1997. In contrast, the number of violent acts at junior and senior high schools went down by 5.5 percent to 23,110, and by 3.7 percent to 5,022, respectively.

Among primary-school children, violent acts between children increased by 16.1 percent to 992; while the destruction of, or damage to, objects and the ill treatment of animals by children rose by 14 percent to 544. Conspicuously, the number of violent acts by children toward teachers rose by 32.8 percent to 336.