Tag - bullying

 
 

BULLYING

Truant students at high schools numbered 68,770 in fiscal 2023, a record high.
JAPAN
Oct 31, 2024
Truancy hits record high in Japan in fiscal 2023
The number of truant students at elementary and junior high schools rose by some 47,000 from the previous year to a record 346,482.
Sapporo City Board of Education officials apologize on Tuesday over a case in which an elementary school boy was sexually assaulted by a junior high school boy.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Oct 8, 2024
Sapporo school boy sexually assaulted by junior high student: panel report
The offending student previously went to the same elementary school as the victim, and the two were members of the same youth sports team.
Helping your child through their first experience with a school bully can be a difficult situation to navigate — doubly so if you're trying to do so as a non-Japanese resident in Japan.
COMMUNITY / Our Lives
Sep 30, 2024
What’s a mother to do when your non-Japanese child is bullied in school?
The school experience in conformist Japan can be difficult for students who don't share things like skin color and language in common with their fellow classmates.
Hyogo Gov. Motohiko Saito speaks during a prefectural assembly session on Thursday in Kobe. A motion of no confidence against Saito, who is accused of workplace bullying, was submitted to the prefectural assembly on Thursday.
JAPAN / Politics
Sep 19, 2024
Hyogo assembly passes no-confidence motion against embattled governor
The extremely rare move forces Gov. Motohiko Saito, who is accused of workplace bullying, to either step down or dissolve the assembly within 10 days.
Asahikawa Mayor Hirosuke Imazu (left) receives the final version of a reinvestigation report on a schoolgirl suicide case from education critic Naoki Ogi in Asahikawa on Sunday.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 2, 2024
Reinvestigation report on death of bullied Hokkaido girl submitted
The submission of the final version had been delayed due to the need to take measures to prevent its content from being leaked.
The Kyoto Prefectural Police headquarters in the city of Kyoto. Questioning of a worker with an intellectual disability who was forced into an industrial washing machine has revealed further past instances of abuse, leading Kyoto police to investigate potential bullying in the workplace.
JAPAN / Crime & Legal
Jul 5, 2024
Kyoto men accused of forcing disabled person into washing machine
They allegedly forced their 50-year-old colleague with an intellectual disability into the machine and turned it on.
Naoki Ogi (second from left), head of a committee set up by the city of Asahikawa, Hokkaido, to reinvestigate the death of a 14-year-old junior high school girl reports the results to Asahikawa Mayor Hirosuke Imazu (left) in Asahikawa on Sunday.
JAPAN / Society
Jul 1, 2024
Reinvestigation finds Hokkaido girl's suicide caused by bullying
The reinvestigation committee said the girl, who was found frozen at a park in Asahikawa in March 2021, developed post-traumatic stress disorder from the bullying.
The education ministry in Tokyo's Kasumigaseki district
JAPAN / Society
Jun 19, 2024
Revised guidelines drafted for investigating serious cases of school bullying
The education ministry plans to seek public comments on the draft guidelines and finalize revisions in August, before notifying schools.
“Customer harassment” — in which customers harass front-line workers with aggressive behavior or unreasonable requests — has become a growing problem in the service industry.
JAPAN / Society
May 2, 2024
Japan steps up measures against 'customer harassment'
A 2022 survey found that 67.5% of respondents had experienced some kind of harassment from customers in the past three years.
Former yokozuna Hakuho apologizes for the bullying caused by his protege Hokuseiho (right), outside the Miyagino stable in Tokyo on Friday.
SUMO / INSIDE SUMO
Feb 28, 2024
How a rethink of supervision at stables could curtail bullying in sumo
Incidents of bullying and harassment of younger wrestlers by their seniors continue to erupt with regularity, causing major issues for the world of sumo.
Hokuseiho leaves the Ryogoku Kokugikan in Tokyo after a meeting with the Japan Sumo Association on Wednesday.
SUMO
Feb 22, 2024
Sumo great Hakuho facing demotion over protege's alleged bullying
The JSA will hold an emergency board meeting on Friday to discuss the recommendation that the Mongolian-born protege, Hokuseiho, retire.
Tokyo Gov. Yuriko Koike said that customer harassment was becoming an increasing problem for companies in the capital.
JAPAN / Society
Feb 20, 2024
Tokyo to draft ordinance to curb harassment by customers
The harassment of front-line workers by customers has become a growing trend in the capital, Gov. Yuriko Koike said.
Yuuki Matsumoto, formerly Yuni, at his residence in Yokohama on Aug. 24. Japanese children with unconventional names can face societal and practical challenges unique to their country and its written language. Matsumoto, 24, was bullied over his name to the extent he dropped out of school, and had it legally  changed this year.
JAPAN / Society
Dec 3, 2023
Unusual names can complicate life in Japan. Now parents are being reined in.
As such names have increased, so has attention to cases of people unhappy with them. But critics say new rules may infringe on the right to be creative.
The talent agency formerly known as Johnny & Associates announced it would change its name after acknowledging the long history of abuse company founder Johnny Kitagawa inflicted on young men. The news was followed by the removal of company signage bearing Kitagawa’s name.
CULTURE / Music / Sound Off
Dec 2, 2023
The entertainment story of the year is long overdue
As entertainment heavyweights Johnny & Associates and Takarazuka Revue are hit by scandals, hope for reform emerges with changing attitudes toward abuse.
Kenshi Koba, chairman of the Takarazuka theater group, bows his head in apology during a news conference in Takarazuka, Hyogo Prefecture, on Tuesday.
JAPAN / Society
Nov 14, 2023
No link to bullying in Takarazuka theater actress's suicide: panel
Although there was no evidence of harassment in the all-female musical theater troupe, the actress was most likely under immense pressure, the panel said.
Ozu High School in Ozu, Kumamoto Prefecture
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023
Probe launched over 'serious' Kumamoto soccer team bullying
A member of the renowned school team was allegedly forced to kneel on the ground in apology while naked as he was filmed by senior members of the team.
Parents of children refusing to go to school attend a session organized by a nonprofit support group in Ube, Yamaguchi Prefecture, in July.
JAPAN / Society
Oct 4, 2023
Number of absent schoolchildren in Japan hits record high
The number of elementary and junior high school children who refused to go to school for at least 30 days in fiscal 2022 jumped 22.1%.
Shinjiro Atae, a J-pop idol who came out publicly as gay during a recent fan event, with his stylist and makeup artist in the afternoon prior to his announcement, in Tokyo on July 25.
JAPAN / Society
Aug 3, 2023
In Japan, LGBTQ celebrities fuel impetus for change
Celebrities coming out as LGBTQ can have a big impact in Japan and fuel change. But such announcements are rarely made easily.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC / Society
May 29, 2023
No glory for bullies: South Korea's school violence epidemic
A phenomenon is sweeping the country, with people who were bullied publicly naming and shaming the perpetrators of school violence decades after the alleged crimes.

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Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
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