Reports of school bullying in Japan up 180%

Kyodo

Dec 10, 2013

The number of reported cases of school bullying surged to 198,108 last year, 2.8 times more than the
roughly 70,000 cases reported the year before, the education ministry said Tuesday.
The ministry attributed the increase to intensified efforts by schools to learn of and report bullying.
Officials conducted an emergency survey on bullying from April to September 2012 following the
suicide of a male high school student in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, and confirmed some 144,000 cases.
The number reported in the following October-March period was about 54,000.
The number surged in fiscal 2012 because boards of education across the country started making more
efforts to identify bullying through additional measures, which helped uncover case that were
previously not brought to light, the education ministry said.
The survey of all 38,846 schools across Japan, including elementary, junior high, high school and
special needs schools, 22,272, or 57.3 percent, said they found bullying cases.
Of those 22,272 schools, 53.2 percent said they came to know of the bullying through surveys they
conducted on their own, up from 28.3 percent the year before.
For the first time, the fiscal 2012 survey asked for the number of bullying cases reported to police.
The number came to 913, some 0.5 percent of the total reported cases.
Meanwhile, the survey also showed that the number of elementary and junior high school students
who have stopped attending classes dropped 4.1 percent to 112,689, while the number of high school
students dropping out rose 2.3 percent to 57,664.
It also found that the proportion was greater in Miyagi and Fukushima prefectures, which were
devastated by the March 2011 disasters, than in other prefectures.
In Fukushima Prefecture, 1,566 elementary and junior high students had stopped going to school, up
5.0 percent, and 586 high school students, up 24.4 percent. In Miyagi Prefecture, the figures came to
2,511 elementary and junior high students, up 7.1 percent, and 1,463 high school students, up 9.1
percent.
Iwate Prefecture, which was also affected by the 2011 disasters, had fewer truant students than the
year before.
While the education ministry said children were undoubtedly affected psychologically by the
disasters, it was hard to say whether the calamities were directly linked to the increase in nonattendance in Fukushima and Miyagi.
The ministry survey also showed that 196 students committed suicide in fiscal 2012, down six from
the year before. Six of the suicides are believed have been linked to bullying.
Combating bullying at school

Mar 11, 2014

Police action on reports of school bullying has risen sharply. Apparently with the rise in public
awareness of the seriousness of the bullying problem, more cases are now being exposed that earlier
might have gone unnoticed.
But even more important than police action are efforts by teachers and school officials to prevent and
to stop bullying by paying close attention to their students and having better communication with
them.
According to the National Police Agency, the number of juvenile crimes committed in connection
with school bullying in which the police took action in 2013 rose 57 percent from the previous year to
410, with 724 elementary, junior high and senior high students arrested or taken into police protection
and guidance due to bullying. While part of the rise may be attributable to the widening definition of
bullying cases, the number appears to suggest that more cases of bullying are being reported to the
police by the victims, their parents and schools.
A law aimed at preventing school bullying that was introduced last year requires school officials to
work with the police when they witness bullying that can be recognized as crimes, and to immediately
report cases of bullying where it is feared that the victims could sustain serious damage. Schools are
also obliged to report to the education ministry and local governments grave situations such as
bullying victims sustaining serious physical or mental damage or being absent from school for
extended periods.
The legislation was enacted in response to widespread public criticism of the way schools and
education authorities have dealt with serious cases of bullying, including the October 2011 suicide of
a 13-year-old boy in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, who had been repeatedly assaulted and otherwise bullied
by classmates at a local junior high school.
Officials of the school initially denied knowing that the boy had been bullied, even though it was later
revealed that his teacher had been informed of the assaults but took no action.
In a report to be released in April, an education ministry panel of experts is expected to urge schools,
in the event of a student suicide, to immediately launch a background probe into possible causes that
would include interviews of all teachers and officials, as well as a survey of other students if
necessary to find out if the victims had been bullied.
These steps represent progress in ensuring that proper action is taken in bullying cases. But the more
important and admittedly much more difficult task lies in how to prevent bullying from
occurring in the first place or resulting in tragic situations.
Such efforts require teachers and school officials to remain vigilant so as not to overlook any signs of
bullying either from victims or bullies and to take action to stop bullying, including
communicating with all people involved, including the students parents.
A third-party panel at the board of education of the town of Yugawara, Kanagawa Prefecture, looking
into the case of a 13-year-old student at a local junior high school who hanged himself last April has
linked his death to bullying that had gone on for a year.
Noting that the boy had once sent a memo to his teacher asking him to listen to his problems, the
panel stated that the teacher had a chance to find out about the bullying. Behind the bullying and the
boys suicide, the panel said, was the tendency of teachers and school officials to have slack attitudes
toward everyday education.

The anti-bullying law calls for greater involvement of the police in dealing with school bullying.
While statistics show that the police are taking action in more bullying cases, teachers must remind
themselves that it is their job to keep watch for and not ignore signs of bullying to prevent the
abuse from developing into cases that require police action.

Morita categorizes four roles in bullying: victims, victimizers, the audience, and
bystanders. Several children, the victimizers, bully a child, the victim, and
the rest of children are the audience who cheers for the bullying, and the
bystanders who allow bullying without intervening (Morita and Kiyonaga
1994:48-52). According to the 1996 and 1997 surveys, more than half of middle
school students said they did nothing about bullying (So-mucho- 1998:15-19).
Unfortunately, the majority of bystanders are afraid of being bullied if they
intervene, or because they do not care about the victims. Morita points out the
characteristics of bullying in Japan: 1) bullies are invisible to teachers and others;
2) victims can become victimizers, and vice versa; 3) anybody can be a victim;
4) there are many unidentified victimizers and a small number of particular
victims; 5) very few children try to stop bullying; and 6) the bullies often exhibit
other types of inappropriate behavior (Morita and Kiyonaga 1994:21-28). In many
cases, bullying occurs among classmates and members of extracurricular clubs.
~
Bullying (ijime) is a big problem in Japanese schools as it is schools in many
countries. The Japanese Ministry of Education (MOE) defines bullying as a
physical or psychological attack against weaker one(s), which brings deep
suffering to the victim(s) (Ho-musho- 1994:3). School bullying began to receive
attention after the sensational media coverage of a series of suicides related to
bullying in the mid-1980s. One 13-year-old committed suicide, leaving a note
describing how he had been repeatedly bullied by several boys at his middle
school. He had been beaten, threatened with death, and was forced to perform
humiliating acts. Before his suicide, he even received a sympathy card signed by
his classmates and four teachers, including his homeroom teacher, after they
staged a mock funeral for him in the classroom (AS February 3 1986; AS
February 6 1986). [Source: Miki Y. Ishikida, Japanese Education in the 21st
Century, usjp.org/jpeducation_en/jp ; iUniverse, June 2005 ~]
Nishiyama (1996) states that one of the most shocking bullying incidents to
receive extensive media coverage in Japanese society occurred in 1986 with the
suicide of an eighth grader in Nakano Ward, Tokyo. Hirofumi Shikagawa killed
himself, leaving a note that his schoolmates had tormented him. It was
reported that Shikagawa was constantly ridiculed, humiliated, and beaten. The
bullies had in the past doodled mustaches on his face with felt markers and
forced him to climb a tree and sing a song while his classmates witnessed his
humiliation.
By Charlie Atsushi Inoue
Bullying in Japanese Schools
Bullying in the schoolyard or in the hallways between classes is a common

occurrence in many countries including the United States. It can be thought

of as a right of passage from childhood to adulthood. But in Japan, ijime,
bullying at school, is a much more serious social problem. In Japan, this
bullying behavior sometimes escalates to the point where the victim commits
suicide. Discrimination in a homogeneous society like Japan provides an
opportunity for sociologists to explore a different pattern of human
interactions than those examined in a society like the United States, which is
racially and ethnically diverse. In this paper, I briefly examine an internal
structure of a homogeneous society through bullying behaviors in Japanese
schools.
For Smith, bullying is highly predictable, and it holds three
common characteristics. First, cases tend to occur during the years of most
intense competition for scarce educational advantages and then decrease
dramatically after the apportionment of the resources. Second, girls are
rarely the bully or the victim. This can be due, in part, to their exclusion
from the academic pressures of the college ladder. Third, victims are
frequently transfer students, who do not yet have the security of friends or a
group to protect them. That is, new students fall into a victim role before
they are fully integrated into their new community.
Recent bullying cases have again revealed a lax attitude to supervision and an
absence of a culture of nonviolence at a number of schools.
Last week, fifth-grader Renggo Kadapi was beaten up in a classroom next to the
principals office in SD 09 state elementary school in Kampung Makassar, East
Jakarta. Renggo died several days later, allegedly due to his injuries.
On the heels of Renggos death, Jihan Salsabila, 10, a student at SD 14 state
elementary school in South Sumatra, died after injuries allegedly sustained at
the hands of four of her classmates at school a few days earlier.
These cases have turned the spotlight on schools and teachers and calls for
preventive measures abound.
Sahindun, whose two children attend SD 09, said despite Renggos death, she
had yet to see the school take any measures to raise awareness of bullying.
The communication between parents and teachers is limited to financial issues
such as the Jakarta Smart Card [KJP], she told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
Jakarta Governor Joko Jokowi Widodo has ordered that SD 09 principal Sri
Hartini, who was absent on the day Renggo was assaulted, be removed due to
negligence.
Head of the East Jakarta Education Agency, Nasrudin, said an investigation by his
agency revealed that there were strong indications of neglect on the side of the
school. He said the questioning of teachers revealed that a student had told a

teacher-in-charge that a student was assaulting another, but the teacher ignored
the information, kompas.com reported.
This sort of disregard has prompted parents to circumvent schools altogether
when dealing with bullying.
One parent, who refused to be named, said her son once came home with
bruises. He said he had been pushed down the stairs by another student.
At first, my son refused to give me the boys name, saying that he was afraid of
the repercussions from his friends. I managed to persuade him and later talked
to the [violent] student, she said.
Child and family psychologist Anna Surti Ariani said that most teachers and
parents were aware that bullying occurred in schools but they lacked effective
preventive mechanisms to help deal with the issue.
Most schools dont know how to deal with bullying and dont have rules to
prevent it or sanctions that discourage the behavior, Anna told the Post on
Thursday.
She said that while most schools chose to suspend students caught bullying,
such punishments were not effective.
Anna said that schools should facilitate the channeling of aggression through
physical activities such as sports. She added that schools should also provide
counseling to bullies and victims
Most schools rarely conducted parent-teacher meetings except to hand over
report cards at the end of the semester, she said. Such meetings, she went on,
should be carried out on a monthly basis so parents and teachers could monitor
students development.
Anna said that education at home was just as important. There are many
aspects that can push a child into bullying, not only the school environment, but
also the environment at home, she said.
Some schools, nevertheless, take bullying seriously.
Lucky Palupi, a teacher at Kembang elementary school in Kemang, South Jakarta,
said her school ran a bullying awareness program for students in second, fourth
and sixth grades so they could recognize bullying and equip themselves with the
skills to face it. The students, she added, learned to recognize that bullying was
not only physical but also psychological. (dwa)

Schools, police must

act on bullying case: Agency
Hasyim Widhiarto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Mon, November 09 2009, 2:31 PM
Jakarta News
The Jakarta Education Agency says it supports the police and school management to take firm action
against students who were involved in the recent beating of a sophomore at a state high school in
South Jakarta.
"The school management must refer to their school's regulations, which they have announced to
students and parents, in taking necessary measures to settle the problem," the agency's spokesman
Yusen Hardiman told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
"However, if the police also see this *bullying case* as a criminal act, the school is supposed to let
them handle it."
On Tuesday, Ade Fauzan Mahfuza, 16, a tenth-grader at the high school in Kebayoran Baru, was
taken to Pertamina Hospital after dozens of his seniors attacked him for crossing a "restricted"
hallway located in front of a classroom for senior students.
According to Ade, on Tuesday morning he walked across a corridor in front of the twelfth-grade
classroom to collect a book he had left in one of the classrooms, where he had taken a mid-term exam
the day before.
According to the school's unwritten "tradition", only twelfth-graders are allowed to walk across the
lane, popularly known as the "Gaza Strip".
During class break, several twelfth-graders found Ade and asked whether he had walked across the
lane that morning. Two of them suddenly slapped his face and left.
But it was not over.
After school finished, a dozen twelfth-graders waited for Ade in front of the school where they
physically provoked and humiliated him.
The junior forced himself to fight back, but the seniors hit him until he was unconscious.
Ade's friends then rushed him to a nearby clinic in Jl. Wijaya before finally taking him to Pertamina
Hospital for emergency treatment.
He received six stitches in his mouth and had sustained several injuries to his head and arms.
Marlin Angraini, Ade's mother said she was shocked about the incident. Worried for her son's safety,
the mother of two said she would move him soon to another school.
"Ade is afraid his seniors or the schools alumni will do the same thing again," she told vivanews.com.
Marlin has also reported the case to the Kebayoran Baru Police sub-precinct, but the case has yet to be
investigated.

On Friday, the school management announced they had questioned three students, Rm, Ihm and Yok,
for allegedly plotting the bullying.
However, as of Sunday, there was no clear explanation about how they would be reprimanded.
School bullying and violence among students has become a major problem in Indonesia, specifically
in big cities like Jakarta, where many schools have a strong tradition of bullying.
In South Jakarta, for example, school brawls between some state high schools have occurred for more
than 20 years, while in 2007, a student from a state high school in Jakarta suffered fractures after
being beaten up by his seniors.
In 2008, the Indonesian Commission for Child Protection received 86 reports of violence in schools, a
significant drop from 555 reports in 2007.
High school bullies and
victim to face mediation
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta | Jakarta | Tue, September 02 2014, 10:55 AM
Jakarta News
In the wake of a recent group-bullying case involving a female student at the SMA 9 Ciputat state
senior high school in South Tangerang, Banten, the Indonesian Child Protection Commission (KPAI)
said that it agreed with the South Jakarta Polices decision to use mediation to resolve the case as long
as the case will not be ignored.
Cases like these attract our full attention because we want to prevent them from repeating. Children
must feel safe in their daily environments. Mediation can be a solution as long as it is done right,
KPAI commissioner Erlinda told The Jakarta Post recently.
Recently, head of the South Jakarta Polices Women and Children Unit First Insp. Nunu Suparni
explained that the police would most likely resolve the case through mediation because the victim and
the perpetrators were still underage.
It always gets a little complicated when we process such cases legally. We want to try mediation after
we have questioned the witnesses and the alleged perpetrators because they are still young and they
will eventually learn from their actions, she said.
This was in contrast with the Jakarta Polices original statement that if the perpetrators were found
guilty of bullying, they could face up to two and a half years in prison under Article 281 of the
Criminal Code (KUHP) for indecent acts that violate social norms.
Furthermore, Nunu explained that the victim originally did not want to go to the police, but did not
receive a satisfactory response from the school when she first filed a complaint about the incident.
The victims mother filed an incident report with the Jakarta Police last Friday. She told reporters that
her daughter had only been at the school for a week when she was dragged into an empty classroom
near the staff room by a group of 12th grade students.
Several of the senior students allegedly ripped her school uniform and wrote obscenities on it.
According to her mother, the incident was witnessed by 23 students, most of whom were girls, while
several male students stood guard in front of the empty classroom. The main bullies, the mother said,

were two female senior students.

So far, the South Jakarta Police have questioned the victim and her mother and they will soon
summon a teacher from the school for questioning.
The mother also said she had filed a complaint with the school and had asked to view the video
footage recorded by a CCTV camera installed near the classroom.
However, the school principal said that the camera had not been turned on during the time of the
incident because the camera operated during school hours only.
Erlinda said that if that was true, the school administration was extremely sloppy for not providing
maximum security for its students and should be reprimanded.
Bullying cases are not rare. In May a 5th grader was beaten up in his classroom by a peer, sustaining
injuries that eventually led to his death. Two 10th graders were also allegedly beaten to death by their
seniors on a mountaineering club trip. (fss)
Bullying is repeated verbal, physical, social or psychological aggressive behaviour by a person or
group directed towards a less powerful person or group that is intended to cause harm, distress or fear.
verbal or written abuse - such as targeted name-calling or jokes, or displaying offensive
posters
violence - including threats of violence
sexual harassment - unwelcome or unreciprocated conduct of a sexual nature, which could
reasonably be expected to cause offence, humiliation or intimidation
homophobia and other hostile behaviour towards students relating to gender and sexuality
discrimination including racial discrimination - treating people differently because of their
identity
cyberbullying - either online or via mobile phone.
Not bullying :
mutual conflict - which involves a disagreement, but not an imbalance of power. Unresolved
mutual conflict can develop into bullying if one of the parties targets the other repeatedly in
retaliation.
single-episode acts of nastiness or physical aggression, or aggression directed towards many
different people, is not bullying
social rejection or dislike is not bullying unless it involves deliberate and repeated attempts
to cause distress, exclude or create dislike by others.