Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Suicide by Force

This is determinedly a very unhappy post, but it does show you a lot of insight into some really harsh Japanese culture.

A seemingly mundane event for Japan happened last October in Otsu (pretty near Kyoto), that was just a minor ripple in the pond until recently when investigations uncovered the schoolyard brutality that began making much larger waves.

A junior high school student, a boy of 13 years, committed suicide last year by jumping off a 14 story tall building. Seeing as suicides happen in Japan every day, by train, by hanging, by jumping, cutting, pills etc. It didn't seem too incredibly out of the ordinary. Sadly. It took almost an entire year for them to really dig their claws in and turn this evidence to light, that it was really no normal event. 
I am not talking about murder, no, I am talking about such forceful bullying that suicide seems to be the only logical conclusion for young teens. This story touches a bit close to home for me, seeing as it really happened so close to my own home and I, myself, teach a bunch of junior high schools students, everyone of  which I care about. 
In this particular incident, a group of 4 boys mercilessly bullied this poor student into submission. You might be thinking oh he should just suck it up, we all got punched a few times, it is part of growing up. That may be...but did you have to eat dead animals? Were you forced to practice suicide so that your peers might find you absent from school in the following days in hopes that you finally did off yourself? The group of boys forced the poor lad to do numerous things for them starting with the beatings, the mild money extortion (they actually weaseled out his PIN information and would withdraw money from his account) and shoplifting and escalating to public humiliation of derobing him and scribbling on his face, and finally forcing him to eat dead bees, frogs, and birds and practice his own finale. They made him practice jumping so that he would not be so scared as to do it if that was the way he chose, as well as to tie his own noose and see how it felt with his head snug inside it. Additionally, and perhaps the most psychologically tormenting, was the mock funeral that they held for him, making him play a part. 
Nearly everybody knew about it. Only who wants to stand away from the laughing group? Who wants to be the outsider that lets know it is going too far? Such heard mentality. 
Just before he died, he messaged his tormentors proclaiming his act and they replied with encouragements.

And the worst part?

I know you are thinking how could this possibly get any worse. 
EVERYONE tried to sweep it under the carpet.
The police received advanced complaints MULTIPLE times about the bullying. But each and every time, they turned away the father of the child saying that their hands were tied and there was no proof and it was hard to claim. It was reported to the teachers as well as the school who did no more than say 'Keep it to a minimum'. The boy went to them even for advice. For help. For mentoring. For avoidance. But they turned a blind eye. They did nothing. They did not watch over him as a teacher should. As he was forced to do these acts during lunch break, where I can attest, a teacher has to be in the classrooms at all times. 
And then after the fact?
The school tried to cover it up. At first they claimed there was no bullying what so ever. And then after an initial investigation they claimed that it was only mild instigations.  The school removed all the reports of the bullying and any new evidence reported went unclaimed to the board of education. They actually went as far as to claim that 'no new reports of bullying had been submitted.' They were trying to keep the incident in the family and trying to make it seem less worse than it really was. The reason? Money. Why else? If they school goes public with information, no one will want to go there. The teachers will be out of work, and not only that, they will find it difficult to find new jobs once they are known as the 'Teachers who Stood-by', new schools don't want mentors for their students if they are no mentors at all. A group collective decided to ignore these reports and now a renewed police investigations are looking into the school and case. 
What took the police so long? Why did they ignore the fathers claims of bullying?
One of the boys' grandfathers was a policeman. Not just any policeman, but a well respected one with influential power in a top position. Even retired he still had a bit of power and if it came out that his grandson was involved and how wretched of a person he must be to overlook the actions and mentoring of his own family to end up in such a situation, well it would just not look good. It is suspected that he used a lot of his remaining power to forestall investigations and make them seem less serious. 

Currently the mayor of Otsu has proclaimed that another investigation was going to be set underway promptly as the case has come more and more into light and after being bombarded with many angry parents and emails in regards to the bullying. 
The parents of the boy are suing the involved students and their families for incredibly large sums of money, but in my opinion not large enough. 
Two of the four families have already moved to Kyoto, trying to avoid the spot light that Otsu has become. 

And the worse worst part?
Just when you think it cant get any worse right. There will be no retribution. 
The boys?
Nothing will happen to them. There will be no jail time. There will be no trials. They might have to go to a detention facility and come back all freshly reprimanded but that will be it. Here there is a law that protect kids of the ages 14 and under. I would totally recommend the Japanese movie Confessions, which really shows you how the Japanese mentality regarding this law in respect to the students functions. It also is a movie that gives you some insight to the bullying that takes place in Junior High Schools in Japan(additionally it is a pretty good psychological suspense movie). 

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