I asked my students, via worksheet, what they thought the biggest problem facing Japan is. A lot of them said bullying is the biggest one. I personally thought it was the suicide that results from the shame of bullying and getting caught/being bullied, and that Japanese people really need to toughen up and stop being so soft on themselves and their kids. It was just kind of interesting to me how we are two sides of the same coin on this issue. I also think its interesting that there is so much bullying over here when Americans are supposedly more violent. I really do think pride is a useful thing that can protect us; allow us to fight back.
But we can all agree junior high is hell.
Suicide in general is a problem in Japan, not just from bullying. Some people think that their life is over when they don't get into the college that they wanted to, or they get let go from their company, etc. There seems to be no alternate path for a lot of people, which is sad.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I saw a suicide first-hand in Tokyo, the day after Christmas 2004 on Yamanote-sen. Christmas being the "lovers holiday", it was easy to guess his reasons.
Shut the fuck up. Did you see him jump in front of a train or what?
ReplyDeleteI think there are several factors that arguably make bullying much worse in Japan:
ReplyDelete-Lack of severe punishment. Kids might be violent in America, but if they punch another kid and are seen by a teacher, they're looking at a suspension. Similarly, overt verbal bullying will mean harsh punishments for kids in America. In the schools I teach at, punishment for such bullying doesn't go beyond teachers telling the students to stop [which doesn't work].
-When students are put in a homeroom class, they spend every class with the same classmates. Keeping the same small group of kids together like this only makes bullying situations worse. In the American system, kids often split up into different classes, and the shuffling can en up alleviating the pressure or giving the bullied kids a break from their worst enemies.
-Weak kids. The bullied kids in most of my classes are ridiculously timid. I don't know if it was a result of years of bullying, or just the fact that nobody taught them to stand up for themselves, but for the love of God, some of these kids make absolutely no effort to defend themselves. They don't stand a chance, man.
-I wouldn't say that Japan has a culture of bullying, but a system in which seniority and rank is extremely important and younger students are expected to obey their senpais doesn't help things. I believe at least a couple of the recent bullying suicides were the result of bullying by senpais on sports teams.
Those are just a few of the ones that popped into my head. Of course, America has some huge problems in its schools like drugs, gangs, and serious violence, which one could argue is worse than what kids face in Japan.
Yes, Colin. It was this horrible sensation like "what I am seeing happening at this very moment, this isn't REALLY happening. This is just too messed up to be real and happening in front of me." I hope I never have to see something like that again. It was odd how well prepared the station attendants were for dealing with it, which gives the impression of drilled-in training, or tons of experience with suicide by train.
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