Forum - View topicAnswerman - How Bad Is Bullying In Japan?
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tophg
Posts: 22 |
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I found this article about bullying in Japanese schools by an English teacher a couple of years ago really informative ... and really chilling:
https://thisjapaneselife.org/2013/06/12/japan-ijime-bullies/ Here's a bit that stuck with me for a long time:
Just ... messed up. |
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HaruhiToy
 Posts: 4118 |
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I really wonder if Japanese kids are that much more unsupervised than those in the U.S. or in Europe. Many anime feature tropes including kids that are hothouse flowers or very strictly monitored. And very often you have totally non-present parents (dead, working overseas, deadbeats on the run, etc) and it seems rare that those kids are victims of bullying in their respective stories. What I think is the real culprit is the pressure to conform. Of course I have never been to school in Japan but from what I can see is that is every easy to stand out and become an "other" on which it is possible for every surrounding weak personality to make itself feel more secure by picking on. That doubles when many of the tormenters are themselves doing it mostly because they are afraid of becoming the victim. That happens a lot in U.S. schools both privileged and poor-urban. On the upside this same pressure to fit in makes it possible for the Japanese to commit to sweeping social changes if they want to. One can hope they will use that power on this particular problem. |
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FireChick
 Subscriber Posts: 2478 Location: United States |
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Wow. That excerpt really leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'll admit, the experiences I had with bullies were fairly tame: mostly enduring immature kids singing a Barney song at me for six straight years, and one incident where a girl harassed me on a school bus for her amusement, but that one was resolved fairly quickly. But the fact that bullying has become so violent and volatile over the past few decades for many is disturbing. There's no denying that, and the fact that bullies are even trying to make people commit suicide over really stupid things, and either refusing to take responsibility for it or nobody holding them accountable, is even more sickening. |
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mgosdin
 Posts: 1302 Location: Kissimmee, Florida, USA |
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American kids can be really creative when it comes to harassment too.
I had one friend in High School that would show you the scars on his wrists if you asked him why he always wore a long sleeved shirt. It didn't really stop for me until I got be be over 6' tall and started putting on weight. It's amazing how effect being able to pick someone up and shake them is as a deterrent. Mark Gosdin |
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cloud8100
Posts: 550 |
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Ah, the teenage years. Where the least important things seem like the most important thing ever and many think they are adults. I never wanna go back there again lol. Hell, people looked at you in disgust if you didn't have a boyfriend from the age of 10.
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SaitoHajime101
 Posts: 285 |
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The article and Tophg's link to another article definitely puts the differences between Western and Japanese societies into a different perspective.
To me it feels Japanese take very indirect, psychological approaches when confronting or handling issues, while (at least in the USA) we're more direct, physical about confronting or working with issues. In my schools, when I was bullied, I was more physically harassed than any indirect isolation and all of it was caused by one or two students, not by the entire class. I think it also helped that my classes never had the same students aside from homeroom itself. When it came to going to any general class, it would be different students every class with the occasional crossovers. Last edited by SaitoHajime101 on Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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danpmss
 Posts: 781 |
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You all should read Ryukishi07's take on bullying in Japan. He made a horror social-commentary visual novel named "Higanbana no Saku Koro ni" (started as a manga, but it isn't nearly as good as the VN an its great prose and sharp narrative).
It really hits home in many instances, a very good read. |
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Heishi
 Posts: 1346 |
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Now it is shown why that whole trio of bully girls thing is a common trope.
This fact right here. Last edited by Heishi on Mon Jun 13, 2016 4:03 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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ResistNormal
Posts: 117 |
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I like to often remind bullies that this is how columbine style shooting develops, do you want that?
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3768 |
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It seems to me that a difference between Japan and say America on bullying is a tacit acceptance of it on an institutional level. While obviously one must take what happens in anime with a grain of salt when looking to it for insight into Japanese society, but from what I've seen from, for example, Assassination Classroom, is that they take the attitude "That's life. Deal with it" versus the anti-bullying campaigns you see in the US in recent years. Has that solved the issue? Probably not. At the very least, it says that society views that behavior as unacceptable, which doesn't seem to be the case in Japan, which likely contributes to the problem and gives less support to the victims of bullying.
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residentgrigo
 Posts: 2577 Location: Germany |
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The culture itself is based on shame and you only need to look at how entertainment news items are occasionally announced, to see conformation. The metal Gear Revengeance re-reveal, where the previous team had to apologize first, was quite something and drew negative games media attention (gametrailers) from those not "accustomed" to Japanese culture. Not my country, not my problem, simple as that.
I wish that more Japanese authors would know how to write the theme though! Mars and Oboreru Knife had a realistic depiction and the thumbnailed Koe no Katachi was downright cringe-worthy CW-esque nonsense, at times. I myself went to a gymnasium (for 9 year) with crazy bullying and being openly and publicly despised is what made me into the (successful) human rock i am now. I wonder if i fared better if i was white... ah Germany´s dark history. The whole 9 yards (hehe) were a great dry run for being in the military, as being "on trail" all the time turned me into a natural public speaker and made me shrug off nearly everything. I wouldn´t even have my current career if i didn´t undergo my trial by fire @ an early age. The relentless of it all ultimately shaped me into a stronger person but i ain´t so sure if i can recommend the experience to just anyone... Last edited by residentgrigo on Mon Jun 13, 2016 1:59 pm; edited 3 times in total |
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falcon.punch
 Posts: 693 |
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Well, this is also sort of related with the infamous annual September 1 student suicides.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/09/01/asia/japan-teen-suicides/ |
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xifeng.hu
Subscriber Posts: 103 Location: Oahu,Hawaii |
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I was an awkward kid in school but I never got bullied. Probably because I made it a habit to seem like the crazy, quiet type who might knife you or something if you screw with me. Also being a complete band geek helped because I was constantly in the band room with my band friends.
On that note if I was bullied I am the type to lash out so I probably would have done some "extreme" things to my bullies. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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There's an old scientific experiment, where if you put a mouse in a closed cage and mildly electrify the floor to cause an inescapable sensation of pain, the lone mouse will huddle into a corner. Put two mice in the same closed cage, shock the floor, and for no distinctly identifiable reason, they'll immediately fight each other. It's easier than fighting who or whatever's actually causing it. In countries like England where social hierarchies were part of the ancient traditional history, schools particularly enforce the upperclassman-vs.-underclassman structures, and the need to abandon your individuality as your duty to Succeed Beyond Your Status. Not everyone can succeed, no matter how much they're told they Can or Have To, and that's what fires up the Pecking Order. (Big birds peck on little birds, and little birds peck on littler birds.) Taunt someone with the idea that they won't succeed because they're not socially acceptable enough by the reigning standards--like, if they belong to the "Go-Home Club" instead of the big, popular interactive club or sports team--and you get the Us vs. Them faction giving comfort and security for the Us to fall back on. And the more the failing post-Boom economy and population crisis makes Succeeding harder and harder to aspire to in Japan or England as a realistic future, the more shocks on the floor for the fighting mice. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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Bullying in Japan can last a lifetime unlike in the US, because of the whole junior/senior crap that goes on that doesn't exist in the states. If the person had a bad senior in high school and they end up working at the same job they are at (and heaven forbid that bad seed of a senior is in a position of power), it will continue practically forever.
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