From: rhb@world.std.com (Robert H Brueckner)
Subject: Ijime
Organization: The World Public Access UNIX, Brookline, MA
Distribution: soc.culture.japan
Date: Sun, 24 Jan 1993 14:10:50 GMT

I was criticized by Yuzuru Hiraga for being ignorant about the
persecution of kikoku-shijo (returnees) in Japan, although in fact I
have spoken to those who, unlike Mr. Hiraga, have been the object of
such abuse. Nevertheless, this morning I opened my Boston Globe to see
an article about a 13-year-old boy, Yuhei Kodama, who was killed by
his classmates because he was different. Now, admittedly this boy was
not a returnee, but the point is that he was different, the "deru
kugi," but it strikes me that the abuse Mr. Hiraga denies is still
very much in evidence. Among the Globe article's reported findings:

13 schoolchildren were murdered last year in Japan because they were
different.

More than 300 suicides occurred last year because of ijime.

There were 22,000 reported instances of serious bullying in Japanese
public schools in 1992.

In Toyonaka City, a 15-year-old girl was beaten to death after months
of enduring insults for wearing hand-me-down public school uniforms
from her older sister because her family could not afford new ones.
"She was an irritation in our faces ... she dressed poorly when all
other students have new uniforms every year," one assailant, a
14-year-old boy, told police.

The family of a 15-year-old Tokyo student recently filed suit against
his school charging he had been harassed by teachers and classmates
alike because his English-speaking abilities surpassed even the skills
of language instructors. The boy, son of an American woman married to
a Japanese, achieved top scores in nationally administered language
exams. However, his English teacher at No. 7 Middle School issued him
a failing grade when the boy corrected the stilted, often
grammatically incorrect "dialogues" of Japan's notoriously poor
English-language textbooks. "He was going beyond the curriculum and
advancing too fast," the teacher informed the mother, making clear
that this was harsh criticism, not praise for a gifted child. The boy
was also hounded by classmates because of his mixed race. A small mob
of students would follow him home every day, chanting, "Stinking
foreigner! Your mother is an American so you must have AIDS!" School
officials offer little sympathy. "Perhaps this student would be more
properly placed in a private school for foreigners," said a spokesman,
ignoring the fact that the boy was born in Japan, possesses Japanese
citizenship, speaks Japanese fluently, and excelled in all classes.

(Above verbatim quotes copyright 1993 by the Boston Globe)

I am not trying to bash Japan with this post. And I know American
schools can be even more dangerous for more children for different
reasons (or the same ones). But it insults my intelligence when
certain apologists for Japan try to pretend that nothing bad ever
happens there. It seems to me that Mr. Hiraga is attempting to wish
something away that is very real. We Americans just spent a month or
two being pilloried for Yoshi Hattori's (accidental) death. It seems
Japan has problems of her own as well, and they're not necessarily
accidental.

RB





-- 
|"The truth is cruel, but it can be loved, and it makes free those who  |
| have loved it." -- George Santayana  // Opinions expressed here, when |
| clear and persuasive, are my own. --Rob Brueckner (rhb@world.std.com) |