The Kobe student's picture showed a tree, standing against a dark, stormy sky, being split in two by a bolt of lightning. I have seen quite a few tree-test pictures in my career, but I have never heard of one like this. I was stunned at how closely it coincided with what I had said. The boy may have seen himself as that tree, being struck by a bolt from the sky. The question facing all of us now is how to go about changing the situation where powerful charges are building up among our children.
Adults interfere far too much in children's affairs.
I do not think this situation can be changed by reforming the educational system alone. It will require each parent in Japan to think long and hard about what constitutes true happiness for a child. Instead of trying in vain to pave a road to happiness for our children, we must stand back and give them room, through trial and error, to blaze that trail on their own.