I started February planning to count the occurrences of a few major social problems I saw in Japan hoping to bring some awareness people who visit this blog. It seems there are just too many so I think I’ll periodically publish commentary on several stories at the same time. I’ll have to rely on the […]
The story about the murder case in Japan that I wrote about here in “CNN Almost Writes Pop-Japanology-less Article” has been described in a bunch of papers as a case of the traditional world of Sumo, and it’s incredibly tough training has produced a murder case which questions the fine line between “keiko” or a
Facts About the Sumo Murder Case as I Understand Them Read More »
Well, this is big news in Japan now right. I feel I have to comment, but I also feel that things are moving too fast. Can we assume that there is overwhelming evidence against the defendent because the US Ambassador to Japan has already apologized to the governor of Okinawa? I am not saying that
February 2008 Okinawa Rape Case Commentary Read More »
First off, what I refer to as pop-Japanology is the phenomenon of people all over the world, including scholars and otherwise reputable journalists to feel comfortable making generalizations about Japan without any fact checking. CNN has featured an article about the Sumo Bullying/Murder case that happened back in June. Arrests were made around February 8th
CNN ALMOST Writes Pop-Japanology-less article Read More »
A very interesting case because of the TYPE of data that was being kept. Things like “Her husband is Indian, the worst.” I think this is a bad translation of “saitei” meaning that she (or he) is just the lowest. Just a big put down. Another example that was in the Japanese news was listing
JAL to pay 48 million yen in employee data suit Read More »
woman strangles 13 year old autistic daughter Mother claims she had planned to kill herself afterwards. Does she expect some kind of sympathy or consideration for that announcement? Respect life! Powered by ScribeFire.
Child Abuse 03 woman strangles 13 year old autistic daughter Read More »
I have not been able to find a comment by the mother or father which might give us some perspective on the situation… but 3 months seems a little early to give up on someone. grandma imprisoned for strangling disabled grandson Powered by ScribeFire.
child abuse 02 “disabled grandson” Read More »
There have already been a lot of stories this year, but I’m just starting on this theme today… I think counting these things will help people realize how big the problem is. For the most part, I’m only counting the articles in English too. If I see a really significant one in Japanese that doesn’t
Child Abuse 01 “for crying late at night” Read More »
17 year old sumo wrestler beaten to death on June 26 by his stablemaster and other senior members of the stable. The murderers were finally arrested on February 8th. The stablemaster admitted that he hit the kid with a beer bottle “to discipline him”. He had also been beaten with a baseball bat and died
Bullying #03 Ends in Murder at Sumo Stable Read More »
Male member of cheerleading squad at Meiji University (one of the highly rated private universities around Tokyo) among other members beaten by senior students… kills self. More sad news. Why do they have to beat people? I also think it should be easier for these kids to quit clubs. They get advised to stick it
Bullying 02 Suicide 05 Read More »
Another murder suicide. Since the 34 year old daughter was bed-ridden, this may be one of those put-us-out-of-our-miseries murder-suicides that happen in Japan. I really don’t mean to sound blase about it, but if you check this blog, you’ll see just how often this happens. Murder-suicide suspected in deaths of old man, daughter
Thirty-four Year Old Bedridden Daughter Killed in Murder Suicide Read More »
A student killed himself in a bathroom at school. Everyone around him seems to think it was “bullying” or ijime in Japanese, but the school will never admit it. If it’s determined that the cause is ijime, the school, teachers, guilty students, parents of the guilty students, and all the levels of school boards up
Bullying and Extortion Related Suicide in Japanese High School Read More »