Bullying blamed after two 13-yr-old girls jump to their deaths

Tuesday 01st September, 05:56 PM JST

SHIZUOKA —

Two 13-year-old girls jumped to their deaths from a six-story car park in Fujieda City on Sunday afternoon, in what is believed to be a suicide brought on by bullying, school officials said on Monday.

The girls fell from the car park roof, about 16 meters high, at around 3.30 pm, with an eye-witness saying they were holding each other as they fell. They were rushed to hospital but were pronounced dead shortly after. The girls’ sports bags were found near the one-meter-high fence on the roof, and there was no evidence of any struggle, police said.

A meeting for parents was held at the girls’ junior high school on Monday night, where it was revealed that messages in one of the girl’s cell phones indicated she was being bullied, and a note found in her bedroom said that she was having a hard time. School staff said the girl was moved to a different class in April after learning some students had been saying bad things about her last year. They said the girl told her teacher in June that the new class was better for her. The other girl was absent from school for most of last term after being separated from her friend, and was also reportedly subjected to bullying last year.

The meeting lasted for about an hour and a half, covering the circumstances of the girls’ deaths as well as what counseling services were available. About 80% of parents attended but few asked questions. One mother commented briefly on the incident, expressing her shock and saying that her daughter had played with the two girls.

A ceremony which was to be held Monday to mark the beginning of the new term was canceled. Students were briefed about the incident over the PA system.

News reports

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Latest 15 of 70 Total Comments Show All

ca1ic0cat at 02:35 AM JST - 2nd September

The really tragic thing is that this has been going on for 20 years (or more) and is pretty much accepted by the schools and society in general. It's going to take a long time to sort it out and get Japan to the point where bullying is seen as a problem that has to be dealt with. Sucks.
ptolemy at 04:13 AM JST - 2nd September

A few months back I got a call from daughter's school to pick her up. I got there and her blond hair had shoe polish brushed into it. Apparently one of the girls felt she needed an uninvited make over.

I calmly asked the teacher how that could happen in class. Especially in a private Catholic school here in Miyazaki. The teacher mumbled off a weak excuse. I asked to see the principal. The good Father simply said that kids would be kids. I asked how he would feel, if he could have kids, if his child were treated like that. He got my point pretty quick.

We got home and my wife wanted to go down the street, being the red blooded Texan she is, and take of it with her dukes. I advised against it and talked to the bully's dad. He and I went to a bar and had some beer and discussed the situation. He took care of his kid right quick.

My daughter and the other girl are good friends now. She is teaching my daughter Portugese and my daughter helps her with her math homework. Nobody had to get Rambo. I did tell my daughter she needed to stand up for herself. Dad will not always be there to get her out of scrapes. She is taking Kempo lessons, not to fight, but to defend. Kempo teaches not just physical, but emotional and meditative techniques.

I love my wife, but she wants to get Rambo quick when it comes to our daughter. Personally I feel talking and rationally working things out work better. I feel sorry for these two angels that they perhaps did not have a parent willing to talk or even Rambo the situation. As a dad I can't help but feel that is the case. I seldom cry, but these stories touch something in me. I weep as I type this. I didn't want to comment on this story, but I hope parents who read this DO SOMETHING when they have their child bullied or see another child bullied.

Also at work if they see it. Enough is just enough. Sorry for the novel.
ZeVenchan at 04:23 AM JST - 2nd September

Thats right take the bull(ie)by the horns...

I grew up in a household where it was unacceptable to have someone bully you...I remember being a 5 year old girl and on my way to school for the first time and my dad sits me down and gives me the big first day of school speech,which of course included "bullys" He says to me "If anyone...ANYONE...picks on you or trys to hit you you pick up the biggest stick or rock you can find and you throw it at them.(OMG)Not only was that intimidating to me i didnt know school was going to be that rough. He says if you ever come home with a bruise or a black eye i will hurt you worse...(he wasent serious he was trying to make a point)Man i was scared of going to school...no matter what,those kids were big but...my dad was bigger. So i never had bully problems and i became the one involved in helping other classmates fight off bullies.

My daughter had similar problems in school only because for the most part shes a beautiful girl and you know how envious other girls can be.

At a young age i put her in self defense classes not so she can fight rather for the self disipline it offers. she seems to have more control, and higher self-esteem.

This is a very important topic It seems to be a problem in the American school system as well.

Please parents talk to your children and LISTEN!! to them. talk to the teachers,to other parents. stay involved!

As for the girls...God Bless their young souls my prayers are with the families.
sfjp330 at 04:59 AM JST - 2nd September

School staff said the girl was moved to a different class in April after learning some students had been saying bad things about her last year. They said the girl told her teacher in June that the new class was better for her. The other girl was absent from school for most of last term after being separated from her friend, and was also reportedly subjected to bullying last year.

School administrators knew the difficulty that these two students were having. These students were trying to reach out to authority figures and trying to explain their problems. This article does not tell you if any counseling took place. The authorities should take every situation seriously and investigate the problems. The facts with Japan is that for modern industrial nation, they have 33,000 suicides a year. Somehow, the teens (13-19 years) and over 55 years old person amounts to majority of this problem. The school district should have appointed professional counselors and psycologist to work with these kids and also make parents aware of the consequences. The depression and self esteem is very fragile in the young kids and it should be nurtured carefully.
Molenir at 05:12 AM JST - 2nd September

One mother commented briefly on the incident, expressing her shock and saying that her daughter had played with the two girls.

This didn't happen in a vacuum. If a woman is shocked because her daughter played with these girls, her daughter might have known what was happening, and had a role in it as well. Kind of makes you think.

Personally, I think every child should undergo some sort of self defense classes, if only because of the self discipline they instill. Particularly girls, who typically have self-esteem issues. Knowing how to defend themselves against unwanted approaches is a good thing as well.
guest at 08:52 AM JST - 2nd September

If you assault, of even touch someone in Japan, you will be charged and Jailed, get real.
alargo at 10:50 AM JST - 2nd September

Mnemosyne23 is on the right track: Bullying is about power. Kids, however, do not seek power so much as their parents do. The bully comes from a family where bullying is taught as a way of life and as a means to cope with innate inferiority. In Japan or in America their are bullies and in both cases the parents, schools, and students are well aware of what is taking place. In fact, in the majority of cases you will find that school teachers and administrators are complicit in such bullying activity. Why? Because none of them would be where they are in a world where a successful life history strategy were based on competence.

Participants in bully culture are not renowned for their intellectual capability and hence it is understandable that they should confuse Darwinism for social-Darwinism--an innocent mistake?--and hence believe that a suicide provoked by bullying to be simply an expression of genetic weakness. They see it as "non-survival of the weakest."

Japan, specifically, is a culture known to subscribe to this kind of social-Darwinist thinking and hence a favorable climate for bullying is fostered here. This will not come as a surprise to anyone with an IQ above 23 or who is even remotely interested in being honest.

More alarming to me, I see a new bullying culture arising in the US which is expressed in socio-economic terms. As we used to say about my university's hiring practices: Screen out all qualified applicants. This is where Imerica is headed, so put that in your "soldier field" and smoke it.
corinnajune at 05:24 PM JST - 2nd September

this is so unbelievably sad. at 13 their lives are ended without ever having experienced anything worthwhile. it's such a sad and tragic waste. i understand their desperation though- kids can be vicious.

i was bullied severely off and on during my childhood- being disabled, poor, confused, socially awkward, and chubby took its toll socially. i also had a mother who was busy working and a stepfather who enjoyed his own creative forms of bullying whenever he came home. there wasn't really anywhere for me to turn for help.

I'd like to see a teenager with enough self-confidence to be able to stand up to a bully, not with violence, but simply by ignoring them.

this is the advice i got when i was in school, and although i became an expert at ignoring things, it really didn't work. they just got more and more determined to get a reaction out of me (constantly knocking things off of my desk, etc).

i remember, though, that one particular bully tried to get me in trouble for cheating off of his test... the teacher took up both of our papers, and ended up openly mocking the bully because #1- i was much farther along in the test than he was and #2- MY answers were actually correct. ha.
usaexpat at 12:23 AM JST - 3rd September

guest: Are you serious? If a kid punches another kid they'll immediately be jailed? News to me.
kirakira25 at 08:25 AM JST - 4th September

This topic is of serious interest and concern to me as my daughter will be starting elementary school from April.

I am not trying to pre-empt trouble before it even starts and I really hope she settles into school with no problems - but a big concern for me is that I went to a parents meeting recently, and listened to a speech about the new school from the principal. At the end they asked if anyone had any questions. Of course, no-one moved a muscle - except me! I put my hand up and asked what their policy was on dealing with bullying and what support services are in place to deal with both victims and their tormentors.

The short answer (because I got a very long speech with very little substance in it at all) - they don`t have a bullying policy and there is not a problem with bullying at that school.

They may be right - I sincerely hope so - but what REALLY worried me most was the reaction of the other parents because I had had the nerve to even ask such a question! They stared, they whispered, they gave me a very wide berth as we left the auditorium - I seem to have been automatically marked out as "trouble" before we have even entered the school.

There seems to be a very definite culture of burying ones head in the sand and hoping anything unpleasant goes away in this country - I wonder if that`S how things have managed to get to the point that they have with this particular issue.
kirakira25 at 08:29 AM JST - 4th September

I just also wanted to make a comment that "students were briefed about the incident over the PA system"??? Am I crazy or is that just totally impersonal? What about teachers taking the kids in groups and discussing the problem with them and asking for their opinions, and if anyone has anything they want to say about it. What about discussing feelings? What about taking the opportunity to have an open discussion about the issue?

Oh yes, as per my previous post I forgot - Head. Sand.
nipponreddog at 12:48 AM JST - 5th September

There must be some way to either stop this senseless bullying.
artikk at 06:30 AM JST - 5th September

It's easy -like previously stated, one must have moral fortitude. I wonder why Japan has such a social conformity characteristic of its society.
therealmusashi at 10:05 AM JST - 7th September

cleo - most of the posters here are pretty much of the same mind, having been socialized in the west, I suspect. We don't tolerate this stuff. I can't speak for Europe, but in the US, really awful bullies have occasionally been dragged from school in handcuffs by the police. It sends a pretty strong message. If a teacher fails to maintain order, that teacher is disciplined or replaced.

You've argued that strict action against bullies isn't warranted, and won't work.

I think we all understand that the issue here is systemic - lackluster teachers who rely on Japan's group dynamics to force conformity, lackluster school administration who are content to do the same, and finally Japanese children who do not communicate with their parents. We get that.

Do you have any solutions in mind?
gogogo at 05:09 PM JST - 8th September

expressing her shock and saying that her daughter had played with the two girls.

What does playing with them have anything to do with this?