Over 80% of kids experience both sides of bullying

Friday 26th June, 04:03 PM JST

TOKYO —

More than 80 percent of school-age children surveyed have both engaged in and fallen victim to bullying, the National Institute for Educational Policy Research said Friday. The finding indicates that every child has the potential to become involved in both sides of bullying, the institute said, adding that it will compile a handout based on the survey results for circulation among teachers of all schools. The number of cases of bullying at elementary, junior high and high schools across Japan tallied by the education ministry stood at around 100,000 in the 2007 academic year, slightly lower than the previous year. The institute studied roughly 4,800 students at 13 elementary and six junior high schools in an unidentified city in the Tokyo metropolitan region for three years from 2004, it said. Of 687 children who were in the first year of junior high school in June 2004, 401 or 58.4 percent said they have suffered none of the three forms of bullying surveyed—being shunned by friends, ignored or talked about behind their backs. But only 135 or 19.7 percent gave the same answer in November of their third year, and 80.3 percent said they have been bullied. When asked if they have acted as a bully, only 18.7 percent said no in the third year, against 81.3 percent who said yes.

A similar survey of 738 elementary school pupils from the time they were fourth graders to sixth graders showed that 97 or 13.1 percent said in November of sixth grade they have never suffered from bullying, while 86.9 percent said they have been bullied and 84.0 percent said they have acted as bullies. In the most serious cases, two or 0.3 percent of the junior high school students and 10 or 1.4 percent of the elementary school kids said they have been bullied at least once a week through the three-year period. ‘‘Victims are constantly changing,’’ the institute said, calling on teachers and other adults addressing the problem to ‘‘alter the perception that bullies and victims are specific children.’’ Hosei University professor Naoki Ogi, a critic on education issues, said, ‘‘The survey is significant in confirming that any child can fall victim to bullying. But the important thing is to consider how we can prevent bullying.’’ Ogi criticized the education ministry’s stance of promoting what he says is U.S.-style ‘‘zero tolerance’’ of bullying, saying that cracking down hard on bullies only makes cases of bullying invisible. Pointing out that children often regard what they are doing as a joke and are unaware that they are giving someone a hard time, Ogi called for education to nurture children’s ability to recognize the act of bullying.

Kyodo

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Latest 15 of 27 Total Comments Show All

nandakandamanda at 05:56 PM JST - 26th June

Quick correction for some of the above posters. :D

In Japan it's "The post/pile that sticks up attracts the blows."

"Deru kui ga utareru", ...not 'kugi', is the original proverb.
ThonTaddeo at 09:12 PM JST - 26th June

Nandakandamanda, while it's traditionally wrong, quite a lot of people say "kugi", and a Google search for 出る釘は打たれる will reveal some people saying it as if it were normal, and others railing against this incorrect usage. The fact that nails are more often used than posts these days, and also that the "g" in "kugi" can come out like "ng" or even disappear (nasalizing the vowel that comes before it) can make people think that the "kui" they correctly heard was actually the more common household object "kugi".

But, linguistic trivia aside, I'd like to see a society where it isn't such a crime to stick out from the average. Even more than that, it needs to become more acceptable for people without power to be able to talk back to people above them. The culture of total obedience to one's superiors is at least as much at fault as anything regarding people who are different from what's normal.
Sarge at 09:20 PM JST - 26th June

"81.3% who said yes ( I have bullied )"

This is truly pathetic.
bamboohat at 09:31 PM JST - 26th June

three forms of bullying surveyed—being shunned by friends, ignored or talked about behind their backs.

most of you see the word "bullying" and immediately assume it is in the western sense. shunned by friends, ignored or talked about behind your back is fairly normal kid behavior. Additionally, it is purely subjective and the kid might very well deserve being ignored.

This would not even qualify as bullying in the west.

This is a completely useless survey generated by a government body looking to justify its own existence. Reporting an astounding sounding 80% bully rate will surely get them a lot of funding to create endless discussion groups along the subject, effectively giving themselves lifetime employment.
hamiltontruther at 09:57 PM JST - 26th June

In a separate yet related news item; ALL JAPANESE PEOPLE EXPERIENCE JAPANESE HIERARCHAL SOCIETY AT SOME POINT IN THEIR OBLIGATORY YET JOYLESS LIVES.
GW at 10:09 PM JST - 26th June

Bullying = being Japanese simple as that!

The older you get the more you can bully rather than be bullied

Shoganai!
WMD at 10:21 PM JST - 26th June

ALL JAPANESE PEOPLE EXPERIENCE JAPANESE HIERARCHAL SOCIETY AT SOME POINT IN THEIR OBLIGATORY YET JOYLESS LIVES

Love it! Short but oh so true! The japanese don't exist unless they get themselves into groups so of course there is bullying in the schools and in the workplaces against anyone even remotely suspected of being different.
jonnyboy at 10:36 PM JST - 26th June

the parity between bullying and being bullied shouldn't be so surprising. in a society that considers bullying to be natural and even desirable, the best way not to be the target is to make sure that someone else is...

anyway, the social leaning towards bullying is something which is going to have to change in the future if japan hopes to progress in the 21st century. what japan needs right now is fresh ideas and creativity. bullying is an excellent way to stamp that out at the grass roots
ptolemy at 01:59 AM JST - 27th June

So fusedentropy, because the bullying is in Japan it is perfectly ok then? OK gotcha.
So I'm stepping out of my little world and seeing that the effects of bullying in Japan causes loss of profits to businesses because of lawsuits, lost study time in schools, and also psychological effects on the kids who grow to adults. But because the bullying is Japanese on Japanese these effects on society are meaningless by your logic. Hmmm! I think not. Your cultural relativism seems to be the problem that encourages this problem to continue. The study was done in Japan by Japanese, not a western nation. Japan Today encourages comments. Unless you control the website everything you wrote is utter piffle. All the "western" problems you point out also exist in Japan. But since Japan is utterly uniquely unique, lets not discuss that, right?

I have actually lived in Japan for more than a decade and have seen the effects of bullying here. The corporation I work for has been sued several times for bullying over the years (as have all Japan Inc Nikkei 225 corps) and the solution is to settle out of court to keep publicity from causing a scandal. Take all that money and apply it profits and think of the pay raises, benefits, and improvements that could have been provided. Ignoring the problem with your cultural relativistic prattle is the problem. OK back to my little world now, hope you got the message.
helloklitty at 06:10 AM JST - 27th June

I like that comment about kids complaining about a 5-day week. A four-day week would save so much on gas - 20%, right?

Regarding the mom of the well-adjusted UK kid, I have thought about yanking my kid out of school, but have decided against it. Fighting back makes you stronger. The bullies will back down. You just have to stand up to them. Once you learn how to do that, it carries over for the rest of your life. Better to learn that sooner than later.
WMD at 09:12 AM JST - 27th June

ptolemy excellent post, excellent retort to the newbie! It's always amusing to read the views of the newly arrived
aerockyulhim at 11:45 AM JST - 27th June

helloklitty--I think the "bullying is good for you" argument only works if the kid has a good support network. If they don't, we read almost everyday about the kids who throw themselves off of buildings due to bullying. Obviously no one helped them and they didn't have the necessary life-knowledge bestowed upon them by a parent or other authority figure about how "good it is" to be bullied and learn from it. Most teenagers can't see past their current situations as well as those of us who have lived through them and came through them better people. We SHOULD be teaching them about that, and that's great if you are teaching your child that. Sadly, this argument just doesn't really work well in Japan. We all see the consequences of a bullied society every single day here. Obviously there is little to no support network for anyone.
bobobolinski at 03:45 PM JST - 27th June

Oh yes, it's the old "stand up to bullies and they will back down" argument. In my experience - British school a long time ago - and quite clearly from the results of this survey, standing up to bullies means that the bullying will continue, unless the victim shifts the attention to someone else. And the best way to do this is to join in with the bullies; then you are safe. It's a valuable lesson to learn, but comes at quite a cost sometimes. I'm not sure any society would really want to encourage it, though.
ultradodgy at 11:18 AM JST - 29th June

100% of kids experience what it is like to be a kid.
ptolemy at 09:45 PM JST - 2nd July

And again more piffle from Fusedentropy. Let's see, well to start off you don't need to march into Japaan say anything. Japan signed into the UN which holds them accountable to the UN Decalaration of Human Rights and also Japan is seeking a UNSC seat. So, if Japan wants to keep Edo style ethics, don't expect the rest of the world Japan is seeking relevance from taking it seriously. I really don't care what Christians do, I'm an Atheist. As are most of the Japanese.
Where in my post did I say Japan should change laws to please me? Ah, that's right nowhere. Again you failed to see the cultural reletavism of your post before so you are on the side of Japan being too uniquely unique to understand but still be a part of the 21st century. Reread your previous post before the last and see my point. Japan is good country but has problems politicians and the public ignore and they grow and fester because of it. Seems you want to continue that to the suffering of Japan's society and credibility before other nations.
There lies the problem I addressed. Get the point now? I offer solutions, not just criticisms of gaijin who cannot solve the problems. Actually the title of this website is "Japan Today" so using they do it too as an argument misses the point of the website. The biline is "Japan News and Discussion", perhaps that's why people address Japan on this page. Get that point now?