5 students arrested for forcibly piercing classmate's ear with thumb tack

they held him down yet they still say it was consentful...yeah right bullies.

And rightfully so! Assault with a weapon and gang violence

What they will do for them ... !!! I guess next Monday they will be back to school and things run normal .... !! I wish the boy will over come this incident and not commit suicide ....

was consensual there is no bullying problem, really! :O

I really do believe that parents need to be charged if their minor child assults someone. It make actually make them aware of the punk they have supposedly raised.

This article as with others that has been publicly announced in the media, may be only a small part of innumerable bullying, harassment and attacks both verbal and physical that is happening throughout Japan. Not just at schools but at the workplace and even at home bullying, harassment and attacks do happen and have been reported. Sadly similar occurrences are reported worldwide.

Observing though limited in scope and capacity, I am inclined to place much of what is happening to parenting problems at home, public indifference and "stress". The most interesting is probably public indifference or permissiveness and stress.

Part of the problem probably being the overly "protective" nature of social idealism reflected in the laws, people forget that "rights" are "earned" by fulfilling their individual "responsibility" as individuals and as a member of society. Since this involves much discussion, limiting it to one area is probably best.

Laws today protect the perpetrator before protecting the victim. No one is really allowed to help or assist in anything but during natural disasters without being charged with some civil or criminal activity. A "good Samaritan" in the American sense is often an open door for disaster for the Samaritan. So everyone turns the other way, trying NOT to get involved.

The other area is "stress". There is very little relief from stress in our society today. There is stress at home, at work, at school, at play and even during rest. One such stress is the inability to express oneself for fear of being ridiculed, laughed at, ignored and even punished. And the most stressful is being "ignored".

"Ignored" just verifies that one is not important, not recognized, not needed, not wanted, and everything else that starts with NOT, that he/she may want or need. It simply denies one's existence and self-worth.

When a society allows too much for social demands and so called individual rights, it forget to "recognize" and give worth to those who do not get into the "limelight" as do the so called "public figures" from sports to entertainment. That may be especially true for youths who are "demanded" and "expected" to perform and outperform "others" without first recognizing and giving value and worth to what they are and what they have already accomplished.

Not saying this is true for all. But these two factors certainly appear to play important roles in what is happening in schools today.

The school released a statement on Wednesday, confirming that the act was one of bullying, and apologized to the victim.

So an apology and deep bow will make the problem and ear scar go away?

four of the boys held the victim down

saying they had the consent of the victim

Are they stupid or bad liars or both?

@tmaire: You probably do not have kids or must think everyone should be an angel like yours! All we can hope for as parents is that kids listen to most of what we say and do not end up hurting themselves or others. As a kid, I did so many crazy things (none involving hurting anyone maliciously) that I am surprised I am not dead. The problem in these cases is that impressionable kids might end up following a psychopath because he may seem cool to them. Sometimes all it takes is one and others who are too afraid to say no, will follow. Either way it is a case by case basis. Some people are unfortunately wired wrong and they short circuit. Perfect example is that poor girl from Sasebo who killed her friend and chopped her up and kept her in her bed.

No one is really allowed to help or assist in anything but during natural disasters without being charged with some civil or criminal activity.

Eh??? Can you point out a case where someone here has been charged for trying to help someone? I find folks here don't want to help because they don't want to get invloved or don't want the person to feel bad or embarrassed. That and many just don't care if the person isn't someone they know.

Back on topic please.

Is the victim deaf or otherwise impaired in that ear? Is the press allowed to report on what the school specializes in? Did the one who quit the school allowed to go on with his life with no consequences for his action. (Injure or take part in an activity causing harm to another? Just leave.)

My_Opinion, really? You don't think there is an issue with parenting when a child forces another one down, in a gang, and hurts someone? YOU doing something stupid as a kid that may hurt yourself is one thing, you doing something that knowingly inflicts pain on others is an issue with empathy and self control which leads me to believe the parents have not instilled such values. Parents need to instill these values in kids rather than assume the schools will.

And ditto what Franchesca said.

Does anybody know the name of the school?

Laws today protect the perpetrator before protecting the victim. No one is really allowed to help or assist in anything but during natural disasters without being charged with some civil or criminal activity. A "good Samaritan" in the American sense is often an open door for disaster for the Samaritan. So everyone turns the other way, trying NOT to get involved.

Not true. Here's a link: <>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Samaritan_law

I really do believe that parents need to be charged if their minor child assults someone. It make actually make them aware of the punk they have supposedly raised.

YOU doing something stupid as a kid that may hurt yourself is one thing, you doing something that knowingly inflicts pain on others is an issue with empathy and self control which leads me to believe the parents have not instilled such values. Parents need to instill these values in kids rather than assume the schools will.

No, I don't think they should be charged for a crime that they didn't commit. Some parent(s) work 3 jobs just to take care of their kids. Unless they are encouraging their kids to commit a crime, that's not fair for the parent(s). It's a misguided belief as well as how you correctly pointed out that the parents shouldn't rely on the school to babysit their kids.

Does anybody know the name of the school?

Yeah, would like to know. There is a well known vocational school in Nagoya that parents pay through their nose to go to. Some of my friend's kids go to one there.

@DaDude,

The only thing I could find is: 名古屋市熱田区の専門学校

A senmon gakko in Atsuta ku in Nagoya city. There are probably a few of those around the area.

Four punks held him down, with his consent, while a fifth punk peirced his ear. Sounds plausable to me.

Laws today protect the perpetrator before protecting the victim. No one is really allowed to help or assist in anything but during natural disasters without being charged with some civil or criminal activity. A "good Samaritan" in the American sense is often an open door for disaster for the Samaritan. So everyone turns the other way, trying NOT to get involved.

exactly which laws are you talking about? your post is filled with wild and untrue speculation about japanese laws and human motivation. you must love the sound of your typing.

@DenTok

Is the victim deaf or otherwise impaired in that ear?

It wasn't his eardrum; it was his earlobe (耳朶).

I can see how it might have been done with the boy's consent.

1) The other boys all had "cool" pierced ears, which they'd either done themselves or had done at an unscrupulous beauty parlour.

2) The boy in question wanted to look "cool" too. Perhaps there was some peer pressure too.

3) He couldn't summon the courage to pierce his own ear.

4) He asked the other boys to do it for him and go through with it even if he changed his mind half-way through.

Of course I'm not claiming this is what actually happened, I wasn't there. But teenage boys do some pretty weird stuff, and it would explain the strange claim for "consent".

@lucabrasi Oooooohhh! Piercing the ear. For some reason, I thought the eardrum was punctured. Thanks.

Not in Saitama??

Opps that's hurt whoah body shaking

Better than a forced belly button ring, but cruel to say the least.

A senmon gakko in Atsuta ku in Nagoya city.

At their age it would have to be a koto-senmon-gakko, which is a private HS. Senmon gakkou are technical colleges, the word vocational makes it sound like they are for jd's, (well in this case probably appropriate).

One of the five students quit the school shortly after the incident, a school official said.

Ok....? And that means what? He is still guilty of assault.

@tmarie I agree with some of what you said, however you seem to lack parental insight or experience to fully understand what I was getting at. One thing is for parents to ignore their kids and have them raise themselves and another is teaching your kids and them still getting sucked in by peer pressure and such. Kids might be able to fight it off at times but we all fall for it at least once. Don't tell me you never had to deal with peer pressure.

And what you seem to lack is understanding in instiling self confidence and ethics in children is a parent's job and if they fail at it, they need to be held accountable. We all have to deal with peer pressue but when it comes to attacking someone in a gang and causing harm, sorry no. I know I certainly was taught better and so were my peers. The ones that weren't had crappy parents who honestly should've been held responsible for their children's behaviour. Not all parents are great and being held responsible would go a long way in a) helping those that need support and b) educating folks about what it takes to raise kids decently. These kids are punks and clearly more needs to be done about the environment they live in.

ASSAULT. A criminal offense right?

They did swab his ear with alcohol and use rubber gloves-right?

These unacceptable behaviors are common in communities and cultures globally, always and will continue unabated unless three crucial elements, schools, students, parents are compelled to succumb through stringent zero tolerance, anti bullying and harassment policies, with punitive sanctions when red lines are crossed.

Thumbs down for calling assault assault?!?!?!? Wow, so sad.

When I was 16 I ran a straight needle through my ear. It was a popular thing to do back in the 70's and I'm not scarred for life. Some men still pierce their ear today. Did he ask the other boys and got in trouble for it and claimed it was an act of bullying? My father was angry with me but I didn't blame it on anyone but myself. It is hard to ram a needle through the ear and I had to do it in steps. This would have taken some time to do and I guarantee if it was against his will he would have been yelling loud enough to wake the dead. It also takes something like thick rubber behind the ear to accomplish the act of freehand piercing. Hard to believe a group of bullies brought everything necessary to do this against another's will.

Japanese kids sound like real wimps

Looking at the story again it says pierced his left ear. This is a manly piercing, so if it was a case of bullying I think they would have made it feminine and stabbed his right ear.

Looking at the story again it says pierced his left ear. This is a manly piercing, so if it was a case of bullying I think they would have made it feminine and stabbed his right ear.

You realize this happened in Japan, right?