Bullying in Japan
July 16,2022 | By You Me We NPO
On June 28, 2013, the Japanese government announced the introduction of the Anti-Bullying Act, in an attempt to take action in providing a safe and stress-free environment for students. [1] As time goes by, there has been an increase in bullying and suicide cases in school. In 2019, a record 612,496 bullying cases were recognized at schools across Japan. [2]
A study by the Tokyo Metropolitan School Personnel in Service Training Center in 2013 found that 66.2 percent of the more than 9,000 children it surveyed had been bullied. [3]
The chart below the types of bullying that occurs in educational institutions.
Information taken from https://savvytokyo.com/bullying-japanese-schools/
In April of 2021, Japan’s parliament enacted a law to help victims of cyberbullying in seeking to identify individuals who made defamatory posts online. Cyberbullying became a prominent issue particularly after the death of Hana Kimura, a cast member of the Netflix reality show “Terrace House” [4] Hana was bullied on social media, which lead to her death in May of 2020. Since COVID, the world has been primarily remote and cyberbullying is now a larger issue than before. Although the government is taking action to prevent and help victims of bullying, Japan needs to be better educated on the impact of bullying.
We must start spreading awareness of the dangers and repercussions of bullying and take more action. Many victims of bullying are too scared to speak out and when they do, not much is done to stop these bullies.
If you or someone close to you is going through an emotional crisis because of cyberbullying or anything else that may be putting your or their wellbeing at risk, please know that there are available resources to help. The TELL Lifeline is available for those who need free and anonymous counseling in English or Japanese at 03-5774-0992 (9am–11pm every day) or via chat (Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10:30pm–2am). In case of emergency, please call 119 in Japan for help.
For more information please check the website: https://telljp.com/lifeline/
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[1] Sugimori, Shinkichi. Anatomy of Child Bullying in Japan 6: Bullying Prevention (3): How to Interpret the Anti-Bullying Act. Child Research Net, 13 November 2015,
https://www.childresearch.net/papers/school/2015_01.html
[2] KYODO NEWS. Japan had record 610,000 school bullying cases in FY 2019, 22 October 2020,
https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2020/10/ad5b3a710eb7-japan-had-record-610000-school-bullying-cases-in-fy-2019.html
[3] Kawano, Kirsty. Bullying in Schools Modern Bulling Attacks Not Just The Odd Ones Out. Savvy Tokyo, 7 May 2021,
https://savvytokyo.com/bullying-japanese-schools/
[4] KYODO. Japan enacts law to enable simpler court step to find cyberbullies. thejapantimes. 21 April 2021,
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2021/04/21/national/cyberbullying-law-enacted/