{"id":15609,"date":"2019-04-04T08:11:19","date_gmt":"2019-04-04T18:11:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15609"},"modified":"2019-04-04T08:12:33","modified_gmt":"2019-04-04T18:12:33","slug":"senaiho-update-2-school-bullying-in-yamanashi-jhs-how-people-who-file-complaints-for-official-harassment-get-harassed-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/?p=15609","title":{"rendered":"Senaiho Update 2: School Bullying in Yamanashi JHS: How people who file complaints for official harassment get harassed back."},"content":{"rendered":"

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Hi Blog. Here’s a second update from “Senaiho”, who has given Debito.org important updates (previous ones here<\/a> and here<\/a>) about overzealous enforcers of school rules in Japan\u2019s compulsory education system acting as what\u00a0Debito.org<\/a> has long called<\/a>\u00a0\u201cthe Hair Police<\/a>\u201c. This phenomenon particularly affects NJ and Japanese of diverse backgrounds, who are forced by officials to dye and\/or straighten their naturally \u201cNon-Asian\u201d hair just to attend school.<\/p>\n

Bullying is rife in Japanese education<\/a>, but when it\u2019s ignored (or even perpetuated) by officialdom<\/a>, this feeling of powerlessness will leave children<\/a> (particularly those NJ children with diverse physical features<\/a>\u00a0targeted for \u201cstanding out<\/a>\u201c) and their families<\/a> scarred for life. \u00a0(As discussed at length in book \u201cEmbedded Racism<\/a>\u201c, pg. 154-5.) \u00a0As reported on Debito.org at the beginning of this year, after months of playing by the rules established by the local Board of Education,\u00a0Senaiho finally lodged a formal criminal complaint against his daughter\u2019s school officials, and it\u2019s smoking out hidden documents.<\/p>\n

The update is that The BOE is simply engaging in obfuscation and coverup. After attracting some (domestic) press attention<\/a> (which didn’t itself cover the racial-discrimination aspect of this happening to a child of international background, for having the wrong natural hair color\/texture), the local government has decided (as you can see below) to investigate not the case (to prevent something like this from ever happening again to another student), but rather how not to get sued. Official transcripts are also indicating testimonies grounded in rumor, not fact, without direct input from the victimized family. \u00a0And for good measure, we now have the time-worn bureaucratic tactic of smothering claimants with documents to consume all their free time. All while Senaiho is attempting to take this out of local lackluster investigative hands and into criminal court, by filing a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The interesting news is that according to a recent article in Japan Today (full text after Senaiho’s dispatches) is that forcible hair cutting like this is seen as (generally distasteful) corporal punishment (taibatsu<\/em>) elsewhere (in conservative Yamaguchi Prefecture of all places, home constituency of PM Abe). \u00a0In that case, apologies were forced by the students, top-down pressure put on the teacher to reform, and the teacher being relieved of some of his duties. \u00a0Let’s keep an eye on Senaiho’s case, for if his criminal complaint succeeds, it will be a template for others on how to take cases of abusive teachers out of the hands of evasive, “see-no-evil” Boards of Education, and protect diverse children from the cookie-cutter conformity of Japan’s JHSs and SHSs. \u00a0Debito Arudou Ph.D.<\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
\nFrom: Senaiho<\/strong>
\nSubject: officials meeting transcripts<\/strong>
\nDate: March 25, 2019<\/strong>
\nTo: Debito Arudou <debito@debito.org><\/strong>
\nHello Debito,<\/strong><\/p>\n

On the way to the prosecutors office yesterday we picked up a copy of all the documents the city office has concerning us. We made the disclosure request about a month ago. We have gone over most of it and I can report to you and your readers about the contents.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I have to begin by saying that we are only allowed to see documents that relate to us directly, so in the picture I sent, you can see we have the minutes of meetings between elected officials and heads of departments and their staff. Everything that does not relate to us is redacted, however if you hold the copies under a strong light, it is readable. I won t dwell on any of that for now. What I can say without a scientific survey, is that about 90% of the discussion about us in these meetings discussed how to avoid being sued. There was never anything discussed about how to make things right, or how to do anything properly, it was all a discussion on how to avoid, confuse, delay, and obfuscate. There was a small discussion on who might be personally responsible if a suit occurred, and the impression I got was they were all out to minimize their own personal responsibility by shifting the blame to some other department or person other than themselves. There was some discussion on the effect of the mass media, again trying to strategize a way to make themselves look better in some light. The remainder of the discussion was about a rumor some official had heard from someone in our neighborhood that we requested the teacher to cut our daughter’s hair and that we were in fact glad that they cut it. How ludicrous! We now know who the source of this non fact is.<\/em><\/p>\n

Since some of these comments were made by elected officials, we have the right to demand clarification from these officials on the exact meaning of some of their statements which we will soon do.<\/em><\/p>\n

So anyone who has ever wondered what these well paid officials do with some of their employed hours, now you know.<\/em> Senaiho<\/strong><\/p>\n

\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/
\nFrom: Senaiho<\/strong>
\nSubject: council meeting transcripts<\/strong>
\nDate: March 27, 2019<\/strong>
\nTo: Debito Arudou <debito@debito.org><\/strong><\/p>\n

Hello Debito,<\/strong>
\nWe got another major data dump from the city office yesterday and are trying to sort through that now so have several balls to juggle. I think this might be a little difficult for your readers to grasp, so I will try to explain what these meeting transcripts are about and the issues we have with it.<\/em><\/p>\n

1. There is an elected official on the town council by the name of Takei Toshihisa, you can find his name in the documents. He states several times in meetings that he has heard a “rumor” that he keeps repeating that my wife gave permission to the teacher and in fact asked her to cut our daughters hair. This is an outright lie. At first they tried the narrative that my daughter gave permission to the teacher to cut her hair, but now they are trying to make my wife the trouble maker by supposedly asking the teacher to cut our daughters hair. This is the tactic of shifting the blame from the perpetrator, i.e. the teacher and trying to place the focus of the cause of the trouble onto the victims, or in other words blame the victim for the accident. This was the strategy from the beginning by the B. of E. and the town council member is just following that line.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

2. This town council member also tries to change the language of the incident and insists on downgrading the title of it from a “school accident” to something less serious, like “school incident”. By doing this he thinks it will lessen the seriousness and their liability in case they are sued. Just calling something by what it is not, will make it go away or lessen the impact of it. Here he shows that he has no understanding of what his job is as a member of the town council. Their job is oversight of the functions of the city government. When the B. of E. was not doing their jobs and following the law we petitioned the town council to oversee them and make them do it. You can see by these transcripts they are in fact not doing it.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

3. Its not in these transcripts, but another member of the town council who happens to support our cause told us that she heard from this Takei san regarding us as people; “These people are a problem.” I suppose he has some deep seated hatred of mixed marriages and their offspring residing in “his” town. We plan on filing a complaint petition about what he says and the job he is doing which is our right as a citizen. I hope more people will do the same in their area.<\/em><\/p>\n

If our case is taken up by the prosecutor it will be because of the fact that we have mountains of evidence showing what we claim. As you may know most cases get dismissed because of a lack of evidence. We started collecting it from the day we suspected our daughter was being bullied. We have recordings, pictures, statements from witnesses, documents, many bytes of stuff all on google drive. Without it we would be nowhere today. I cant stress this enough.<\/em> Senaiho<\/strong>
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Japan Today article:<\/p>\n

High school teacher in hot water after forcibly giving male student a buzz cut<\/strong>
\nApr. 4, 2019, courtesy of JDG<\/strong>
\nBy Koh Ruide, SoraNews24 TOKYO<\/strong>
\nhttps:\/\/japantoday.com\/category\/national\/high-school-teacher-in-hot-water-after-forcibly-giving-male-student-a-buzz-cut#comments<\/a><\/p>\n

Not too long ago, teachers from a Japanese school made media headlines when they went to the extreme of cutting off 44 students\u2019 hair for not meeting the dress code. And it appears a similar incident has happened again, this time in Kudamatsu Technical High School in Yamaguchi Prefecture.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In late autumn last year, a male teacher in his forties allegedly grabbed an electric hair clipper and gave one of his first-year male students a buzz cut, causing the boy take a leave of absence from school shortly after.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

When approached by the principal in December, the teacher claimed he did it because his hair was too long.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But it seemed the problem ran deeper, as the educator had often hurled verbal abuse at his homeroom class, calling them \u201cmorons\u201d, \u201cidiots\u201d and \u201cstupid\u201d, earning him a stern reprimand from the principal. When classes resumed in January after the New Year holidays, the teacher\u2019s personality had apparently changed for the better, an improvement the principal thought not important to warrant reporting to the local Board of Education.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

But all 40 pupils of that class and their parents had not forgotten that the educator forcibly cut someone\u2019s hair, and furiously launched a petition to the board in February this year calling for his disciplinary dismissal.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

In an effort to appease them, a meeting between school, Board of Education, students and parents was held on March 15, where the teacher officially apologized for his mistakes.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cForcibly cutting students\u2019 hair amounts to corporal punishment,\u201d a board spokesman said firmly.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The educator\u2019s role has now been shifted from homeroom teacher to assistant teacher, away from tasks that involve student-teacher interactions. \u201cThe current situation is still under investigation, and we will consider the feelings of the parents and students with regards to the teacher\u2019s future,\u201d said the principal.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI deeply regret that it has come to this. I failed to report to the Board of Education because I thought the issue was solved with the teacher correcting his behavior, but I should have done so,\u201d the principal apologized.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Source: Nikkan Sports via My Game News Flash<\/p>\n

ENDS
\n\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/<\/p>\n

Nikkan Sports original article, courtesy of AnonymousOG\uff1a<\/p>\n

\u6559\u8aed\u304c\u751f\u5f92\u306e\u9aea\u3092\u4e38\u5208\u308a\u3000\u4fdd\u8b77\u8005\u3089\u304c\u61f2\u6212\u514d\u8077\u3092\u5606\u9858
\n[2019\u5e743\u670825\u65e5\u3000\u65e5\u520a\u30b9\u30dd\u30fc\u30c4]
\nhttps:\/\/www.nikkansports.com\/general\/nikkan\/news\/201903250000810.html<\/a><\/p>\n

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\u305d\u306e\u5f8c\u3001\u4eca\u5e741\u6708\u306b\u5165\u308a\u3001\u540c\u6559\u8aed\u306e\u751f\u5f92\u6307\u5c0e\u304c\u300c\u4eba\u304c\u5909\u308f\u3063\u305f\u304f\u3089\u3044\u300d\uff08\u540c\u6821\u9577\uff09\u6539\u5584\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3088\u3046\u306b\u898b\u3048\u305f\u305f\u3081\u3001\u6559\u80b2\u59d4\u54e1\u4f1a\u3078\u4e00\u9023\u306e\u4e8b\u614b\u306b\u3064\u3044\u3066\u5831\u544a\u3057\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u304c\u30012\u6708\u306b\u5606\u9858\u66f8\u304c\u51fa\u3055\u308c\u305f\u3002\u5b66\u6821\u5074\u306f15\u65e5\u306b\u6559\u80b2\u59d4\u54e1\u4f1a\u540c\u5e2d\u306e\u4e0a\u3067\u751f\u5f92\u3001\u4fdd\u8b77\u8005\u3068\u5206\u3051\u3066\u8aac\u660e\u4f1a\u3092\u884c\u3044\u3001\u6559\u8aed\u306f\u8b1d\u7f6a\u3057\u305f\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\u9ad8\u6a4b\u6821\u9577\u306f\u300c\u5b50\u3069\u3082\u305f\u3061\u306b\u3068\u3063\u306612\u6708\u307e\u3067\u306e\u8a00\u52d5\u3001\u8003\u3048\u304c\u5909\u308f\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3060\u308d\u3046\u304b\uff1f\u3000\u3068\u7591\u554f\u304c\u3042\u3063\u305f\u306e\u3067\u306f\u300d\u3068\u8aac\u660e\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>\n

\u540c\u6559\u8aed\u306f\u5606\u9858\u66f8\u306e\u63d0\u51fa\u5f8c\u306b\u62c5\u4efb\u3092\u5916\u308c\u3001\u751f\u5f92\u306b\u95a2\u308f\u3089\u306a\u3044\u696d\u52d9\u3092\u3057\u3066\u304a\u308a\u3001\u30db\u30fc\u30e0\u30eb\u30fc\u30e0\u306a\u3069\u306f\u526f\u62c5\u4efb\u304c\u5bfe\u5fdc\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3068\u3044\u3046\u3002\u9ad8\u6a4b\u6821\u9577\u306f\u3001\u540c\u6559\u8aed\u3092\u6765\u5e74\u5ea6\u3001\u62c5\u4efb\u304b\u3089\u5916\u3059\u3053\u3068\u3092\u691c\u8a0e\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3053\u3068\u3092\u660e\u304b\u3057\u300c\u4eca\u306e\u72b6\u6cc1\u3060\u3068\u96e3\u3057\u3044\u3068\u5224\u65ad\u3057\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3002\u751f\u5f92\u3001\u4fdd\u8b77\u8005\u306e\u6c17\u6301\u3061\u3092\u8e0f\u307e\u3048\u3066\u914d\u616e\u3059\u308b\u300d\u3068\u8aac\u660e\u3057\u305f\u3002<\/p>\n

\u305d\u306e\u4e0a\u3067\u300c\u5b66\u6821\u304c\u3001\u3053\u3046\u3044\u3046\u72b6\u6cc1\u306b\u306a\u3063\u3066\u3044\u308b\u3053\u3068\u81ea\u4f53\u3001\u5927\u5909\u7533\u3057\u8a33\u306a\u3044\u3002\u79c1\u304c\u898b\u3066\uff08\u6559\u8aed\u306e\u751f\u5f92\u6307\u5c0e\u304c\uff09\u5909\u308f\u3063\u305f\u3068\u601d\u3044\u3001\u770c\u6559\u59d4\u306b\u5831\u544a\u3057\u306a\u304b\u3063\u305f\u304c\u3001\u6628\u5e7412\u6708\u306e\u6bb5\u968e\u3067\u5831\u544a\u3059\u3079\u304d\u3060\u3063\u305f\u300d\u3068\u8b1d\u7f6a\u3057\u305f\u3002
\nENDS<\/p>\n

==================================
\nDo you like what you read on Debito.org? \u00a0Want to help keep the archive active and support Debito.org’s activities? \u00a0Please consider donating a little something. \u00a0More details here<\/a>. Or even click on an ad below.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s a second update from “Senaiho”, who has given Debito.org important updates (previous ones here and here) about overzealous enforcers of school rules in Japan\u2019s compulsory education system acting as what\u00a0Debito.org has long called\u00a0\u201cthe Hair Police\u201c. This phenomenon particularly affects NJ and Japanese of diverse backgrounds, who are forced by officials to dye and\/or straighten their naturally \u201cNon-Asian\u201d hair just to attend school.<\/p>\n

The update is that The BOE is simply engaging in obfuscation and coverup. After attracting some (domestic) press attention (which didn’t itself cover the racial-discrimination aspect of this happening to a child of international background, for having the wrong natural hair color\/texture), the local government has decided (as you can see below) to investigate not the case (to prevent something like this from ever happening again to another student), but rather how not to get sued. Official transcripts are also indicating testimonies grounded in rumor, not fact, without direct input from the victimized family. \u00a0And for good measure, we now have the time-worn bureaucratic tactic of smothering claimants with documents to consume all their free time. All while Senaiho is attempting to take this out of local lackluster investigative hands and into criminal court, by filing a criminal complaint.<\/p>\n

The interesting news is that according to a recent article in Japan Today (full text after Senaiho’s dispatches) is that forcible hair cutting like this is seen as (generally distasteful) corporal punishment (taibatsu) elsewhere (in conservative Yamaguchi Prefecture of all places, home constituency of PM Abe). \u00a0In that case, apologies were forced by the students, top-down pressure put on the teacher to reform, and the teacher being relieved of some of his duties. \u00a0Let’s keep an eye on Senaiho’s case, for if his criminal complaint succeeds, it will be a template for others on how to take cases of abusive teachers out of the hands of evasive, “see-no-evil” Boards of Education, and protect diverse children from the cookie-cutter conformity of Japan’s JHSs and SHSs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,54,28,22,19,5,12,4,46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15609","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-embedded-racism","category-pinprick-protests","category-anti-discrimination-templates","category-cultural-issue","category-education","category-human-rights","category-immigration-assimilation","category-japanese-government","category-practical-advice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15609","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15609"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15609\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15615,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15609\/revisions\/15615"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15609"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15609"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.debito.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15609"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}