In my opinion, there are two types of bullying. One type involves two
people, one of which is physically stronger and bullies the weaker one. I
call this "one-on-one" bullying and it was popular in the past.

In the other type, a group bullies an individual. I call this "group-on-
one" bullying and it is popular now. I believe this takes its root in our
desire to belong to a group. That is, people bully others in order not to be
bullied.

Is there any solution for these types of ijime? The solution for the
one-on-one type is simple. For example, if you are the teacher in charge of
the bullying student, all you have to do is to bring him to your desk and
tell him how silly it is to bully the weaker student.

But, the solution for the group-on-one type is not that simple. It is very
difficult to find an occurrence of this type of bullying, even if you are a
teacher very eager to find any ijime in your class. This is because most
students in your class try very hard to hide any trace of ijime. However, it
is not the case that we can't find any solution for it. One solution is to
help students set some high goals, such as aiming to pass the entrance exam
for a prestigious university and making a great contribution to a local
community. These solutions will give the students a "new" sense of belonging
to a group.

Shoji Onishi

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"Ijime" is a worldwide problem. It has been plaguing every country. Each
country may have specific factors contributing to "ijime", and these
culture-specific factors may vary from generation to generation in a given
society. So I will just focus on the problem as it concerns modern Japan.

Today's young people in Japan tend not to have a strong sense of
individualism. Instead, they want to belong to groups and think that doing
what others are doing is the right thing. So, if there is someone who
doesn't do what others are doing, he strikes them as strange. They must
respect different ideas and accept them. At the same time, they must have
their own ideas. But at the moment, they are content with feeling safe in a
group, doing the same things as others.

Such tendency may have been influenced by Japanese customs with a long
history. For one thing, the fact that Japan is an "agricultural" society may
have contributed to the tendency. Because agriculture requires cooperation,
people naturally learn to work together. For another, Japan is an "island"
nation, which I think is why people like to stereotype others. I think
people can't identify themselves without comparing themselves with others.
But that prevents them from assimilating themselves to each other.  I
believe they must learn to stand "on their on feet".

"Ijime" will not disappear completely, because the exact cause is different
in each case. But, it is important that people view this problem objectively
and don't solve it only superficially.

Naoko Ogawa

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The following message was written by an English student of mine, Kieko Kimpara.

T. Kumashiro.
Keio University, Japan.

Muchan wrote:

> I had experienced serious one, in my first year of junior high school.
> Every Sunday, we were the victims of shigoki for the sake of "joy"
> of one year elders, who went through same things in former year.

I think what he experienced was "ijime", because his senpais did it for the
sake of "joy". Muchan also wrote that the root of "shigoki" is the hierarchy
system. If so, shigoki must be done out of love for kohais. Shigoki is for
senpais to train his kohais to make them stronger or improve their skills.

The image of the word "shigoki" itself may not be a good one, but I think it
is based on the understanding of the meaning of the word by an outside
observer, who does not recognize the mutual trust that exists between
senpais and kohais and simply regards shigoki as a form of ijime. Senpais
think that their kohais must find the training very hard and feel the mental
pain in order for them to imporve their skills. In other words, they believe
that their kohais can be more skillful and that forced hard trainings should
prove benefitial for them in the future. Kohais, on the other hand,
understand the thoughtfulness of their senpais and the pain they feel, and
make efforts to live up with their expectations.

Then, the most important thing is trust between senpai and their kohais. If
a kouhai cannot understand the thoughtfullness of his senpais, the training
would merely be shigoki. A senpai must always pay attention to the mental
health of his kohais, who must in turn make himself understood.

Communication is essential in any relationship, be it between friends,
between two people who love each other, between family members, or between
teachers and their students. Someone who doesn't know how to communicate
with others engage in ijime wihtout hesitation. On the other hand, someone
who has gone through hard times and knows how to be thoughtful of others
wouldn't bully others.

Perhaps someone like that has been taught by his parents how to communicate
with others since he was little. Of course, there can be many others who
taught it to him, but I think his parents have made the biggest influence on
him. I think a better parenting would be the key to solve this ijime
problem.

Kieko Kimpara

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Michael Cash wrote:

>Personally, I think much of the problem could be alleviated by
>changing the class structure in schools. Currently (in junior high
>and high school anyway) the students all stay together in one classroom
>for most of the day, and the teachers come and go.

I agree with Michael. I think the best solution for the "ijime" problem is
for the teachers to leave the teachers' room. Currently, the students all
stay together in one classroom for most of the day. And the teachers all
return to the teachers' room between classes and stay there during their
free time. This makes it hard for students to communicate with the teachers,
although it is very important. A bullied student can consult with his
teacher immediately. This leads to solving and stopping ijime. So if the
teachers' room were abolished all together, no ijime would happen.

Manabu Matsumoto

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The following message was written by an English student of mine, Sakai Shoko.

T. Kumashiro.
Keio University, Japan.

I think bullying will continue forever as long as human beings exist.
Bullying happens all over the world, and it's not a problem unique to Japan.

I believe that the cause of bullying is deeply related to our desire to gain
power. For example, when someone bullies someone else, he often has
collaborators, who "dance to his pipe". He can feel the joy of using power
to control others. In addition, collaborators help the instigator because
they are afraid of becoming the next target of ijime.

In my opinion, someone who is willing to bully others is "selfish", because
he can't understand the victims' feelings. However, there are some
aggressors who have a vulnerable mind and engage in an attack against others
to defend it.

There are many types of collaborators. Some of them actively participate in
bullying, but most others just ignore bullying taking place around them.
These bystanders, I believe, are responsible for the bullyings that they
choose to ignore.

As I said at the very beginning, I don't think bullying would stop, but we
can reduce it by raising children who can understand others' feelings.

Sakai Shoko

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I think the ijime problem is very difficult to solve. Though peoples are now
trying to change schools or the education system itself, these efforts will
not prove successful. I will offer two reasons below.

Firstly, Ijime is problem deep-rooted in the Japanese society. I mean Ijime
is not only a problem facing our generation, but has faced Japanese people
from a long time ago. I attribute the souce of this problem to a general
characteristic of the Japanese people. They tend to do things together. They
are afraid of doing something different or standing out among others. They
always want to belong to a group, and the easiest way to form a group is
eliminate someone who seems different from them. I believe this is why we
can find Ijime in many different places. It happens not only in chools, but
also in offices, neighborhoods, and many many other places.The point is that
we can't solve this problem without considering the general characteristic
of the Japanese people. Even if we can, it would take a long time.

The second reason is a more general one. We can't love everyone on the face
of the earth. Only God is capable of doing that. Humans love some and hate
others. Removing all the causes of ijime would require all of us to be a
God, which, of course, is impossible.

That's why I think we have to do more than just changing schools to solve
this simple, but complicated problem of ijme. We should not just leave this
problem with the Ministry of Education or the principals of schools, because
this problem belongs to our society as a whole.

Atsuo Yanagiuchi

copyright 1999, original authors

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