Bullying Lawsuit in Japan
A 15-year-old girl who was bullied as an elementary school student was awarded 1 million yen in damages on Friday in a lawsuit filed against four parents of the girl’s former classmates.
The girl, whose father is Chinese, was often teased by her former classmates over a period of about 11 months from April 2000, when she was in her third year of elementary school, being called “Chinese.” Her classmates would also physically bully her by hitting her in the head, according to the ruling.
The Kawasaki Municipal Board of Education conducted its own investigation, and in 2004 acknowledged that there had been malicious bullying based on ethnic discrimination. The education board has apologized to the girl and her parents.
The girl and her parents had demanded 7.4 million yen in damages, saying that she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) as a result of bullying by her classmates during elementary school.
We all know that schoolyard bullying, or they call ijime in Japan is rather serious. It is indeed very sad that the poor little girl was being targeted by bullies simply due to her ethnicity.
Well seems like parents now would look at this more seriously and take their own bully kids into hand before the law fines anymore of them.
I’m sure the 1 million yen can bring some smile back to the poor little girl. Some new toys and a PS3 perhaps (*°∀°)=3
yay for her!