12-Year-Old Hangs Self with Scarf She Knitted for Mother
- Categories: Japan, News
- Date: Oct 26, 2010 14:24 JST
- Tags: Bullying, Gaikokujin, Gunma, Schoolgirls, Suicide, Teachers, Video Gallery
A 12-year-old girl has hanged herself with a scarf she knitted as a gift for her mother after being bullied by her classmates for having a non-Japanese mother.
The 12-year-old girl, Akiko Uemura, was a 6th year elementary school pupil at a Gunma prefecture school.
She was discovered dead in her room by her 41-year-old mother, having hanged herself from a curtain rail using a scarf. She had knitted the scarf herself, as a gift for her mother.
The girl had transferred into the school two years previously after moving there from Aichi. In the 5th year, she began to be bullied, with classmates calling her “dirty” and telling her not to go near them.
She was also bullied for having a mere foreigner as a mother. Her mother’s nationality has not been revealed.
Her 50-year-old father says he reported the matter to the school repeatedly, but the school never did anything:
“Since she began her 6th year, we discussed ending her bullying problems with the school more than 10 times, but they never showed any indication of actually taking action.”
As might be expected, the school principal (pictured) denies everything, saying at a press conference that they “had no idea she was being bullied” and that “we’d like to establish the truth of what was happening.”
He also claims that “we wanted to fix the situation [with other students refusing to eat lunch with her], but we didn’t realise it was a bullying issue.”
The local board of education apologises profusely and intends to conduct an investigation.
Her father says she begged him to move away and have her attend a different school, or at least transfer her to another school in the same area, so severe was the bullying.
The family was planning to move to Osaka and have her attend a new middle school in the spring – her father tried to encourage her to put up with it until her graduation at the end of the 6th year. Tragically, it seems she could not endure that long.
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What a shame.
Kids are dicks
Also, same ole' "Well hyuck hyuck we dun knowz what was happenins"
I'll tell you immediately, schools everywhere don't really give a half a fuck if a kid gets bullied.
It's pretty much assumed as being "A part of life", and whether or not a teacher interfere won't do any good. If the teacher does, the bullying intensifies, if the teacher doesn't, the bullying remains. Damned if you do, damned if you don't, and after punishing hundreds and hundreds of bullies, the end result is?
Don't give a fuck, let the kids fend for themselves. So when a kid 'tragically dies because of bullying', their solution is simple. "We didn't know, and we would've tried to fix it if we did".
Bullshit, you would've turned the other way and walked away asap if you saw it coming because that's too much work to do on top of dealing with an unruly class, teaching at a level where even your stupidest student can understand and correcting all these papers overtime outside of school and on your own.
Nevertheless, I stick with my original intent and say "Fuck you school system, fuck you hard. Fuck you up the ass with a huge black dildo, break it off and then beat you to death with the other end."
Bullying builds character
Deal with it
lol all my teachers do are stop fights an thats it, the only time when they actually stop bullying is when we bully younger students and the younger students report them to the teacher. both of those conditions must be met in order for the student to be punished
If it was my daughter I'd break some bullies' arms and legs - and torture the fucking principal and all teachers who just watched without doing anything to death, slowly.
The parents are to blame as well, though. How could they wait so long? I'd tell the teachers to stop this shit twice, then I'd do something myself. It wouldn't be pretty, but effective.
man i havnt been bullied since elementry, i went to a private school for middle and high school though so that could explain it, and no one bullies in college, everyone should be mature at that point, if they arent then what the fuck are they doing in college?
i like how all of you arent putting into account that this isnt simple bullying but racism as well
if a kid over here was bullied for being black, i doubt you'd be saying the same things
Parents tend to forget that time flows slower when you're younger. A month for an adult is a short time, a month for pre-teen is forever.
This is one facet of Japanese society that I really can't understand. If I was her classmate, I would totally respect the fact that her father scored with a foreigner. But bullying her to the point of suicide?
I mean, my dad is Asian and my mom is American, and growing up I was always proud of my heritage, and everyone that knew about my parents would be proud too.
I'd totally understand the motives behind the bullying if the mother was Japanese and the father was a gaijin, I mean I'd hate to be the bastard child of a taxi (an Asian prostitute, the ones you see trying to act white in order to suck white dick as their life goal), but I still wouldn't commit suicide, not for anyone.
Condolences.
As racist as everyone calls American we won't care who you mother is much less who you are at times its sad that people do this.
Judging from her facial features her mother was probably Asian, which is foreign enough to be ostracized but not foreign enough to be "cool".
That principle is a real class act, but the sad fact is every Japanese bureaucrat is like that. The days when Japanese men picked up a knife and didn't flinch at accepting responsibility are looooong over.
@Schrobby
If you had a bullied daughter, you would be in prison and the same dicks you spent so much effort into beating up will give the same treatment you showed them to your kid and woman while you can't do shit about it.
I would not get caught. It's no problem to quickly break some limbs or snag someone for a "fun session" without being seen when you're careful. No proof, no punishment.
Oh, and should the recipient of the fun be dumb enough to try some shit he'd deeply regret it.
If I have reasons I can be an evil bastard.
I think also the teachers are to blame too...
Why they didn't do anything to support the child?
We´re they being order to not do something? or they actually dont do something?
IMO, kids should pay (not by being bully neither revenge). I know they don't know the consequences for their actions but still... she was a child.
But no one will say anything, besides they will said "It was just another girl" yeah but if it was your kid? then they go "but the other kids tend to bully my kid, bla bla bla"
@Anonymous 18:44:
breaking the face of someone spouting a fucking load of crap like "bullying builds character" is considerably better for your character than being bullied.
@Anonymous 18:44:
My sentiments exactly. Fuck you 18:44.
They say that children are even more cruel than some adults because they don't know the consequences of their actions. Driving a girl into committing suicide is a heartless act, but we cannot overlook the fact that children do what they see, and this is just another casualty to Japanese patriotism. I feel bad for her parents, and disgusted at the cowardly pigs who desperately try to avoid the subject. Scum like that are a waste of human life.
And incidents like this will still continue from now on. Because of people like them who want to save their school's reputation(and in turn their own face).
Such acts happen no matter what you do, there's all kinds of people in the world and even when you already know shit is going to hit the fan, you try to do what you can, but in the end you will still watch helplessly as bullying claims another victim.
Its the way of life, it pisses you off.
I have two daughters, they're mixed, and it would kill me if that happened to either of them. The japanese are enforcers of the "the nail that sticks up is the one that gets hammered down", this was a combination of the worst factors in bullying, a young girl - very emotionally sensitive, just in the puberty age - already feeling different and insecure, mixed in 98% homogenus country, in japan - where bullying is brushed off by the school administration. Bullying under these conditions was bound for disaster, this poor girl's death could've been avoided, it's everyone's fault, the kids, the school, and the parents. This news, makes me very sad, not just for her, but for us as humans.
i can guarantee that the moment parents start to sue the shit out of a school, everyone will give a fuck about bullying.
currently the teachers are instructed to look the other way, and allot of the time, actually telling the kid being bullied to stop doing what ever makes them be bullied.
that said, fucking hell, that must have sucked to find, hug with a scarf she knitted for mother...
cant you be home schooled in japan?
you got to imagine that there is a online option for schooling with them being that shitty.
I pity the parents more. They might feel that they were too late while all the while actually trying to take care of their daughter.
This has got to be one of the worst things about Japan's system ( not to mention others...) : Schools trying to off responsibility and say it isn't their fault and they did not know -_-.
japan is notorious for its xenophobic and racist society, which is a shame since they make some really good stuff... just the people easily switch to "douchebag mode". in all seriousness, blood and nationality dont really have to to with anything, its like an avatar in any game, its "the stats" or skills/personality/ability that count, you could have the best DNA in the world but if you are dumb as a rock by flaunting it all the time, it doesnt matter, the musings of an intelligent collective are much more effective than a lone genius. there is a huge list of things about japanese society that need to be fixed, but then, that can be said of any society...
sigh... i understand being proud of your nationality, but banding together like common thugs to pick on an innocent person is just pathetic. im fine with "we are awesome", but if you are going to go about touting "i am better than you", you had better have a legitimate reason, or else you stand to make more enemies than friends.
remember, its more likely the most powerful people are the humble ones, those who flaunt themselves are usually quite weak, where they have to band together to be of any threat.
Nationality may be the culprit in this scenario, but it's not the true issue. In fact the younger kids in Japan are apparently less aligned with old style foreigner hatred than any other generation, save for those influenced overly by foolish parents.
The saddest part is all I can do is pity these children, as this story is also extremely close to mine, just that I never ended up committing suicide. Those of us who have been through this ourselves are left with little more than a defeated pity at hearing one who couldn't handle to battle.
The Japanese do nothing about it, the Americans remove dodgeball... in the former it seems to form some type of self-reliance in those who aren't lost to the unfortunate 'natural selection' of children. In America, it leaves us with a terminal case of having removed the gradual hill of life being presented to the kids, and showing them plateaus, so everything hits them like a truck rather than pain in their legs from a climb with each minor lesson.
Either way, it's instilled in me a complete lack of tolerance for stupidity. All I do for these instances is allow myself a night of imagining some people getting shot who more than likely deserve it, and return to the same thing that made me survive everything: that everyone is inherently good, yet misunderstood due to fear and lack of communication.
I don't pity them.
Imho the kids should have the same criminal responsibility as adults, especially in Japan since there over a half of all crimes in the country are done by teenagers.
Mother was probably CHINESE AFAIK.
This is absolutely sickening on the school's part for denying this whole thing...
That principal should be ashamed of himself...
But what gets my blood boiling is the impudent children that drove her to her death...
I wish there was a Silent Hill in Japan for people like them...
Rest in Peace...
This is absolutely sickening on the school's part for denying this whole thing...
That principal should be ashamed of himself...
But what gets my blood boiling is the impudent children that drove her to her death...
I wish there was a Silent Hill in Japan for people like them...
Rest in Peace...
And to think that anime depicts foreigners as rowdy, friendly people.
Racism is just a reason to rage on someone better than you.
Africans = Bigger Dicks than you'll have
Americans/Caucasians = Richer than you'll ever be
Asians = Smarter than you'll ever be
Where do "Caucasians" come from? Azerbaidzan? Armenia? Czechenya?
Caucus mountains in Europe
Does anyone wonder how a 12 year old kid managed to pull off hanging herself with a scarf with lethal results?
Doesn't sound at all like something a girl of that age could get right on the first attempt without practice.
Either both parents were working fulltime, which given the mom's gaijin status doesn't sound too likely, or someone didn't pay attention to the kid, after all.
Stupid nationalistic pride. Being a nationalist ain't bad but when it drives a 6 year old to kill herself you know something is wrong with the education system.
geez, another life wasted
she wasn't 6 years old you idiot, she was in 6th GRADE.
People like them find distinctions between their acquaintances. And when they find something that isn't amazing, but actually pretty weird and uncommon, they treat it as a disease, an epidemic.
Its racist Japan after all.
Hopefully the "foreigner" raises hell to be quite honest. Principal sounds like a dope. They seem to have a track record of that...
@Dreck The principal is the same as any in Japan in this situation; completely denying awareness of the situation.
Japan is disgustingly xenophobic, honestly...
What a sad read...
what if her mother is a chinese?
@Anon 16:09 - Shouldn't matter. The kids parents could be the leaders of the taliban, or the queen of england. Bullying is unacceptable, period.
Actually it should matter if you look what happened to Jews when Nazi Germany was in power and the Japanese in America whilst Pearl Harbor was attacked.
This is not war time, you know.
Why are you talking about Nazi Germany? The Holocaust has next to no relevance to the subject.
@Kwonnie - This is called "Ad Hitlerum", and it`s quite common to see someone mentioning something related to him or Nazi-German in any kind of discussion. Check Wikipedia for details.
Usually, a person who makes an ad Hitlerum is a douchebag and has nothing to add to the discussion.
@Kwonnie because of nationalism and xenophobia, I suppose. That was the cause of suicide in this article and the mass killings during WW2.
Nevertheless, in the way he used this connection, his comment was bollocks.
I happen to be half-Japanese and half-American, yet was raised in the U.S. All I can say is I am very grateful for that. The last time I went to Japan I was disowned by the Japanese side of my family for being "too American" and for not being fluent in Japanese. Even my own father seems to despise me after my decision to join the Army ROTC. I still hope I can get stationed at Camp Zama down in Tokyo without too much trouble from native Japanese.
While this is a sad story it is not one exclusive to Japan, America is still racist but is more passive aggressive about it, "The nail" argument has merit when the nail is being a dick about it, here the nail was not being a dick about it and as such did not deserve the things that happen to it, but flip on the local news and read up on all the murderers, rapists, suicides, and general mistakes people commit and you'd think any country sucks balls.
@anon 18:21 and 16:09
Just gtfo already. Don't even bother trying to explain yourself. Just get out.
Obviously, you're an idiot.
Two different anonymous? Then both of you get the fuck out and go be retarded somewhere else.
I have absolutely no patience for baseless, thoughtless comments like that.
Who gives a flying rat's ass if her mother was chinese? You don't do that kind of stuff to a little girl for any reason. I don't even care when you add in all the recent events boiling between Japan and China. That still has nothing to do with the mother (unless she was somehow involved in some odd way, but I highly doubt that seeing as it WASN'T MENTIONED) and it has even less to do with the child. For added effect, how would you feel if this was your daughter? Then would you care so much just because half of her was a different race than yours? If the answer to that question is no - like it should be - then I have proved my point.
Discrimination against the jews links into this conversation how, exactly? Please, for the love of god, point that out to me. Preferably in a logical manner. Otherwise, this just goes on to prove my other point.
You only mentioned Germany and the Jews to sound smart, but it just made you look like an even bigger idiot that you already were. You don't just include some point and not back it up with atleast _some_ kind of opinion/fact.
Don't even bother trying to argue the point. It's uselss. You're just an idiot.
i really want to strangle that principal with the scarf now
race is jokes
realize that, just a matter of point of view
As soon as the school realized they fucked up, they went into "lawsuit deflection mode."
HAHA, The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Tree. Just As The Germans Had A Hatred For Degenerate Non-German Caucasians, The Japanese Are In Same With Inferior Non-Japanese Asians
Hand in Hand
Lolis should be loved, not bullied.
Yeah kids are dick, but the grown-up that do nothing with the situation are the true evil here. I was the same when my family transfer to a new area, reason of bulling was I'm from the far north, after a few day I pissed off and get on a fight with those who f*ck with me. Then my teacher came in and take my side, after that thing quiet down a lot. Without her interference I may have to fight em an entire year and it would be tiresome.
Principal should be put to DEATH sentence right now!
Fucking LIAR! BURN IN HELL!
Another wasted loli.
I swear parents in japan need to unite against the school board there. Denial/ignorance is not a good excuse when your in charge of educating and caring for people's kids..
Hey I am caucasian, my girlfriend's japanese. We get married and have kids if we raise em in Japan. i will teach them to be self-aware, strong and have the ability to think for themselves. Also to turn around and stand up for themselves when somebody messes with them or their friends. Besides dumb herd children will be beneath their notice. That means if everybody else's kids are too fucking dumb to think for themselves, my kids won't need them as friends
Unfortunately its not that easy. A large group picking on you incessantly will eventually get to you in some way or another. This is very sad and my sincerest condolences go out to the family. Bullying builds character? Bullshit... getting your ass handed to you by your mom or dad after you did something bad builds character. We dont need a herd saying things to us with the intent of just being downright malicious to do that. That's just being downright cruel. It's also a shame that the parents didnt take action for themselves and give her a temporary solution until the coming spring... All told this is just really really sad for all sides.
Unite with who?
Attitudes of children are reflective of their parents. Most likely no other parent who send their kids to the school give a fuck about the shameful foreign family and their dirty mixed child.
"Sticks and stone can break my bones but words will never hurt", I guess that line didn't work this time...very sad. I really hate to see shit like this...
well although a nice hryme
for some people it may actually be the opposite
the word might actually hurt more
mostly those that are emotional
depending on the person it might hurt from anyone or just from htose dear to you
if you can bear it with ease either way it is actually quite sad again
also dont forget that human are social beings
when the society rejects you ...
well you either find something to vent the anger or concentrate on to forget (games, films, books,...) even the internet might be an option but (people that dont know you...)
but it wont be a solution for the problem
WHERE IS GTO WHEN YOU NEED HIM?!?!?!?1
indeed they dont but the main fault is the kids. i know kids r kids but fck it i never bullied when i was a kid and i know a big lot of other kids that never did it as well so the problem is in either those kids deserve a spanking of their lives 1 they wouldnt forget or their parents r a piece of sh1t for not raising their children right.FOR GOD SAKE teacher ur kids some values!!!
A true pity that those kids didn't get to see her getting knocked down by a nice train, that'll teach them how severe bullying is.
reality is harsh, either deal with it or escape from it.... simply not strong enough for the former therefore she chose the later.....
@15:12 I wish you would choose the later yourself.
Reality is shit, but some people like kids in this article fills that already unpleasant shit with needles to step onto.
You must have been the guy who's hitting everyone back at school to make a comment like that.
What a cruel and nasty comment. Were you a bully in school, too?
All you people who are still guessing or debating what nationality her mother is, have good potential to be one of those bullies.
Japan and bullying is a serious, SERIOUS problem. These suicides are not an accident and the people committing suicides don't magically kill themselves for no reason.
The idea behind it is that seniors (of any kinds) tends to be given some license socially to reign over their younger or less experienced or lower ranked co-workers, students, relatives.
That kind of superseniority system in Japan is so tightly held at times, that even when the seniors do UNSPEAKABLY horrid things that run the gamut from coaxing sucides to bullying to rape and the worst of the worst things, they get the benefit of the doubt merely because they're seniors. Not to say everybody in Japan are psychotic bullies, but the way the society caters strictly for the seniors (even if it's between a classmate who may be 1 year older than another), that bullying tends to be just brushed off as something that seniors do to their juniors.
That kind of societal blindspot and willful ignorance that can come (like how that principal is concerned with the 'truth' of the matter, even when the bullying truth is ridiculously obvious), merely because they fall back on the superseniority system as some kind of a moral, ethically correct thing.
It's almost like with other superseniority systems around the world like when priests of religions and boy scouts have had major problems of sexual abuse due to the seniors in the situation always having an unquestioned power. And in some worst cases, it being so systematic that the recourse of the law is diverted and misconstrued and twisted.
Other than the alienation of the homeless in Japan to the way foreigner citizens (if they can even magically find a way to get naturalized in Japan) struggle to fit into Japan's society, bullying is such a huge problem. Because this kind of thing exploits the way Japan is set up to respect their elders. To twist such a generally well versed moral idea into something so sinister, it has to be something that needs fixing. Like how America nowadays is trying to tackle bullying issue had on in recent years, eventually Japan will have to do the same. Even if the truth hurts in that not all seniors may take good care of their juniors.
What's worse is that I seem to read this story every week or two, and that's just the ones that hit international sites. The papers there must just have a form they fill out where they enter a place name.
X year old child in Y prefecture bullied until they killed themselves by Z. Parents say they've spoken with the school many times about it. Principal says it's the first they've heard of it, and they will look into whether the parents are lying about the bullying.
And America is doing such a great job on their campaign right?
Everywhere in the world has a bullying issue and it's not perfect anywhere. But at least in the west, they are starting to make a concerted stand against bullying. Japan has had this problem for decades and they have yet to make a social stand against it.
a nice idea but nothing more
as the step humanity would have to take to see each other as equals (and without prjudice and hate) is nearly impossible to take
you can down vote me but the fact that taking that step would be close to a perfect world that might exist in our dreams (and only in dreams)
her mother was black
must be tough to be a girl. if she was a boy she could have just solved her problems with her fists.
if she were crazier she would have killed the kids making fun of her and maybe executed by the local authorities. at least then she would have gotten back at them.
if people were not so ignorant, the bullying wouldn't have taken place, and a life would have been saved.
i usually don't have sympathy for suicides, but when the person who does it is so young that they aren't even aware of the value of their own life, it just makes me a little sad.
If it happened over here, the parents would sue the hell out of the school board...and most likely win.
Yes they would, and that helps no one as the school now loses money and a variety or detrimental effects will hit the education in that place and kids will get stupider as a result.
fucking kids with tinys dicks
Poor girl, wasnt strong enought for this garbage world.
At least i think she did the right thing...
as sympathetic as your post seems, i don't think people would condone suicide as a way out, if she'd at least sent some sort of violent message to those bullying assholes, it might have had a more long lasting effect, i know full well that bullies are ruthless cold hearted fuckers, beating someone up brutally, causing them to kill themselves, outside, they would upset and symphathetic, inside, they're cheering, one up for the bullies, and it'll stay this way until someone turns around to the bullies and says "listen fuckers, i'm gonna fucking kill you"
but i understand in a sense ho your post was sympathetic
Thanks
I know my words can be harsh but that how i really feel
To me when someone dont do anything to change their life and just let it get worse and worse i say that this people had gave up on everything
So why keep living? Just to get everyone who likes them worried?
I have depressed friends that i get tired trying to help, sometimes i have to tell them to kill themselves and stop complaining about everything!
If they dont suicide, or they do somethin to change or i just get rid of our friendship, i hate weak people like that.
I know i can get really sad and depressed sometimes but i get better as fast as i can.
Thats why i think i have the right to say if someone should suicide or not.