Classmates Knew About Suicide Victim's Bullying

Boy's father talks about son's bullying

A boy who killed himself by jumping in front of a subway train in Nagoya was being bullied at school — and at least 20 students knew about it.

A survey by the Nagoya city education board showed Friday that the pupils at a municipal junior high school were witnesses to the 12-year-old’s ordeal, and some admitted that he had asked them for help.

Meanwhile, the boy’s family have expressed their grief.

“I don’t want to single out particular bullies, but I hope efforts will be focused on investigating why this happened so as to prevent someone else from becoming a victim,” the boy’s father told a news conference on Thursday.

The boy died last Sunday when he was hit by a train after jumping from a platform at a subway station in Nagoya. He left a note at home saying he had killed himself because he could no longer stand being bullied.

The emergency questionnaire was conducted at the school where the boy was enrolled as a first-grader. Nine of the 20 students saw bullying taking place during an extracurricular club the student took part in.

In the anonymous survey conducted on Wednesday, 494 of 528 students at the school gave replies. Other than the direct witnesses, three said they heard about the bullying or that the victim had asked them for advice. Fifty-seven replied that they heard about it from people other than the student.

Of the witnesses, 13 said they saw the student being ridiculed or slandered, and six said he was ostracized or ignored.

A separate interview-based survey conducted by the education board with members of the extracurricular club revealed that the student had consulted a fellow club member and reported feeling he was at the end of his tether, it was learned Thursday.

The junior high school was unaware of the bullying, according to the education board. The board is expected to conduct detailed investigations.

Jiji Press