Boy jumps to death after telling teacher, police he was bullied (JAPAN)

[AsahinaKimi]

National Sep. 01, 2011 - 02:30PM JST ( 85 )
SAPPORO —

A 13-year-old boy died after apparently jumping from the roof of an apartment block in Sapporo on Tuesday morning. Police said Thursday it appeared that the boy had been regularly bullied at school and that he had told his teacher about it in July.

According to an NTV report, the boy went missing on Monday and was found by police, at which point he told them that he wanted to die because of the bullying. Police returned the boy to his family. On Tuesday morning, he left his home in Teine Ward but didn’t show up at school. His mother and a teacher searched for him and found him on the roof of a nearby 9-story building at 9 a.m. The boy jumped despite their efforts to talk him out of it, NTV reported.

The school principal confirmed Wednesday that the boy had told his homeroom teacher that he was the victim of bullying and malicious gossip. After meeting with the Board of Education, the principal released a statement saying, “This is a truly tragic event. We are planning to carry out an investigation into the possibility that this incident was brought about by bullying.”

http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/boy-jumps-to-death-after-reporting-being-bullied-to-teacher-police

[RKP5637]

1. Yet another WTF. Why the F don't people listen to these kids. Humans, what

a lot. He's dead, oh, must have been a problem, well, we'll investigate now. I NEVER cease to be amazed at this crap.

[whatchamacallit]

2. Ugh

:cry:

[xchrom]

3. 13.nt

[Jkid]

4. Tragic? In Japan bullying is routine.

If you don't commit suicide, you'll at least be forced out of school into a hikikomori routine where any chance of enjoying a normal life is reduced to 5%.

[AsahinaKimi]

5. Hikikomori* (for those who don't know)

Hikikomori (ひきこもり or 引き籠もり Hikikomori?, literally "pulling away, being confined", i.e., "acute social withdrawal") is a Japanese term to refer to the phenomenon of reclusive people who have chosen to withdraw from social life, often seeking extreme degrees of isolation and confinement because of various personal and social factors in their lives. The term hikikomori refers to both the sociological phenomenon in general as well as to people belonging to this societal group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hikikomori

[chillspike]

6. I don't understand how

on the one hand the Japanese can bow to cars at cross streets, leave lost valuables left in public untouched or return them to their owners, go out of their way to help lost travelers and a thousand other courtesies always thinking of others and yet still do this to their own. I just don't get it. Heartbreaking.