[kj1980]

Originally Posted by killermonk

I ask this of you Japanese citizens who find this bullying situation so troubling- why do you not take a stand? Bring all of this out in the open; it will probably give some people a wake up call. If it truly is as serious a problem as you claim, making it a public issue will attract more and more people who agree with you. My thoughts are that if you were to amass a large group of individuals against bullying, some higher-ups would acknowledge it as a serious issue.

If Japan is anything like where I live, then it is extremely possible. I've seen it happen here many times; in fact, my mother founded a land trust program in order to take a stand against the over-development going on around here. She gained support, which ended up leading to her group becoming a prominent figure in my town. Now, if you ask me, this bullying situation is FAR more serious than over development, so I can say quite confidently that there are a great number of people that would probably be willing to fight against it.

Such things do not work in Japan.

We all know it is a big problem. We don't do anything about it. Why? Because, we have other "big issues" (meaning: useless crap) to worry about. We selfishly assume this matter will resolve on its own, when in fact, is just a burgeoning and ticking time bomb.

So let’s look at the reality about groups who actually do try to take a stand.

Some parent fed up with all this ijime problem takes a stand and creates a support group for activists and creates a lobby against ijime. A liberal party in Parliament takes up the issue for their cause against the leading majority party.

Both sides debate the issue on a popular political show (something like “Meet the Press” and “Larry King Live” in the States)

Political parties involved:

Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) – the majority party of Parliament that had controlled the Japanese government since 1955 (with a minor lapse in the mid 1990s). They lead the conservative coalition along with the Komeito and the Liberal League.

Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) – the largest minority party. They lead the liberal opposition along with the Japanese Communist Party (JCP), the Social-Democrats (SDP), and the Mushozoku-ha (Independents).

DPJ: “Ijime is a burgeoning problem that we face in our nation’s schools today. We knew about this all this time, but we’ve kept it under the rug because of the conservatives not caring about our nation’s childrens. All they cared was nurturing corporate zombies in our schools by promoting over-excessive excellence while being blind to our childrens’ mental and social health.”

LDP: “Once again, the DJP is attacking what we have achieved over the past fifty years. We are well aware of the problems that our children are facing. We have reduced schools from six days a week to five. We’ve set up after school programs and psychological call centres modeled after Germany. We’ve set national standards and protocols for school administrators to be more aware of students’ cry for help. We’ve spent trillions of yen for the well being of our nations’ schools and children. Only the liberals proclaim that what we have spent is not enough.”

DPJ: “XXX-kun (members of Parliament address each other with the suffix “-kun”), you cannot be as so blind? Spending trillions of our taxpayers money is worthless if results are not shown! Basically what you are saying is that we’ve spend trillions of our citizens’ money to try and resolve these issue. But in reality, do we see any effect? In the past decade, the national suicide level has jumped three-fold. We see our nation’s schoolgirls selling their own bodies for sex for their own luxury. We see teenage crime rising. Teachers and school administrators are apathetic to the children’s needs. Aren’t these results showing the LDP is wasting money?”

LDP: “XXX-kun, you’ve been a politician for what, thirty odd years? You know how the system works. Several years ago, we tried to pass a legislation in both Houses to add a oversight committee and government department to check on our schools. The liberals decried that this was nothing more than, and if I quote, ‘outrageous totalitarianism to feed our children dangerous nationalistic ideology.’”

DJP: “Well the problem of that so-called legislative bill rammed through by bureaucrats underneath your arms was that ambiguous rider that documented oversight of textbooks – which we all know is bullshit and fails to portray what really happened. That legislative BS is nothing more than LDP backed pork-barrel project to aid the Ministry of Education in glorifying our past mistakes.”

LDP: “What you are saying is dangerous, my friend. We, of course do not want to go that extreme – we are a democratic country that allows freedom of speech. All we want to know is that the truth is told as it was by having an independent historical council review those books.”

DJP: “Independent councils! Ha! Let me give you the political affiliates of those so-called ‘independent councils’ ”

Moderator: “Representatives of both parties, I need you to stay on topic. The issue here was about ijime.”

LDP: “Sorry, I got carried away.”
DPJ: “It won’t happen again.”

[exchange happens three times over the hour long debate]


Do you see where this is going? Nowhere. They are doing the same thing they are babbling about in Parliament. It’s pointless and useless. And you expect us citizens to give a shit about our country with how our elected representatives act in both Houses?


In the end, the conclusion is:

LDP: “What the DPJ is asking is, therefore, we increase more awareness to our nation’s school. Unfortunately, that means we need to raise taxes, which are high as it is to support such causes. Our economic situation right now cannot afford us to raise taxes.” (read: “You want something, we need to take more money out of your pockets. We know all you citizens have your own problems with finances, so do you really want the government to steal more money out of you? Vote conservative. Liberalism sucks.”)