6 high school students arrested for beating up 15-year-old boy

Bullying seems to be part of the culture here.

Apparently so, both with students and teachers. It works both ways and with each own group (ie. teacher-teacher, student-student). It happened to me with another teacher. A few years later, that teacher was fired from this school and later blacklisted in the area.

Take away their annoyingly noisy motorbikes and there soon won't be any bosozoku. Simple, really.

Maybe not so simple. Take away the bikes and they will gravitate to something similar elsewhere. This for example:

https://www.wrpawprint.com/features/2018/03/08/disney-gangs/

Protection rackets in the Magic Kingdom.

Btw, not everyone on a motorcycle is a criminal. Those of us who are law abiding and ride quiet motorcycles get tired of being lumped in with the one percenters. Even as a naval officer I was tossed out of places simply for carrying a full face helmet, the rest of what I was wearing did not identify me as a motorcycle rider, short hair, clean cut and all that. But I rode a bike instead of a car and that immediately made me a criminal in the eyes of some. It gets tiring.

expatJan. 14  12:37 pm JST

"Bullying seems to be part of the culture here." Yeah, it's unique to Japan. Not found anywhere else...

True in the US too. Our current excuse for a POTUS is a bully. However, karma catches up on them.

nandakandamandaJan. 14  04:49 pm JST

They are BIG and STRONG when they're in a group. Pathetic and scared when the police get them individually.

Seperate each one and somebody will squeal. They wil ALL be wimps when they're not together and surrounded by cops.

These motorcycle gang members are breeding grounds for the YAKS, after getting points they go on to become members or Yakuza.

Thugs like these need to be prosecuted as adults

Unfortunately, in Japan, adults are often not prosecuted as adults.

I don't think there's much you can do about it. One of my boys was in a similar situation in Tokyo. Police advised us not to press charges for fear of retribution. As soon as his broken nose and eardrums healed, we sent him to highschool in my own country.  I feel for Japanese parents who don't have that option.

6 onto 1 thats hard guys! since they injured him, they can have the medical bill for all of his treatment and recovery. the probably wont be able to pay such a huge bill, the answer to this is they can break rocks in a large quarry, or go and sweep the local roads, clean up river banks, pick up litter on the road sides, or pick up litter on mt Fuji, waring bright pink jump suits.

I really hope his parents go after the strictest punishment available

I 100% agree!

Thugs like these need to be prosecuted as adults

I 100% agree!

Be better more than very friendly with the few remaining youngsters, the little remaining ‘future’ of the country. If you are helpless in your senior residence soon, and you surely are earlier than them, you will be so happy if such little gangsters serve you by throwing a new diaper into your direction or face, if you paid them beforehand....lol

Take away their annoyingly noisy motorbikes and there soon won't be any bosozoku. Simple, really.

They are BIG and STRONG when they're in a group. Pathetic and scared when the police get them individually.

Run them over. The end.

i blame the police here. I have seen several illegal acts around the Koban where I live, and the police did NOTHING, despite it being right directly in front of their koban.

Good job again j-cops.

ThonTaddeo

Bullying, even violent bullying, happens everywhere, but the 6-on-1 nature of this case -- the poor victim never had the slightest chance of avoiding, or retaliating against, what his tormentors did to him -- is more common in Japan than elsewhere.

That's simply incorrect. Pretty much anywhere you go in the world, you will have similar incidents. Not sure where you're from, but I'm from Australia. It happens there.

According to the Juvenile Investigation Division, four of the six suspects are members of a local motorcycle gang called the “Tsurumi Family,” that operates out of Yokohama’s Tsurumi Ward.

not to repeat foreignbrotherhood's comment but, what are they driving, electric bikes? mamachari's or those put-put scooters? while that is unimportant, people like these should be arrested and get scared straight. Here's just my theory, the bosozoku's emerged when times got tough (their peak was during the mid-80's to early 90's when Japan's bubble economy popped) as what people do during hard periods. Well, with this pandemic leading the world to a global recession, I am just theorizing that gangs like these might also increase. I hope the kid recovers and these hooligans be placed behind bars, if they're old enough to beat up someone, they're old enough to do time.

BosoZoku down at Shonan make a lot of noise. There are about 300 of them. However, they stop at red lights. Cops take pictures of them but nothing ever happens. I never saw a fight.

Hope the kid is ok.

"Bullying seems to be part of the culture here." Yeah, it's unique to Japan. Not found anywhere else...

Bullying, even violent bullying, happens everywhere, but the 6-on-1 nature of this case -- the poor victim never had the slightest chance of avoiding, or retaliating against, what his tormentors did to him -- is more common in Japan than elsewhere.

Those 6 bullies need a real whipping the old fashioned way. Nonsense when it takes 6 for just 1 kid. I really hope his parents go after the strictest punishment available. If its about money I'm willing to help them get the best to put them away for a long time. Suffer the same fate as their son in more ways than one. The punishment should fit the crime in this case.

That poor kid needs to find Miyagi Dojo as soon as possible, before they do it again.

There was a CSI NY episode with a similar story and the gangster got death penalty.

Hope the kid survives and the thugs get locked away for a long time.

6 on 1, eh? A bunch of tough guys.

Tough love discipline as well as mentoring and rehabilitation needed in order to grow up and live a good life.

These 6-boys should be punished thoroughly so as to deter the bullying attitude.

Anti-Bullying Educational system should be set-up in Japan from Kindegatten/Nursery to High Schools.

The boys parents will just pay the victims family and nothing will happen to them. Even if the victim dies, there is no chance of prosecution. Just look up the Junko Furuta case.

Junko Furuta's assailants were prosecuted, convicted and jailed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murder_of_Junko_Furuta#Prosecution

The boys parents will just pay the victims family and nothing will happen to them. Even if the victim dies, there is no chance of prosecution. Just look up the Junko Furuta case.

The victim is unconscious and remains in critical condition following the beating, Sankei Shimbun reported. Police said the six boys, all aged 16, assaulted the junior high school student at a park in Yokohama between 7:30 p.m. and 11:20 p.m. on Jan 4. 

The victim, who lives in Seya Ward, was repeatedly punched and kicked in the face and body. He suffered an acute subdural hematoma from severe internal bleeding in his brain.

And yet they still treat these hooligans as underaged kids.

I hope the victim makes a healthy recovery.

The police here need to step up and just confiscate the noisy motorbikes that these young idiots ride around on at midnight

That’s a bit tough. At 16 they are just peer-led victims of society. Without stereotyping: mum is a solo mother with a part-time job, father a drunken construction site worker, diner if any is McDonald’s or gyoza or ramen, and they are picked on at school by teachers because they don’t “fit the mound”.

Not protecting then, but they did cross the red line...never kick someone on the ground in the head.

(3 months hard labor on a windy desolate snow covered island north of Hokkaido)

Wow, sounds like the bousozoku gangs have degenerated. The most menacing I ever remember them was riding from 7-11 to Lawson on toy motorbikes, back and forth, eating onigiri outside with a scowl on their faces.

Hope the poor kid recovers.

This is a lot more than "beating up" another kid. This a shocking assault.

The police here need to step up and just confiscate the noisy motorbikes that these young idiots ride around on at midnight. If the 15-year-old dies, they won't be riding for quite a while and rightly so. Throw the book at them.

16 year olds in a motorcycle gang? What do they ride, a six year push bike? Their mums mamachari? Oh dear these kids would’ve been so fun at my high school...

These lads are not your sweet ordinary mama's boy type. They are called "bou-so-zoku's. Decades ago they were the menace of the roads but because of the Article 68 of the Road Traffic Act which was intended for these bums, their numbers decreased dramatically. They are thugs that causes significant inconvenience and nuisance to road traffics and others, running in group on motorcycles while roaring the sound of the engines with noisy mufflers installed.

Japanese law has been very lenient and favors youngsters. If these "thugs" can commit such crimes, then they knew what they were doing and should be tried as adults. @foreignbrotherhoodarmy - Yes, they would be well welcomed at my high school, too.

Thugs like these need to be prosecuted as adults

agree

16 year olds in a motorcycle gang? What do they ride, a six year push bike? Their mums mamachari? Oh dear these kids would’ve been so fun at my high school...

Nasty little pieces of excrement.

Throw the book at them for this attempted murder.

Thugs like these need to be prosecuted as adults