Nursery principal arrested for injuring 2-year-old in Fukuoka

The principal, Yoshiko Sato, 75, is suspected of slapping the boy's face and biting his arm at the nursery school in May. Sato has denied the allegation, according to the police.

Damn, 75 year old "principal"? Sounds to me like she should have been "retired" a long time ago, I am willing to bet she is the owner.

Again, where in the world do children learn how to bully?

jcapanToday07:28 am JSTAgain, where in the world do children learn how to bully?

this isn't bullying. a teacher can't bully a two-year old. this is assault, plain and simple.

Senior teachers have a wide potential berth to abuse children as they will not be challenged by their underlings at work. Actually, since they are the "sempai" the others may even fee pressure to imitate their behavior.

Biting a kid? What could this 2 year old possibly have done to deserve that? What was SO extreme that could only be punished by returning a bite to a baby? Causing a nosebleed? wow.......

It's a 認可外の保育施設, so its a private facility, though I'd imagine the fees are still subsidized by the taxpayer. It just looks like a small ordinary building.

It sounds like there is systematic child abuse going on, so very heavy punishment for her. The place should also be shut down.

""The principal regularly resorted to violence," a person close to the school said. "She beat a child causing a nosebleed and she also dragged a child by the hair.""

And they are just doing something about this NOW despite knowing before because...?

Close down her school and lock her up.

2 year old. Biting. Principal. Nutcase.

Stories like this just make me see red! Is that principle insane?

A 75 year old biting a 2 year, that is insanity,

Lock her up and chained to a bed in a sanitarium.

"The principal regularly resorted to violence," a person close to the school said. "She beat a child causing a nosebleed and she also dragged a child by the hair."

How the hell nobody did anything to prevent this ?

Even if she is the owner, the staff did think they should stop that insane person? What did they waiting for? an infant death???

The staff should be punished also under the offense "Duty to rescue"!!!!!!

The 75-year-old nursery school principal slapped the 2-year-old boy's face and bit his arm? It's hard to imagine. She's like a ferocious animal! It can only be described as an abnormal behavior at best.

"The principal regularly resorted to violence," a person close to the school said. 

So why did this "person" not report her as he/she has obviously known about this abuse for some time?

sadly many years ago I had the dubious pleasure of working in a Soka Gakai controlled kindergarten.

Naive newbie.

it was simply horrific. So Victorian, regimented and abusive.

But I can get why a junior J staffer couldn't challenge it.

i tried, but it was a King Canute scenario.

Walked away instead cos couldn't get any support.

Tried finding agencies to help obviously domestically abused child but seriously put down and told not my business.

Generally Japans private education has few controls, even less checks and is more focused on profit or indoctrination than education.

nakanoguy, criminally yes it's assault and she should be jailed and never allowed near another child. But my point is the prevalence of such abusive practices is why bullying is so common among older children. This 2 year old is obviously not the only kid who's been targeted over the years. A nursery school has kids 0-6 on its premises. No doubt many have been victims of such abuse and surely every child has observed it for several years. As with parents who abuse their kids, having a physically (and no doubt emotionally) bullying authority running this facility. setting the tone for these children's care, will result in kids being more likely to lash out at their own peers as they age.

 But my point is the prevalence of such abusive practices is why bullying is so common among older children. This 2 year old is obviously not the only kid who's been targeted over the years.

it's a stretch to call what she did bullying. it more closely relates to corporal punishment, which is when a teacher or school official physically punishes a child. bullying is meant to intimidate a person, through psycholoogical and physical means. you're conflating two issues here.

75 year old can come up with the old "I have dementia" defense.

Biting?

Am I reading this correctly?

surely lost in translation! I would hope!

I thought the traditional method to modify Japanese childhood behavior was pinching an arm.

What a nasty piece of work.

'Lock her up in a deep dark place for a while..'

Or, with her hands securely tied up, in a room full of 2 year olds enjoying being 2 years old.

@Disillusioned. You really should get a Japanese friend to contact the police regarding your neighbor. They are starting to take these things seriously. Even if they do nothing to help, at least you will have tried. A visit from a social worker might be enough to make her reflect on her behavior.

Blattamexiguus

really? Where was that?

Yaburo wrote

Damn, 75 year old "principal"? Sounds to me like she should have been "retired" a long time ago, I am willing to bet she is the owner.

Yes, many of the private kindergartens are run by wealthy people who have an extra lot of land which they built a school on. Usually the principal is the owner, or a relative.. Usually they know nothing about teaching kids, nor do they care. They act like their kindergarten is their castle, and everybody must bow down to their wishes. More often than not, they pay their young teachers peanuts and overwork them, so they will quit. Then next year they will have new batch of teachers to exploit.

If you have kids, try to put them in a public kindergarten. Usually the teachers are experience, get a descent wage and likely be there for more than one year.

""The principal regularly resorted to violence," a person close to the school said. "She beat a child causing a nosebleed and she also dragged a child by the hair.""

And, don't be so naive to believe this is an isolated incident. Many child care staff dish out beatings and abuse. There's been quite a few similar reports in the last 12 months or so. There was the one using tape on kids and another making kids eat hot curry. However, these are only the cases by carers. Much worse things go on in Japanese homes. The single mother that lives beneath me is constantly screaming at her 6 year old son and I mean 'constantly'. It starts in the mornings until he goes to school and continues in the evenings when he returns. It goes on all weekend too. Many times I've heard the kid begging her to stop. I know there are beatings accompanying the screaming too, but I haven't witnessed it, just heard it. Too many Japanese people consider kids to be a burden or something to take out their aggressions on. As much as this is old bat biting the kid is disgusting, I don't find it surprising, sadly.