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Despite knowing there was a normalized culture of forcing others to drink alcohol, the university neglected to provide sufficient guidance.

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The mother of Rei Yamaguchi, a 19-year-old Doshisha University student who died after binge drinking alcohol during a school dance group training camp in 2016. She has filed a lawsuit against her late son's university for allegedly failing to pay proper attention to the safety of its students.

© Mainichi Shimbun

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What an awful way to lose a loved one and at such a young age.

19 is still very young for many people with regards to having the confidence to say "enough" or to even know what is enough in terms of alcohol. At this age, the boy in question may not have had much drinking experience and would have had impaired judgement, rendering him incapable of refusing or knowing that he'd had a dangerous amount of alcohol.

I am also wondering what legal responsibility the university holds. Was there a representative from the university (professor, coach, etc.) at this training camp or was it all students with the older students being the sempais?

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Forced drinking sounds like doing at sempai's behest. With that prevailing culture, it is very difficult for the victims to refuse. Note that some of it may be amplified if sempai wants to get into kohai's pants.

Sports teams at UK universities have a rep for doing it too as initiations, but lots of wrongs don't make a right.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

One gets the impression that there are no Safe Serve certifications for servers and bartenders, that there are no orientation instructions about binge drinking, if you see someone drunk asleep to role them on their side, or any sense of positive steps to help everyone have a good time with established well known and well practiced limits.

Are there any such things? If the least they can do they can't even do then indeed the neglect is real and a lawsuit is warranted.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

There comes a time in your life when YOU, not your mother, not your teachers, not your friends, but YOU are old enough and responsible enough to make your own decisions. Sure, the others should be advising too but if YOU decide that drinking two bottles of vodka to impress your new friends is "cool" and a good idea then I'm sorry but there is only one person to blame... YOU. Especially at 19 years old.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

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