The most frustrating thing for me is that I was betrayed by the teachers who I thought would protect me. I want everyone to know the truth.

her homeroom teacher knew about the bullying

Her homeroom teacher was party to the bullying.

It really pains me to read that bullied students can't rely on their teachers to be the peacekeeper and lay down the law, just sad. But that kinda reflects the reality in the real world - those people meant to protect you will often sell you out or won't do their job due to vested interests. Good on the girl for standing up and fight, let's hope she encourages others to take the more constructive approach to fighting their demons. Just a personal side note, I was also bullied during my school days but couldn't rely on my teachers that much since they take bullying too lightly back then and would always say to man up, I hope this problem gets addressed not only in the school setting but in adult settings as well.

Yes, but what really constitutes as "bullying"?

What if students are doing a group project but one of them slacks off and is told off by the others for being irresponsible? The slacker may claim she is a being "bullied" when in fact, it's a case of the others standing up to her lack of commitment and dragging the grades of the others down.

usually, the fact that she,s asking for 5.5 million yen would make me turn my nose up but children and bullying are very sensitive subjects. she was abused and there was many negligent people around her. that teacher apparently is not good enough for the job. - to be a teacher is not just to teach, it,s also to take care of our children and educate them.

good for her, for being strong. let,s hope this will send a message to Japanese schools; kids need to take care of each other (it,s a win-win, there,s only winners in the end) and schools need to take good care of everyone, even those that seem more weak, which in reality they aren,t, they,re just in a more vulnerable position and need some help.

Good on her! I hope she wins

I protected my boys at an all boys school in Tokyo. No way would I let another student, teacher, admin or parent bully a kid. It can happen from all levels and that is pathetic and sad.

Kids need to have a safe environment and so called child safety "Sensei" need to step up to the plate with support of admin and parent teacher associations.

It's ok to blame the teachers, but what of the girls parents? Surely they have some responsibility in this. This is what happens when you don't encourage your kids to talk to you

Vince Black,

I love your comments.They are always awesome.

Parents and friends, where are they ?

What was the bullying about because it could be nearly everything.

Note that some kids have difficulty to cope with little trouble while some others will "man up" indeed. So it is more of a psychological help needed that a teacher as an adult should be able to assess, and ask support if need be.

I wasn't there and neither were you. She says she was bullied. Maybe she was and maybe she wasn't. I have met people who take everything as abuse. Pretty soon people give up on them and stop trying to be nice in any way since they take everything hard.

And what is a teacher to do anyway? Its real easy to sit and judge people at my computer, even with the utter dearth of information we have. And people have their great ideas that work swell on paper. But teachers are very limited in their options for punishment and they also have not been trained to deal with such situations. When one kids said another kid stank, I told that kid he stank too. Usually shuts them up. But Japanese teachers can not even imagine such a thing and I can't blame them. I could see a parent coming down on them like a ton of bricks while I can pull the gaijin card.

Anyway, my response is I don't know....cause I don't.

No details in this short quote.

But as i understand from other sources the bullying went on for years from 3rd - 6th grade.

The main culprits were 3 other girls. It began with "softer" stuff - name calling, leaving out etc and escalated into physical including being pushed down stairs. The parents had any number of meetings with the teacher(s) and seniors but nothing of any consequence was done. The severest action it appears was the girls were "spoken" to by the teacher.

Apparently the bullies parents were never informed of what was going on and were shocked (?????)

The girls mental state became so traumatised that she couldn't begin Jnr High (probably the same bullies were there) and now attends a free school I believe.

I fully support the family in their case and hope it sends a big message to weak schools and staff whose responsibility is to protect those in their care.

Weakness hides in the heard. It takes strength to walk away from complacency and expediency. Get it out there young lady. Only way to do it is to shine the light on the importance of each individual to do the right thing. Hit them where it hurts. It’s the only way some will ever learn.