By Barrier Free Japan
April 4 2025
JAPAN – In 2024, at a vocational high school run by Musashino Higashi Gakuen in Musashino City, a male board chairman was sent for indictment on suspicion of coercion for forcing a female student, then in her third year, to write an apology letter. On the 2nd, the Tachikawa branch of the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office announced that he would not be prosecuted. The decision is effective as of March 31, and no reasons have been disclosed.
And yes, Barrier Free Japan has been published in the online publication ‘Unseen Japan.’
Episode Notes:
‘Parents Say Tokyo School Once Safe for Autistic Kids Is In “Crisis’ (Unseen Japan):
‘Prosecutors Decide Not to Prosecute ‘Inclusive’ Tokyo School Chairman Over Coercion of Female Student’:
Barrier Free Japan 
Thank you for your continuous attention and concern on this.
One point I want to mention is that , as you are aware of , the school is known for inclusive education . And the femail student who was forced to write the apology letter was a student without autism.
In the meeting to discuss the school rules , the (to be) chairman was continuously interrupting one student trying to speak out to express opinion . That was the reason this student , who later got expelled , spoke out to the man telling he should just shut up and let the speaking student complete. This was after several attempts of her politely saying so.
There may be an opinion where the way she finally told this man was rude , but if rudeness is to be considered how rude is it to continuously block a student from speaking in a meeting which was conducted , said to be , to collect the opinion from students regarding changing school rules?
By the way, it seems it was not only her who had to write the apology letter.
But this femail student was the only one who later stood up to sue this man for forcing to write the apology letter (for what!?) threating to get expelled if not.
You know what happened after that.
She finally got expelled right before graduation. If the reason to expell her was for her rudeness during that meeting, she should have got forgiven by handing out the apology letter.
If the reason she got expelled is because she sued the man. This is clearly against the rights we have under article 32 of the Constitution of Japan.
This was the background of what got decided NOT to prosecute this man.
How fair does this sound to you?
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It doesn’t sound fair at all to me. I’m a university lecturer in Japan & I know that even if a student is re-admitted, the they were expelled is information that university admissions officers will get to know about bad possibly future employers. It could possibly follow that student for the rest of her life.
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