Barrier Free Japan has learned further details of the situation surrounding the female student expelled from Musashino Higashi Gakuen, specifically that the female student forced to write an apology was expelled when she was just about to graduate.
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.
It was revealed at a press conference on March 31 that staff members at the ‘Nakai Yamayurien’, a prefectural support facility for persons with disabilities in Nakai, Kanagawa Prefecture, had verbally abused and dragged users.
Parents of students attending Musashino Higashi Gakuen raised concerned about the appointment of Kenzo Matsumura as early as February 2024. In their change.org petition, parents express their concerns that the school as a “safe haven for our children is in a deep state of crisis, and with an ever growing concern about the future of our school”.
The number of child abuse cases handled by child consultation centers across Japan in fiscal 2023 rose by 10,666 from the previous year to a record high of 225,509, the government said Tuesday.
Japan’s Cabinet on Tuesday 11th March approved an amended bill requiring companies to adopt protective measures against overbearing or abusive behavior from business clients or the public. The bill mandates that firms establish clear rules against abuse and set up a system for victims to file complaints. The move follows a rise in workers quitting or suffering from mental illness due to “kasu-hara,” a Japanese slang term for customer harassment.
It has been revealed that in October last year, a male student with a disability attending a special needs school in Mie Prefecture was filmed in a school toilet by two high school students and posted on social media, causing him to miss school for an extended period of time, and the school has determined that this constitutes a serious case of bullying. According to the Mie Prefectural Board of Education, in October last year, a male student with an intellectual disability (then 17) attending a special needs school, which is attached to a prefectural high school in the prefecture, was filmed in a shared toilet stall by two male high school students and posted on the social media site Instagram.
Japan’s Children and Families Agency has compiled draft guidelines for municipalities on operating shelters for young people who run away from home due to abuse or family issues, clarifying that those aged below 18 can use such shelters without parental consent.
In fiscal year 2023, the number of cases in which elderly individuals were abused by staff at care facilities increased by 31.2% compared to the previous year, reaching 1,123 cases, according to a survey by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare released on the 27th. This marks the third consecutive year of record-high figures and the first time the number has exceeded 1,000 since the survey began in fiscal year 2007.
Last year, 4,641 people with disabilities were abused by family members or staff at welfare facilities for the disabled, the highest number ever. According to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, last year, there were 3,477 cases of abuse of people with disabilities in local governments nationwide, and 4,641 people were abused, both of which are the highest numbers since statistics began being collected in 2012.
Barrier Free Japan