Kin: Bullying led to her death

Part of article: Boy, 14, found hanged; bullying link seen

The Yomiuri Shimbun
November 16, 2006
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061116TDY02011.htm

OSAKA--The father and elder brother of a 12-year-old girl who committed suicide in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, on Sunday said at a press conference Tuesday that she likely took her life as the result of bullying.

Kazuo Okawa and his son, Toshio, revealed the girl's name for the first time and showed mementos such as a picture, taken with a mobile phone camera, of Rie singing karaoke with her family on the day before she jumped to her death from a public housing complex.

They said they hope that by speaking publicly about Rie's death, they could encourage others who are suffering not to give up hope amid the recent string of bullied children committing suicide.

"I think she did it because she was bullied, but I want to know the truth," Kazuo, 49, said about the death of his daughter, who was a middle school student. He said Rie had said she was being bullied at school, but had not gone into any details.

Kazuo said Rie often came home looking depressed, but when Rie's mother asked her if she should speak with her teacher, Rie told her not to as she would get harassed again if others found out her mother had intervened.

"It's like a dream," he said. "I keep thinking that tomorrow I'll hear her say, 'Good morning, dad.'"

"[The day before the suicide] we all went to sing karaoke for the first time in a long time, and she really looked like she was enjoying herself. After we got home, she played with her elder sister and went to her room. That was the last I saw of her," Toshio said.

A classmate had said earlier Rie had been teased because she was short.

Kazuo said: "She had an illness that prevented her from growing taller. When she started middle school, she said, 'I'm going to get taller,' and had been receiving injections of growth hormone. Rather than worry about her illness, she tried to overcome it."

Toshio, 28, said: "She sometimes came home from school angry. When she was in primary school, she was always mentioning the names of her favorite teachers, but after starting middle school, she didn't say anything about her teachers. I wish we could have talked about this as a family."

"The thing I'm most angry about is the fact that the people who caused this haven't apologized. Their apology won't solve anything, but I want to get to the bottom of this," he added.

(Nov. 16, 2006)

Funeral held for bullied Osaka girl

The Yomiuri Shimbun
November 15, 2006
Source: http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20061115TDY02007.htm

A funeral was held Tuesday for a first-year middle school girl of Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, who is believed to have leaped to her death from a public housing complex after reportedly being bullied.

After the girl's death and funeral schedule were announced in her neighborhood at about 10 a.m., her friends, teachers and others, all dressed in black, gradually gathered for the funeral at a local meeting place.

During the ceremony, which started at 11 a.m., her school uniform-clad classmates joined their hands in prayer.

"I remember she used to play happily with her elder sister," a 62-year-old woman who lived in the same housing complex as the girl tearfully said. "Every time I look at her portrait, the sorrow wells up. I hope she can rest in peace."

The 12-year-old girl reportedly became depressed and strongly resisted going to school about a week before she is believed to have committed suicide Sunday.

Although she was often absent in her primary school years, she had seldom missed a day since entering middle school.

However, she suddenly claimed she did not want to go to school about a week before committing suicide. Her mother encouraged her and began giving her a ride to school, but she strongly resisted and took a day off on Thursday, three days before she died.

One of her classmates said she began looking distraught and often kept to herself. She sometimes reportedly stood alone near a school gate until evening.

The municipal Daiichi Middle School that she attended is investigating whether she had really been bullied, including what had happened during her last week.

Meanwhile, her primary school was found to have recognized that the girl had been bullied by her classmates on at least three different occasions.

The primary school had warned the middle school that she might face difficulties because she was small in stature and mild mannered.

he primary school, however, did not provide any details of the three bullying incidents.

===

Calls to hotline quadruple

The Osaka Municipal Board of Education conducted 126 consultations--about four times more than usual--on a telephone hotline service that was extended for two hours a day over seven weekdays between Nov. 1 and 10 in an attempt to prevent students from killing themselves due to bullying.

In addition to four regular counselors, three more people from the board of education manned the hotline at the Osaka Municipal Education Center in Minato Ward from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

Seventy-three, or nearly 60 percent, of the consultations concerned bullying. In one case, a primary school student confessed that she felt sad over being bullied. Although the student tried to tell a teacher about her situation, she reportedly was told the teacher was busy.

Of those calling for bullying consultations, 49 were primary school students, 18 were middle school students and five were high school students.

===

Nara student found dead

NARA--A 14-year-old male middle school student, believed to have committed suicide by hanging himself, was discovered by his family at about 6 p.m. Monday in Nara, police said.

He was a third-year student at a Nara municipal middle school.

The school principal said at a press conference early Tuesday that the school was unaware of any bullying problems, and that the student did not seem troubled about his future after leaving the school.

No suicide note was left. The police were asking his family for possible reasons behind his death.

The school reported to the Nara City Board of Education and held an emergency meeting of school teachers later Monday. The members of the board also commenced discussion of the incident at 9 p.m.

In a school meeting held Tuesday morning, the principal called for students to report if they knew anything about the alleged suicide, and to seek advice if they had any trouble.

According to the school, the student had belonged to a table tennis club until July, and was an eager and tenacious student, having no absences since April.

He returned home after school Monday. He looked his usual self on the day, his parents said.

(Nov. 15, 2006)

12-year-old girl kills herself in Osaka Pref.

The Japan Times
Monday, Nov. 13, 2006
Source: http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20061113a7.html

OSAKA (Kyodo) A 12-year-old girl was found dead in the compound of a public housing building in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, on Sunday morning after apparently jumping to her death, police said.

The police said they believe the first-year student in junior high school jumped from her room on the eighth floor of the building. She left a note, saying, "I will commit suicide. Goodbye," according to the police.

While she did not refer to bullying in the note, some of her classmates said she had been teased about her body shape when she was a sixth-grader in elementary school, the police said.

The junior high school she was attending said it cannot yet confirm if she had faced bullying and that it will investigate her suicide through questioning students.

The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved

12-year-old girl apparently jumps to her death in Osaka; leaves suicide note

Japan Today (Kyodo)
Sunday, November 12, 2006 at 21:32 EST
Source: http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/390174

OSAKA — A 12-year-old girl was found dead in the compound of a public housing building in Tondabayashi, Osaka Prefecture, on Sunday morning after apparently jumping to her death. Police said they believe the first-year student in junior high school jumped from her room on the eighth floor of the building.

She left a note, saying, "I will commit suicide. Goodbye," according to police. While she did not refer to bullying in the note, some of her classmates said she had been teased about her body shape when she was a sixth-grader in elementary school, police said. The school she was attending said it cannot yet confirm if she had faced bullying and that it will investigate her suicide through questioning students.

© 2006 Kyodo News. All rights reserved. No reproduction or republication without written permission.