Tokyo acts to stop corporal punishment after boy hangs himself
It took the suicide of a 17-year-old to galvanise government efforts to ban corporal punishment
Horrified by the suicide of a boy of 17 who was assaulted by his basketball coach, as well as a spate of similar cases, the Japanese government has announced plans to put a halt to corporal punishment, a practice banned by law but that goes on nonetheless.
Under the proposed law, to be debated during the upcoming session of the Diet, corporal punishment by a teacher will be considered a form of bullying and schools will be required to report serious cases to their local governments.
It comes too late for the captain of Osaka's Sakuranomiya High School basketball team, who hanged himself in his room on December 23.
The teenager had told his mother the previous evening that his coach was singling him out for punishment and had slapped his face as many as 40 times during the day's practice.
A swift investigation by the school revealed that the 47-year-old coach, who has also not been named, had physically abused 21 of the 50 players.
Initial reports suggested the coach's harsh methods had been tolerated for the previous 18 years because his teams were successful. It was revealed that the Osaka city government had received an anonymous tip-off more than a year ago that players on the team were being roughed up.