Certainly. Here is a detailed explanation of the case in Yaizu City, Japan, where a female third-year junior high school student died due to what is alleged to be inadequate response to bullying by the school.
Yaizu City Junior High Student Suicide: Inadequate School Response
This case involves the death of a female third-year junior high school student in a municipal school in Yaizu City, Shizuoka Prefecture, who tragically took her own life in September 2022. The family attributes her suicide to severe bullying and the school's failure to take appropriate action.
In September 2025, the student's parents filed a lawsuit against the City of Yaizu, seeking damages and arguing that the school failed in its duty of care by neglecting to address the known bullying and foreseeable risk of suicide.
1. The Bullying and the Student's SOS
According to the lawsuit and media reports, the student began experiencing bullying soon after transferring to the school in April 2022.
Nature of Bullying: The student was reportedly subjected to verbal abuse from multiple classmates, including derogatory terms like "kimoi (disgusting/gross)" and "kusai (smelly)," and was frequently ridiculed.
Property Damage: The student's artwork, created for a cultural festival, was allegedly torn up by bullies.
Written SOS: Crucially, the student used school assignments, such as a ethics class worksheet, to write explicit notes hinting at the bullying and pleading for help. This represented a direct "SOS" to her teachers.
2. Allegations of School Negligence
The central issue in the case is the school's organizational failure to respond to the student's clear distress signals, violating the spirit of Japan's Act on the Promotion of Measures to Prevent Bullying (Ijime Bōshi Taisaku Suishin Hō).
Dismissal of SOS: It is alleged that the teachers (including the homeroom teacher) who received the written SOS failed to take the content seriously or initiate a formal, organizational response.
Inappropriate Response: Reports indicate that a teacher stamped the student’s submission, which contained the desperate SOS, with an inappropriate mark like "Good job," suggesting a severe lack of sensitivity and attention to the warning.
Failure to Foresee Risk: The family argues that the nature of the written appeals and the student's deteriorating condition provided sufficient grounds for the school to foresee the risk of suicide but that they neglected their legal duty to intervene and provide necessary safety measures.
3. Investigation and Non-Disclosure
Third-Party Committee: Following the incident, the Yaizu City Board of Education established a Third-Party Committee to investigate the facts.
Bullying Certified: The committee concluded that the incident constituted a "Serious Incident" (Jūdai Jitai) involving bullying, confirming that the school's response was problematic.
Report Concealment: Although the committee submitted its investigation report in June 2023, the Yaizu City government has not made the report public as of September 2025. The family cites this lack of transparency as a significant source of their profound distrust in the school and city authorities.
The lawsuit underscores a systemic issue in Japanese schooling: the vital need for teachers to possess the sensitivity to recognize signs of bullying (SOS) and for schools to establish robust, well-functioning organizational systems to address and prevent such tragedies.
