It’s time to re-evaluate ”軽蔑していた愛情(Keibetsu Shiteita Aijo)”, as bullying is now the center of discussion of the nation

Tommy Kono July 17, 2012

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Bullying is a Crime, that goes Noticed, Ignored
Otsu boy’s suicide came after repeated calls for help, father told

Police are finally investigating the suicide of a 13-year-old boy last year in Otsu, Shiga Prefecture, for evidence of bullying, but another father whose son took his own life believes it is too little, too late and doubts the government is taking such tragedies seriously.

“We must be aware that (bullying) is a crime,” Hideaki Osawa, whose son, Hidetake, killed himself in 1996 after being harassed and extorted by his classmates, told The Japan Times on Friday.

“It is unacceptable for the teachers and the board of education to claim that there wasn’t any bullying or that they weren’t aware of it.”

The case of the Otsu student, who jumped off a 14-story building last October, has grown into a major scandal as details of his ordeal have slowly surfaced. Last February, his parents filed a damages suit against the city of Otsu and the classmates who allegedly abused him, claiming the suicide was caused by the bullying.

Reports claim the boy’s classmates routinely forced him to “practice” killing himself, while the school buried student surveys suggesting that bullying routinely occurred in its classrooms. Meanwhile, the students implicated in the abuse claimed in a separate survey conducted after his suicide that they were “glad” the victim took his own life, according to the Sankei Shimbun.

Despite the evidence, Otsu’s board of education has only admitted that the bullying “was one of the reasons” behind the student’s suicide.

“I feel that the school and the city are trying to suppress the scandal,” Osawa, 68, said of the Otsu tragedy.

Osawa noted the case is similar to his own son’s suicide in 1996, when he only learned afterward that the boy had consulted one of the teachers about the beatings he received from classmates. However, the school claimed it was clueless as to why he killed himself.

Osawa’s son left a note apologizing to his parents before taking his own life, and in addition to detailing some of the physical abuse he suffered at the school, he wrote that his tormentors had extorted more than ¥300,000 from him.

“I was asked for more money. But I don’t have any, so I will die,” he wrote.

Osawa, who now heads an Oita-based nonprofit group for families whose children have killed themselves because of bullying, visited Otsu last week and met with the boy’s parents. Local police had rejected three official complaints filed by the father, so Osawa advised him to contact the Shiga Prefectural Police instead.

“This resulted in the police inspecting the junior high school Wednesday,” nine months after the boy’s suicide, Osawa said.

He said the Otsu case is a further indication that schools and local governments try to conceal inconvenient truths, and urged bereaved parents to continue to seek out what really happened to their children, even if it means approaching senior officials.

At the same time, Osawa said authorities should make far greater efforts to prevent student suicides, rather than just examining to what extent bullying may have been a factor.

On paper, bullying in schools has been on the decline in recent years. According to statistics compiled by the education ministry, there were 101,097 reports of abuse in elementary, junior high and high schools in 2006, but the number fell to 84,648 the following year and to 75,295 in 2010.

However, many point out that the number of reported cases is just the tip of the iceberg.

On Sunday, a high school student in Miyazaki Prefecture was reportedly forced to attempt to drown himself in a local river by his friends, who filmed the entire scene with a mobile phone. The boy survived.

Other reports Thursday said that nine junior high school students in Aichi Prefecture had formed a “union to kill a classmate,” and were continuously harassing a fellow student to this end.

Curbing the disturbing trend may appear complicated, but the first step is simple in Osawa’s opinion.

“Things will only change drastically if teachers acknowledge that bullying is going on” in their classrooms, he said. “The abuse worsens only because it goes unnoticed during the initial stages.”
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120714a5.html

Related post: Police now prove bullying in suicide

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Because now we are all talking about bullying, I want them to feature this song in music shows or any TV programs before Acchan leaves AKB48.

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If they perform this song on music TV shows, we will finally see N Nacchi and KK featured on TV!!!

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↑ Actually I was thinking the same as you when I saw the title of this thread

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I can’t listen to this song….. It’s too scary… Especially the fizz sound in it’s outro….

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Its single cover is scary too….

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Yeah, the outro is really scary. When I first listened to this song, I was terrified…

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Now Chuu-chan is in a good condition, so It’s about time??

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Like this song, too. Yuko’s expression in the PV is so awesome.
But if they inadvertently perform this song with this timing on television, I’m afraid that it will only add oil to the flame as AKB Antis will intentionally misunderstand their intentions and the message of the song.

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If AKB were to release this song with this timing, then they would bash AKB as if they were trying to make profits off a serious social problem, but because this was released in 2007, it’s not easy for an Anti to make a fuss.
I think it’s good to perform this song for the reason that they want people to listen to their old song, which is about the current issue of bullying.

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I seriously want them to do this. I’m grateful to the person who started this thread.

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As I read the lyrics once again, I almost cried…

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When they performed Flying Get and Kaze ha Fuiteiru in Music Station, they performed Ogoe and Iiwake respectively before the performance of the new songs, so I want them to do the same when they become the guests on Music Station to perform Gingham Check.
Preferably (sing Keibetsu Shiteita Aijo) before the performance of Gingham Check.

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Certainly…. Keibetsu → Gingham would be such a turn off….
I want to have a smoky feeling as I listen to Gingham →Keibetsu….

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“It’s too late to sent out questionnaires to figure out whether bullying happened or not”
Probably the problem lies in how people interpret this line…..

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↑Sure, if people listen to only to this one phrase, they will misunderstand the lyrics as saying that questionnaires are meaningless.
But if they listen to all of the lyrics, they might understand that what this song is trying to say is “Was there anything that we could do before this tragedy happened?”. So I don’t think the line you mentioned will be a problem.
The song doesn’t try to say that it’s wrong to enforce a sanction on perpetrator, but it’s trying to send a more important message, which is, “There would be something that we could do before someone was victimized”

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I think Yasusu may have the same idea as us, that we want to let people know that AKB is not all about slap-happy tunes.

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↑Yeap, that’s what I’m expecting from AkiP.

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If the current AKB48 were to perform this song on TV shows, how would they deal with Maeda’s part as she is not in the 27th single, Okaro’s part as she is not in the Senbatsu for the 27th single and Mariko’s part as she is not a good singer?

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↑Okay I’m replying to my own comment.
Maeda→Yokoyama, Okaro→Jurina, and Shinoda→ Shinoda & Rena
I think this may work fine, what do you think?
Listeners can’t understand the true value and the message of the song unless they listen to all of the lyrics, by the way.

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They made such a beautiful PV for this song….
Although this song is not a popular number among AKB fans, I thought they did a fantastic job when I found this song.

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Somehow, Kasai and Oshima have much more of a presence than Maeda and Takahashi in the PV of this song.
Think about the whole flow of the PV, it starts with Kasai and ends with Oshima.
And the girl (Mariko-sama) who sings the line “Erai hito o Nakaseru (Make great persons cry)” is laudable.

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↑When they were signed to Defstar Records, Maeda hadn’t been given special treatment even though she was the Center.
It’s after they transferred to King Records that she had started being dubbed “Absolute Center”.

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↑x2 Anyway, Oshima and Kasai had been the Oshi of management at that time.

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Gosh, I had teary eyes as I watched this song after such a long time…..

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Maybe it was because they were singing these kind of songs that they hadn’t sold a lot in their early days, but I think this is a good song, And now that AKB48 has a huge influence, I want them to perform this song in this time of discussion to a nationwide audience.

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A short while ago, some music producer had criticized AKB’s songs, but I want them to know that AKB48 has songs that have messages which address the problems in today’s society.
With Keibetsu at the head of the list, there are songs that only young girls can sing.
Maybe age-wise it’s now harder for them to sing this song, but I’m eager to watch them to perform this song on main stream media while still Acchan is still there.

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I believe NHK’s IshiharaP will make this come true.

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At the time when i was thinking that most of AKB’s songs were slap-happy silly songs, I had rented the album that contained this song and after listening to this song, my image of AKB has taken a 180 degree turn.
As such, I really want them to perform this song on TV.
This song especially will impact greatly on those who look down on AKB’s music.
Keibetsu won’t rank in Request Hour, and we rarely have any opportunity to see the performance of this song, so this is a good chance for the song to see the light of the day again.

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軽蔑していた愛情 (Song sings about the bullying that brought a loss of life)

テレビのニュースが伝える
匿名で守られた悲劇も
携帯のメールを打ちながら
絵文字のような日常

大人は訳知り顔して
動機を探しているけど
ピント外れたその分析は
笑えないギャグみたい

偏差値次第の階級で
未来が決められてる
もう頑張っても
どうしようもないこと
ずいぶん前に
気づいてただけ
私たち

軽蔑していた愛情
知らぬ間に求めている
孤独になんてなりたくない
抱きしめて欲しかった
誰かに・・・

鳥になろうとした少女は The girl who tried to be a bird….
屋上に靴をちゃんと揃えて Neatly put her shoes on the rooftop (:means suicide)….
マナーを誉めて欲しかったのか Did she want to be praised for her good manner?
それとも当てつけなのか Or is she accusing (the people who drove her to commit suicide)?

いじめが“あった”とか“なかった”とか
今更アンケートを取っても
聞いて欲しかった心の声は
風の中届かない

責任転嫁のプロセスで
偉い人を泣かせる
まだわかってない
愚かすぎる連鎖を・・・
指を差すのは
何もしなかった
この自分

軽蔑していた愛情
裏腹に飢えているの
不安に気づかぬふりしながら
やさしい目探してた
いつでも・・・

軽蔑していた愛情
知らぬ間に求めている
孤独になんてなりたくない
抱きしめて欲しかった
誰かに・・・

いつでも・・・