information about Fukushima published in English in Japanese media info publiée en anglais dans la presse japonaise
28 Février 2017
February 28, 2017
Kyodo
Fresh cases of bullying have been reported targeting children who evacuated from Fukushima Prefecture amid the nuclear disaster that started in 2011, this time in Tokyo.
According to Tokyo Saigai Shien Netto (Tossnet), a group of lawyers supporting Fukushima evacuees, three schoolchildren who moved to Tokyo in the wake of the triple core meltdowns at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant were subjected to bullying at an elementary school in Chiyoda Ward between 2011 and 2015.
According to the group, one elementary school student and two others who now study at a junior high school were called names repeatedly, with classmates shunning them by saying radiation might spread from them. One of them recalled being called kin (germ).
The group on Monday reported the incidents as cases of bullying to the board of education in Chiyoda Ward. The board of education says it had not been aware of the incidents and will look into facts surrounding them.
Chiyoda Ward is also investigating a separate case in which another student from Fukushima at a junior high school was allegedly forced to buy snacks for three other children at the school.
The revelation comes in the wake of a bullying case in Yokohama, where a 13-year-old boy had been bullied and forced to pay ¥1.5 million to classmates at an elementary school he transferred to amid the disaster.
In that case, the Yokohama Board of Education on Feb. 13 acknowledged the payments made by the boy to classmates in the school were the result of bullying, after initially denying it.
The Yokohama boy entered the elementary school in Yokohama as a second-grader in August 2011, but after being called a “germ” he began missing school in the third grade, according to a report released by the board.
The boy’s parents told the school in May 2014 that their son was a victim of bullying and told the police in July that he was involved in money trouble with his classmates.