Youth crime in Japan.

[sabro]

I am an Assistant Principal at an American High School. We deal with gangs, drugs and violence nearly every day...and Japan-- even though there are some widely publicized cases-- doesn't seem to have a significant problem. Why?

Please describe youth crime in Japan: How prevalent? Rates? Causes? Solutions?

How much violence and drug use is there? How about gangs?

What programs work?

[4321go]

Why no one respond to this thread?
Maybe there are few Japanese here ?

[mad pierrot]

I can help. I've worked at over 14 different public schools, and I live in a "bad" neighbor in Japan. Which, I suppose, might not mean jacksh*t. As far as my experience goes, Japan simply doesn't have anywhere near the same amount of violent crime that America does in schools. Drugs... I know tons of students that like to wear clothes with pot leaves on em, but they don't have a CLUE what it is. A few of my Japanese friends were even HORRIFIED to know what I and what I would say my average American friends have seen or done.

That being said, I think an entirely different set of problems Japanese students have are just as serious as the American ones they don't have.

[Gisela]

Like what?

[mad pierrot]

Different kinds of stress.

For example, I don't think most American kids in Junior High are stressed about what high school they'll go to, therefore allowing them to get into the right college. I also don't think American kids have the stress of going to night school all the time, so they'll pass the exams to get into the right school. Then there are is the problem of high school girls whoring themselves out to older Japanese men, so on and so forth.

[Hiroyuki Nagashima]

A crime white paper of Japanese Ministry of Justice
http://hakusyo1.moj.go.jp/index_e.html
The number of the arrests of juvenile delinquency of 2004
There is the most theft, and subsequently it is embezzlement.
About 80% of a boy.
About 90% of a girl.
In late years murder changed with about around 100, and 2004 was 62 people (last year ratio 35.4% decrease).
Robbery is over 1,000 after 1996
It is 1,800 and a peak in 2003
2004 is 1,301 people.
(last year ratio 27.7% decrease)
Embezzlement
It is a bicycle thief.
http://kogoroy.tripod.com/hanzai.html
In a juvenile crime, smoking and alcohol are serious crimes.
(In sports such as senior high school baseball)

[Ewok85]

The problems here with smoking and alcohol here are minor at best and not what I would say are the worst. Kids everywhere will drink and smoke, and while its bad for you its just kids being kids. Only 1,800 reported thefts is very very low, in Australia we probably have higher levels of assualt or rape amongst school aged children.

Theres different issues here. Bullying is a whole different balls game (ijime) and students who refuse to come to school is also an issue I think needs more attention (tokokyohi). Suicide and Enjokosai are also large issues.

[pipokun]

The drop-out rate has been less than 3%, though no big prom event here.
Media or governments tend to be loud when it comes to the juvenile crime and try to fabricate statistics, but kids are not that bad, or that good, either.

mad pierrot, a bit superficial...

[changedonrequest]

Please describe youth crime in Japan: How prevalent? Rates? Causes? Solutions?

How much violence and drug use is there? How about gangs?

What programs work?

This response is going to get rather long so I am going to break it down into a couple of posts.

I have been teaching here for a number of years and have been on both sides of the fence, meaning as both a teacher and as a parent involved in the Japanese P.T.A. my response here might be a bit shocking to some but to others not so.

Firstly let me say that in comparison to the US with the problems of drugs, guns, or knives no there is no comparison. Drug control and gun/sword control laws pretty much keep these out of the schools yet there are any number of different problems that occur here that are just as disturbing without any real solutions currently in sight.

Compulsory education here is from 1st to 9th grade (Elementary/J.H.S.) children are given a place in school and in most cases do well, except the education system here is mostly based on learning by rote or memorization. To many Japanese teachers that I know the "good" student is the quiet one who listens and does what they are told to do. There is little class participation, particularly from JHS and up. ES kids are participate more but that is mostly from the "age" of kids rather than the system teaching them to be inquisitive and learn to form their own opinions. As the students get older one will find that many kids will not do anything without be directly instructed on what is to be done. The teachers teach literally everything 1 to 10. (What I mean is that when I was in school a teacher might teach the highlights from 1,2,3,...5,..8, and 10 then I/we were expected to research or study on our own to find out the rest) This gets even worse when a student gets into JHS and then HS. I discuss this here because these are part of the roots of the disciplinary problems that one finds in the classroom.

Children are passed to the next grade no matter if they did satisfactorily or otherwise. For example a child could get, literally (I've seen it) all zero's (0's) throughout the course of the school year and STILL get promoted to the next grade. There are no standards for holding a child back or removing a child from a classroom because of poor academic performance. This also goes to the problems here related to compulsory education or "gimu kyoiku".

"Gimu kyoiku" laws state that children are to be given an education or have public education available from 1st to 9th grade. So here inlies part of the problem, the schools have to have space made available for all the kids in the district that are japanese. So schools have become responsible for everything related to an individual students education, from getting the kid to school and trying to get the kid an education. Problem is people have misread and misunderstood this law for years, it is a nuance that in Japanese doesnt really stick out, but when translated to English people catch on it rather quickly.

The Japanese government is making a promise to the parents of the children that the government will provide public education, but it is the parents responsibility to make sure that the child gets to school and is ready and able to do the work necessary to succeed in school. "Gimu kyoiku" is a contract of sorts between the government and the parents. Not between the government and the kids. People believe in the latter no the former, a small nuance to some, but not to me, as there is the begining of the problem, the schools become responsible for the children instead of the parents being responsible for them. So what ends up happening is the schools are expected to be responsible for the everyday actions as well as education of the children. By the letter of the law if a child is going to school that should be enough, so the schools are fullfilling their end of the contract by making a place available for all Japanese students in their districts and providing them or giving them an opportunity for an education.

[changedonrequest]

Now the problems arise from lack of motivation starting in ES and they get worse as a child gets into JHS and beyond. Sure not all kids go this way but the "problem" ones do, there are of course exceptions to every "rule" as well.
Once some kids realize that no matter how much they do or dont do in school they get passed on. Kids start acting up,

The drop-out rate has been less than 3%, though no big prom event here.
Media or governments tend to be loud when it comes to the juvenile crime and try to fabricate statistics, but kids are not that bad, or that good, either.
mad pierrot, a bit superficial...

Kids dont drop out of school before HS because they can't. Even if a child never sets foot into a classroom for an entire school year they will be either promoted or graduated. (I know I have seen it.) There are kids that come to school and spend their entire day in the school's counsellors office do absolutely no work whatsoever and gradute. Absenteeism is on the rise, the schools in some cases actually go and pick up these kids and bring them to school where they do nothing.

Kids participate in school sports and these kids sometimes act as gangs, terrorizing or bullying those under them. Most of the kids let hide it but when it gets out of hand the schools get involved but there is little they can do besides counsel them or call parents in.

The schools almost never can expel or suspend a student for any actions, because of the "gimu kyoiku" law.

In the case that s child does something really wrong like stealing, vandalism or fighting etc. and the police get involved the child could be taken into police custody and sent to a juvinile detention facility, but the children are taken back into school after their period of incarceration. Yet in these cases, the schools are notified before the parents and even during vacation times the Homeroom teachers deal with the police previous to the parents getting involved. (I've seen this on a number of occasions as well.)

The problems here with smoking and alcohol here are minor at best and not what I would say are the worst. Kids everywhere will drink and smoke, and while its bad for you its just kids being kids. Only 1,800 reported thefts is very very low, in Australia we probably have higher levels of assualt or rape amongst school aged children.
Theres different issues here. Bullying is a whole different balls game (ijime) and students who refuse to come to school is also an issue I think needs more attention (tokokyohi). Suicide and Enjokosai are also large issues.

To you and me the drinking and smoking are minor but to the "system" it's a huge problem. It is because both of these "offenses" are also breaking the laws of Japan. The legal age here to drink and smoke is 20, so the schools take these cases very seriously. I have worked in a HS where a number of students were expelled for repeatedly being caught smoking.

(HS is not part of compulsory education, so the schools can madate more serious penalties for infractions of school rules and regulations, and in rare cases can and do hold children back for poor grades or non participation, but those cases are rare as well. I have personally seen a HS boy get near failing grades for 3 years, averaging a d- and still graduate. FYI in certain HS's the passing grade for ANY test is a 35% out of 100% and HS students get nearly zero homework every grade is test based.)

(Tokoyohi) or "futo ko", or absenteeism is increasing as kids get more and more frustrated with the system and problems experienced in school, bullying the work load, needing to study and prepare for tests etc. Availability of school counsellors is increasing but still lack that of western or US schools. Many schools only see a school counsellor once a week and they must take care of a school with 500 to 1500 students in some cases. So the counsellors get very little one on one time with the kids.

Average classroom discipline is very different as well, kids talk out in class, ignore their teachers, talking back to the teachers, sleep, walk around, and in many cases are unprepared to participate in the lessons at all. I see it almost daily where kids, usually the same one no matter how much you tell them otherwise, always forget their books or NEVER have a pencil or pen to write with.

More later... have to think about this some more.

[pipokun]

The figure, less than 3% drop-out rate, is just for high school students in Japan.

[changedonrequest]

Originally Posted by pipokun

The figure, less than 3% drop-out rate, is just for high school students in Japan.

I know that, but do you know that is only the "official" number and pipokun your response is a bit superficial as well.

[sabro]

The same thing happens with the drop out rate in the US. The graduates of any given high school in Los Angeles or any urban or poor area in souther california, number about half of what the incoming 9th grade crowd is. But the drop out "Rate" that is cited is under 20%. Students who dissapear before the turn 16 don't get counted...until they turn 16 because you can't legally drop out before that. People that turn 18 and don't graduate don't count. People that go to adult, community or continuation schools don't count... The number is "superficial" to say the least.

[pipokun]

Originally Posted by sabro

The same thing happens with the drop out rate in the US. The graduates of any given high school in Los Angeles or any urban or poor area in souther california, number about half of what the incoming 9th grade crowd is. But the drop out "Rate" that is cited is under 20%. Students who dissapear before the turn 16 don't get counted...until they turn 16 because you can't legally drop out before that. People that turn 18 and don't graduate don't count. People that go to adult, community or continuation schools don't count... The number is "superficial" to say the least.

So you mean the rate, under 20%, may be worse if you include people don't graduate, and vice versa?
Anyways, it is just sad if students in public schools around Ginza area in Tokyo, famous for the highest property tax in Japan, would receive better education, at least better facilities.

To Hachiro,
Your comment on J teachers' Union is highly appreciated.

[changedonrequest]

What is also not taken into consideration is the number of J.H.S.students that do not enter into HS. Every year there are numerous students from throughout Japan that either fail the entrance exam and never retake it, or never applied in the first place. These teenagers have never entered into HS at any point so they are not considered in the drop out rate percentages.

Since HS is not considered a part of compulsory education teenagers have the option of not entering HS.

[pipokun]

numerous students? be more specific...

some students work after graduating junior high. i am afraid they would get upset if you take them as "dropout".

[changedonrequest]

Originally Posted by pipokun

numerous students? be more specific...
some students work after graduating junior high. i am afraid they would get upset if you take them as "dropout".

First off I am talking from my experience. I dont appreciate your "tone" by saying "be more specific" when your own posts are EXTREMELY shallow and without much content.

[pipokun]

Originally Posted by Hachiro

First off I am talking from my experience. I dont appreciate your "tone" by saying "be more specific" when your own posts are EXTREMELY shallow and without much content.

Your experience must be tough one facing numerous collapsed classes, so-called gakyu houkai, but they say the problem stem from incompetent teachers as well.

Do you have any first-hand experiences about them?

Shallow drops make a shower, don't they? Even if it's broken, you can wash your face.

[changedonrequest]

Originally Posted by pipokun

Your experience must be tough one facing numerous collapsed classes, so-called gakyu houkai, but they say the problem stem from incompetent teachers as well.
Do you have any first-hand experiences about them?
Shallow drops make a shower, don't they? Even if it's broken, you can wash your face.

Why don't you share your thoughts, ideas, or experiences on the subject before this gets to be a one sided conversation?

I don't like hearing myself talk.

Don't worry. My posts also deleted so many times.

(Now I understand why many of your posts get deleted.)

[pipokun]

Some anti-national flag/anthem teachers were at my high school. One day, I got a detention from one of them without any chances to defend myself, or make an excuse, then I thought what a liberal teacher he was.

*snip*
so many times means 4 or 5 here, though I don't remember all of my posts.

[sabro]

When each district or state or country decides what a "drop out" is, then we can rationally compare them. Until then the numbers we throw around might not mean as much.

[changedonrequest]

Originally Posted by sabro

When each district or state or country decides what a "drop out" is, then we can rationally compare them. Until then the numbers we throw around might not mean as much.

Sabro that may be so in the States but here in Japan it works a bit differently. In this case the Education Ministry here controls the data that gets collected and sent out for publication or release to the media. It is similar to the misleading unemployment statistics that are released here as well. The Japanese government works very hard to show it's "better" side to the world.

There was a report on the TV news last night about "bullying" in the public school's. There were something close to 30,000 "reported" (to authorities not the schools) cases of bullying throughout Japan last year. The report also went on to say that an inumerable number of cases went unreported as well because either the schools or the victims choose not to report the incidents out of fear or some other reason. The schools here often do not report problems that they are having until they get out of hand or close to it. Noone wants to be seen in a poor light. When the attitude should be "we need assistance before things get out of hand".

[pipokun]

Manga
The same question to you, hachiro, what do you think of the manga above?
Do you see bright light in it?

[mad pierrot]

This is getting off topic......

[pipokun]

Originally Posted by mad pierrot

This is getting off topic......

No. The manga is in the J teacher's union site... Teachers may play a great role in education.