Bullying In Japan And The US

[Mulboyne]

Lariat Online: Student studies American, Japanese cyber-bullying
...Talbert and Ikuko Aoyama, an international student from Japan working for her PhD in educational psychology, will travel to Tokyo in May to examine the cultural differences of cyber-bullying in Japan versus the United States...Talbert said, "what is fascinating is that Japanese and American students have vast differences traditionally." While in the United States, traditional bullying is physical, Aoyama said that she never saw a physical fight in her school growing up...The Japanese term "ijime" describes the dominant form of bullying in Japan. Aoyama said ijime is a type of bullying where a whole class of students targets one student, but the bullying is never physical...Also, traditional bullying is male dominated in the United States, while Aoyama said that some studies show that cyber-bullying is more prevalent among females...Aoyama and Talbert noted that while in Japan students would, at worst, commit suicide after being bullied, in the United States students have acted out after being bullied. Aoyama said that one study showed that the shooters from Columbine were victims of bullying...more...

There probably are differences in the way bullying takes place in both countries but Aoyama must have lived a sheltered life if she thinks bullying in Japan is "never physical".

[bolt_krank]

Yeah. For someone who's doing a PhD on the topic, she seems to have a very naive view of it. I seems at though she's based a lot of her points purely on personal experience as opposed to research.

At my school there was a lot of "physical fights" but I don't recall any girls going to watch. As a result, I'm sure many of the girls that went to my school could say the same, that they never saw a fight. Maybe this is the case with her. Then again a few of the girls were pretty viscious too...

The article says:

"Aoyama and Talbert will conduct surveys among students and teachers in the Tokyo area, and next fall they will survey students and teachers in America."

I'm a bit doubtful as to how truthful the results will be in the surveys. I think if they're done on school grounds - everyone will write: "I've never bullied anyone."

On top of that - I think a lot of people would "cyber bully" without consciously doing so...


(My 2 cents...)