Kirk here reporting that Syugakukan High School has made international news – and that ain’t good. The image you see on top is from the following news story:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y0NnfL1RmHU
It shows an instructor (coach) kicking and hitting a student.
The second video is from the following news story and is said to be of students who belong to the soccer team apologizing (?) for the incident. The RKK news story says that the students seemed to apologize of their own accord but I still don’t understand what they thought they needed to apologize for. The original YouTube video of the apology has been taken down.
https://newsdig.tbs.co.jp/articles/rkk/31596?display=1
I say that this has gone beyond national news to become international news because I saw something on the internet about coverage in Korea. I imagine it will get picked up in English before too long. Japan’s Minister of Education says that he saw the video and was disturbed by it.
To state the obvious, I think defenders of what this adult did to high school students are few and far between in Kumamoto. On the other hand, there is a tendency here, perhaps even somewhat stronger than in other parts of the country (?), to view “taibatsu” (corporal punishment) as necessary. I’ve met quite a few students who have experienced it; some bitter but some feeling that it was what a teacher (coach) sometimes needs to do to get though to his students. I’ve also met adults who justify it, even though it is illegal. Speaking of illegality, it looks like the police will press charges.
In this case, the two media sources I’m citing are both using the word “暴行” (boukou; violence or assult) to describe what happened. I’ve frequently been dismayed by the use of the term “体罰” (taibatsu; coporal punishiment) in media reports of such incidents because it seems to view that act as educational (that is, “punishment” not an “attack” or “abuse”). For me, characterizing this incident as “boukou” and not “taibatsu” is a step in the right direction.