Kirk here with more about the Syugakukan violence scandal. It started with a coach who was working under head coach DANBARA Kazushi (段原一詞), but recently it seems that the attention of the media has shifted primarily to Danbara himself. In the first article I’m linking to here he says that he knew nothing of his assistant coach’s violence and then, when asked if he in his 20 years of teaching and coaching has ever been violent with his students he says “never.” To that, graduates are saying he’s lying.
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/pickup/6426344
The second article is about him threatening to sue the school if he is fired:
https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/9b5513dc72c865a722e9adcc7974b7d074a4a5fc
I don’t want to dwell on negative stories like this but this particular issue has gone way beyond being a local story and is continuing to get press. A daytime TV show called “スッキリ” seems to be devoting time to it, though I haven’t seen any of the actual coverage. So, I thought I’d let you know that new revelations in the Syugakkan scandal are continuing to provide fodder for daytime TV and social media.
