Number of cyberbullying cases at schools in Japan FY 2013-2022

Approximately 23.92 thousand cases of cyberbullying among students were reported by schools in Japan in fiscal year 2022. The number of cases strongly increased in recent years.

Growing public awareness

Cyberbullying is a form of bullying that involves devices such as smartphones and computers as well as accompanying digital technologies. As a breakdown of cyberbullying incidents among students by school level shows, middle schools and elementary schools report the largest number of cases. Cyberbullying became a widely discussed topic in Japan in 2020 due to the suicide of Hana Kimura, who was a professional wrestler and reality TV star. The incident led to calls for further regulation of social media as well as stricter punishments for offenders. As the court procedure for cyberbullying cases was criticized for being too costly and time-consuming, the Japanese parliament introduced a law in April 2021 that makes it easier for victims to seek out offenders by reducing the number of required court proceedings to one. Similar to the number of cyberbullying cases, the total number of reported bullying cases among students increased strongly compared to the early 2010s, which partly reflects the growing attention paid to the issue.

Suicides among students in Japan

The issue of bullying is often referred to in discussions on youth suicides in Japan. The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT) records a considerable number of suicides among students each year. Although there are much more bullying cases reported by elementary and middle schools than by high schools, the number of suicides is particularly high among high school students. While in many cases it is not possible to determine one specific factor, a ranking of the main reasons for committing suicide among students shows that problems with family members, mental health issues, as well as worries over future prospects account for larger shares than bullying among those cases for which specific factors could be determined. Similar to bullying, academic pressure has frequently been cited by news reports and other sources as harming students’ mental well-being. This is particularly the case for high school students, who have to undergo stressful preparations for university entrance exams, which play an important role in deciding the future of the individual student.