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A video showing a faculty advisor throwing a ball at a student’s face—an act of power harassment (corporal punishment)—within the handball team at the private Hakata High School in Higashi Ward, Fukuoka City, has gone viral on X (formerly Twitter). The school previously saw a case in August 2020 where a first-year female student on the kendo team committed suicide due to verbal abuse and violence (inappropriate coaching) inflicted by her advisor.
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MEXT Issues Urgent Notice Following Spread of Corporal Punishment Videos
This is not the first time that a video showing violence during school club coaching has gone viral on social media and sparked controversy. In 2013, following the suicide of a student on the Osaka City Sakuranomiya High School basketball team—driven to despair by corporal punishment—the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT) compiled guidelines for coaching sports clubs and has since called for the eradication of corporal punishment.
More than a decade later, in January 2026, the Ministry issued a fresh, urgent notice in response to a spate of viral videos showing acts of violence—whether between students or committed by coaches. The notice required schools to check for any overlooked instances of abuse and to clearly articulate a policy of zero tolerance for violence and bullying.
The notice also pointed out that the heated commentary and criticism surrounding such viral videos could give rise to new human rights violations, such as defamation or insults. Thus, the challenge of distinguishing between whistleblowing and malicious slander is an issue that confronts not only schools but also the public who view and react to these videos.
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