Babymetal Make A Stand Against Bullying
Every year, sadly, in Japan there are horrific stories of bullying. In a recent case a young school boy committed suicide after being persecuted and even made to rehearse his suicide by his persecutors. There was another recent case of a another boy who committed suicide after being hit more than 40 times by his teacher in one day. This for me was the most tragic of cases as the bully was actually a teacher who should have been protecting the child and not persecuting him.
This is a sensitive and really shameful aspect of Japanese society but I really want to say two things. The first is that this is not the common experience of all kids and secondly that I truly believe that the bully is also a victim.
However in both cases the initial reaction of the school was to deny the problem and it was only the efforts of the distressed parents that brought the cases to the attention of the public and eventually forced the authorities to react to the situations,
So where does J-pop fit in all of this ? ? ?
Babymetal, Japan’s foremost J-pop metal fusion group, have recently signed to a major label and their first single for this label was an anti bullying track.
Bringing this tragic issue into the public domain is something that is unusual in the candy floss world of J-pop and it is contrary to the typical reaction in our culture to pretend that problems do not exist.
Even though you may not like Babymetal, I was really pleased that this group and their management, should choose this track as their first major label single. They are very popular in Japan with middle and elementary school kids and a powerful disaprroval of this behaviour in popular kids culture is really welcome.
Nakamoto Sakura
I believe that we need to enable kids to express themselves and grow and give them freedom. I was lucky my parents selected the school I went to not just on academic achievement but also on the school philosophy which was based on love, respect, team work and community life, and in my school there was no bullying at all.
In Japan we have a saying that “there is no one so cruel as a slave with a whip” and whenever I hear stories of bullying I remeber this saying.
I believe if we gave every kid an safe environment and space to grow we can stop this cancer in our education system, Supporting victims of bullying, even though that is really very important, will not stop it, we have to address the bullies and the conditions that create them.
Of course in a four minute pop song you can not change the world, but if J-pop can at least express intolerance of bullying and publicise this serious issue then maybe we are moving slowly and with small steps, but at least in the right direction.
Finally I would like to draw your attention to Nakamoto Sakura who is the singer in Babymetal.
This charming and pretty 15 year old girl is a student at the Hiroshima Actors School and has an impressive career already. She has appeared in several musical theatre productions and starred in the musical theatre production Adventurers. She was a member of the J-Pop Idol group Karens Girls and is currently the main singer in both Babymetal and J-pop idol group Sakura Gakuin. I believe she really has the talent to be a major star either as an actress or musician in the future. So remember you saw her here first ! ! !
Babymetal - Ijime Dame Zettai (No More Bullying Ever )
( The Video features our one and only Mr P in his Japanese acting debut 
)
Yes, I am in the video ! Don’t I look cute in my little red rah-rah skirt !
A tricky topic, Sakura. One that applies here as much as Japan, alas. There have been several cases in recent years of children bullied into taking their own lives in Britain too.
It’s all very sad.
I do wonder if the Japanese ideal of not “standing out” makes things worse. The victims seem to have nowhere to go and , as you point out, the teachers are sometimes the bullies themselves.
II hope Babymetal’s song helps bring things into the light a bit.
Hi Mr P ! ! !
Thank you for reading and leaving a comment.! ! !
I think maybe the desire to not stand out is something that certainly does not help but I really do not know the answer.
But at least Babymetal are publicising the issue so I hope that will help a little.
Did you like the track ? ? ?
Of course ! They are great fun.
Bullying is an awful thing, if the song helps that must be positive. It is difficult to know how to deal with these issues, telling people must be better than suffering in silence, but as a parent, you can’t go and punch other people’s children, so it’s a hard thing to deal with even when it has come to light.
Very shiny video, can’t say the song is quite my cup of tea, but the skeleton guitar players are cool.
Hi Beth ! ! !
It is a really very difficult problem and very terrible. But I think if people are aware of the problem then it must be better than trying to deal with it all alone. It must be really difficult for the parents as well as the kids.
The skeleton guys are cool ! !! My favourite part of the video is actually when the little girls are pretending to play the guitar solos – they look so cute ! ! !
A well written and thoughtful piece – it’s a massive problem here too – I work in children’s services so I am aware just how bad the problem is – the big issue now of course is that so much goes on online, so kids don’t even get a respite from it at home where they are supposed to feel safe and protected, so the affect on thier mental well being is severe and in many cases the consequences can be tragic – have to applaud any effort to raise awareness like this.
Hi Beltway ! ! !
The social media and mobile phones and things like that are great most of the time, but you are right they can be misused.
Thank you for reading and commenting ! ! !
Well said and insightful, thanks Sakura. I’m not going to watch the video at work though…
Hi DaddyPig ! ! !
Yes – Maybe it is too loud for work. Did you watch it when you arrived home?
I admire the sentiment although not my kind of music, really. Nice to see Mr P at last, he has more hair than I imagined … !
Hi Ali ! ! !
Thanks for reading and commenting. Did not really expect anyone (except Mr P ) to like the track but I think it is really great they are making a public statement about this issue.
Hi Sakura, interesting and thoughtful piece. The song is not for me but hopefully it will help to inform it’s target audience. I remember you mentioning that Mr P was 47 years older than you but I hadn’t realised he was a skeleton, you need to feed him up a bit. lr x
Hi Little River ! ! !
Mr P will not eat his vegetables . . .it is very annoying ! ! !
Thank you for reading the post ! ! !
Babymetal are not everyone’s taste . . . . . But I really think Nakamoto Sakura is really special. I am curious to see how her career develops.
We are writing a new He Said – She Said so hopefully there will be some songs that you like in it..
I hope you are well.
Love
Sakura x x x
Hi Sakura
Enjoyed the song and the video.Hope that this helps raise awareness. Great post. S
If that’s SR – I’ve been thinking about you. Hope all is well. lr.
Hi LR – All okay. Hope all good with you too. x
Hi Sakura, I got bullied, but then took up boxing. Problem solved. Appreciate that wouldn’t work for everyone.
Always despised bullies, yet, strangely, felt sorry for them too. They must be a complete mess inside.
uhm her name isn’t sakura it’s suzuka http://www.generasia.com/wiki/Nakamoto_Suzuka