Bullying as a social malady in contemporary Japan

In the past 20 years bullying has become a serious problem in contemporary Japanese society. Bully-related suicides are on the rise and policymakers have been forced to aggressively pursue the issue. This article suggests that bullying in Japan has been affected by many factors, including the stresses involved in the educational system, Japan’s indigenous religion, Shinto, and a national trend of passivity towards power. Japan affords us the opportunity to see bullying as an international concern and to learn from the efforts of the Japanese to combat it.