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The relationship of ijime and amae in Japanese middle school classrooms

The system of bullying in Japan, known as ijime, has been a highly visible problem for decades. The prevalence of this social problem has generated much national and international discussion, and yet it remains. My article proposes that ijime is such an issue because of the nature of Japanese society. Dependence, or amae, is the key to a harmonious society which leads to a fear and ostracization of those who are different. Moreover, ijime is frequently seen in middle schools because of high academic pressure. I use a first-hand account of a victim of bullying to provide an example of this issue, to analyze it in context and describe how it relates to the importance of interdependence in Japanese society. Bullying in Japanese classrooms stems from a perception of non-conformity amongst peer groups; anyone who is seen as different from the rest of the class could be at risk of being bullied. The concept of bullying in Japan is called ijime, which comes from the verb ijimeru and means to torment or to bully. Often this bullying is portrayed by the media as physical abuse but it is important to note that most ijime in Japan takes the form of social exclusion or psychological torment (Fukuzawa and LeTendre 88). The system of ijime, like Japanese society in general, appears to rely on a psychological concept of dependence, known as amae (Doi 28). The word amae comes from the verb amaeru, which translates as either acting like a spoiled child or depending on another person’s goodwill. If one person stands out from their peer group, they may be seen as undependable upon by the rest of the group. This causes a subconscious fear among members of the peer group, which then leads to action that attempts to eliminate the difference. This action, often physically violent or emotionally damaging, can be seen as an attempt to strengthen the interdependence amongst members of the classroom at the expense of the bullied student. In order to understand the International ResearchScape Journal, Vol. 4 [2017], Art. 6 https://scholarworks.bgsu.edu/irj/vol4/iss1/6