Asahikawa Junior High School 2nd-Year Female Student Death Case: Allegations of 'Intentional Avoidance' by the School and Municipal Board of Education (Joint Communication)

Regarding the incident where Sawaya Hirose (14 at the time), a second-year junior high school student in Asahikawa City, Hokkaido, died in 2021 while being subjected to bullying, the reinvestigation committee established by Asahikawa City announced its findings on the 30th. The reinvestigation committee recognized that the death was a suicide and acknowledged a causal relationship with bullying. The school and the city's Board of Education had considered it a problem of the perpetrator's misconduct rather than bullying, and therefore pointed out that they were unable to identify and mitigate the risk. Takeshi Nomura, Deputy Chairman and a lawyer, stated, "The City Board of Education intentionally avoided making it a bullying issue in order to prematurely conclude the incident."

Initially, the third-party committee of the City Board of Education determined in September 2022 that the causal relationship with bullying was "unclear" due to the inability to obtain medical information. Following the bereaved family's opposition, Mayor Hirosuke Imazu established a reinvestigation committee composed of experts, including educational critic Naoki Ogi as the chairman. The reinvestigation committee analyzed approximately 4,000 SNS posts from Sawaya Hirose provided by her family. Based on the fact that she mentioned fear and death until shortly before her death, it was determined that Ms. Hirose had continuously suffered from bullying and had decided to end her life.

The reinvestigation committee acknowledged the causal relationship with bullying and further acknowledged the City Board of Education's negligence as more serious. This incident has had a significant impact on Japanese society, serving as a wake-up call for a reassessment of societal awareness and response mechanisms related to bullying.