Feb 24, 2016
Bullying in Japan
Today, which is the 24th February 2016 is Pink Shirt Day. That’s exactly why I made the below video.
For those who don’t know, "Pink Shirt Day" (or Anti-Bullying Day) is the day everyone wears a pink shirt which symbolizes a stand against bullying. It is originated in Canada. I got to know about Pink Shirt Day when I was in Canada.
When it comes to bullying, a lot of people are quite worry in Japan.
Historically, Japan is one of the most homogenous countries in the world. According to the statistics, non Japanese people who live in Japan are no more than 2% (On top of that, most non Japanese are Asian).
Considering the fact, it’s understandable many people assume there’re a lots of discrimination, racism or bullying to minority. And one of the viewers of my YouTube channel asked me the other day.
“Nobita, I was wondering. If I get a Japanese girlfriend or wife in the future, that would be great. But, maybe my mixed race child gets bullied in Japan? Because it’s still so rare in Japan, right? I’m worry the possibility of getting bullied as a mixed race child."
■Haters are gonna hate you anyway
Maybe this is not him. I guess a lot of people are worry about their future children would get bullied in Japan.
Remember!
That’s Completely Misconception.
Maybe you heard before the story on YouTube or TV, which some mixed race children got bullied a lot because of the colors.
But I think they got bullied not because they’re mixed race. Bullies are gonna bully you anyway no matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what kind of person you are. In fact, a lot of Japanese children have experience of getting bullied in school, even though they’re not mixed race.
Haters look around any weakness and use that to attack. It could be your face, size, teeth, parents or anything they think you don’t wanna point out openly.
I have to admit, discrimination toward minority people (ex. gay, lesbian, black, etc) still exist in Japan. A lot of people I talked on street interview told me that they got discrimination. But, truth is, that’s not only in Japan. Racism, discrimination and bullies are everywhere.
In fact, even in Canada where I lived before, I saw some racism.
One day, I was volunteering in school to teach soccer, and some child said loud to a classmate,
“Hey! Yellow! F**k off! Go back to your country!”
I was quite shocked. I never imaged that kind of thing happened in Canada which has a lot of diverse people historically and is one of the immigrant countries in the world.
Unfortunately, haters are everywhere. They attack you not because you’re a mix race, but because they’re bullies.
You can’t avoid to come across bullies or haters wherever you go. It can’t be helped and you just have to deal with that.
But, the exact opposite thing is true.
There are also good people in anywhere including Japan. You can find a lot of positive people who accept and support you no matter who you are. So, all you have to do is, to look for and connect with them.
■How I Did Deal with Bullies
School was exactly Hell for me. I don't know what else to say. The place was disgusting, dark, hopeless, sad, lonely, and absolutely SUCK.
If you have never been bullied, you can consider yourself very lucky. Honestly, I still feel pain even just by looking back on the memory now.
Every night, I was hoping next day will not come forever. Actually, I was thinking about killing myself many times to escape from the hell.
The best remedy which save my life, however, was definitely playing soccer back then. I’ve never done any sport before, but my parents convinced me to join a local soccer team somehow.
Day by day, I was getting into soccer. Because the more practice I did, the more improvement I got. That was incredibly pleasant for me more than anything else.
I think you can understand well about this. The moment you achieve something after a lot of effort is so great, right? I never experienced that kind of happiness in my life.
As I got absorbed to playing soccer, I didn’t care about bullies. I was too focus to improve my soccer skill, because my only priority in my mind was only soccer. More importantly, my confidence level got much higher than ever.
Before I played soccer, I thought I’m useless, loser, and have nothing good as a person. But playing and improving soccer made me confident and strong person mentally.
So, if you happen to get bullied right now, I’d like to recommend you to find some sport, hobby or any activity you can be into a lot.
Once you got something to focus in your life, you don’t care about other things. Actually, you subconsciously forget about bad things. And, our self-esteem goes up and get mental strength to not care about any hater. Trust me, it becomes no big deal for you.
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So, this is my article on Pink Shirt Day.
I really hope this article and the below video would be helpful even a little for someone who is struggling to being bullied or any difficult situation because of haters.
Happy Pink Shirt Day, guys~!!
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