Survivors of childhood bullying have asked the education ministry to teach schoolchildren about the lasting harm it can do to adult life, submitting a petition that calls for the subject to be written into the national curriculum. The petition also asks that teacher training courses cover what the damage looks like and how to care for it.
The petition was organized by Ina, 32, who runs an information site on the subject and uses that name publicly, and others. It was collected online between June 2025 and August 2026 and drew 486 signatures. It was mailed to the ministry in October, and the group held a news conference on November 4.
Bullying aftereffects is not a diagnosis. Its typical symptoms include flashbacks, nightmares, insomnia and auditory hallucinations, and those affected are said to face higher risks of depression, anxiety disorders and suicide.
Separately from the petition, the group filed an opinion with the ministry's public comment process on the next national curriculum guidelines, calling for moral education and health classes to deal with bullying and its aftermath more practically.
Survivors describe lives reshaped
Kitazawa Ayumi, 33, who took part in the news conference, said she can no longer look people in the eye while speaking and cannot remember faces. "People who were bullied carry those wounds for the rest of their lives," she said. "Teachers know far too little about that."
Matsuo Hiroe, 53, said bullying left her afraid of groups. "Even as a working adult I couldn't join conversations with colleagues my own age, and I moved from job to job," she said, her voice shaking. "My life was wrecked."
“The idea that there is a reason on the side of the person being bullied has taken root, but the era of crying ourselves to sleep is over.”Matsuo Hiroe, bullying survivor
Matsuo also disclosed the surname she used as a child, Kodera, when she was bullied.