A new system to check the criminal records of people who work with children begins in December, as schools continue to grapple with sexual violence by teachers. The checks cover convictions, leaving cases that never reach court outside their reach.
The system, known as a Japanese version of the Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) — the British background-check scheme — will let schools and other employers ask the government whether a job applicant has a sexual-offense record. The national government is introducing it to screen teachers and others in contact with children.
Osaka school case
In October, a private high school in Minoh, Osaka Prefecture, disclosed that a male teacher had demanded sexual images from multiple male students over social media. The teacher was in his 30s and had been at the school since some of the students enrolled.
Minoh Gakuen High School said the teacher had engaged in "individually and extremely inappropriate contact" with students on social media. According to the school, he asked more than 10 male students for images including their genitals and invited them shopping. He left the school on October 26.
A school official told FNN's "news Runner" program that the teacher abused his position as adviser to a club. A student who refused, the official said, was told he "might not be able to play in matches." The teacher also instructed students to delete the images they had sent, the official said.
Another person familiar with the matter said the teacher was dismissed. A school official said some students had been abused for close to three years, from shortly after they entered the school.
Why male victims stay silent
Koichi Miyazaki, a researcher at Ritsumeikan University's OIC Research Organization, said male victims take a long time to tell anyone or report what happened. The long-standing image that men are not victims of sexual violence, he said, makes it hard for them to call what happened to them sexual violence at all.
“Even if it felt disgusting, there is a barrier to putting the name 'sexual violence' on it.”Koichi Miyazaki, researcher at Ritsumeikan University's OIC Research Organization
Keiji Goto, 30, was sexually abused by a male private tutor when he was in the fifth grade. The tutor was not only a teacher but an older brother figure who played with him.
The physical distance closed gradually, Goto said. The tutor began sitting him on his lap during lessons. It started with a kiss, he said, and went on to genital contact.
Goto did not understand at the time that it was sexual violence. He thought he was being played with by a close older brother. Once he realized, he developed a fear of men and found it harder to speak, he said, because he had been so attached to the tutor.
He told his parents only after he became an adult. The experience still causes him distress, including a flashback he had a few days earlier.
“They use an innocent boy as an outlet for sex. They raise him into a convenient tool for themselves. As a human being, I think that is sick.”Keiji Goto, survivor of abuse by a private tutor
The December system will check for criminal records, not allegations. A case that is never reported, or that prosecutors drop, will not appear in the checks, and the Osaka case remains under investigation.