The Sennan city board of education in Osaka Prefecture has admitted that its response to the 2022 suicide of a 13-year-old boy was riddled with errors, reporting a review document to a city meeting on Oct 28, 2026 that says the board failed to properly mourn with his family.
The boy, a first-year student at a city-run junior high school, died in March 2022. The board's review found that its handling after his death broke down at the first stage: the secretariat did not report the case, and the board went half a year without discussing it.
"There was an error in organizational judgment and a lack of crisis awareness," the document says. "We could not face the bereaved family in a way that conveyed our condolences on our own initiative, and we reflect on this and apologize from the bottom of our hearts."
Third-party panel found bullying in 2024
A city third-party committee concluded in 2024 that the boy had been bullied at school. Its report said the boy, who had stopped attending, had built up deep distrust of the school, and that the board's response had not been adequate.
The review document says the board accepts that finding "with solemnity." It also acknowledges "serious negligence in a grave situation" and states that part of a written account by the family has been incorporated into the text.
The board will also correct an earlier basic investigation report, which contained no mention of the bullying or of how the school responded. The review document calls that report "insufficient, and we regret it."
Mayor and education chief respond
At the meeting, Mayor Yuma Yamamoto said the case was "a matter of the utmost regret, and I offer my heartfelt condolences. It must not be allowed to fade from memory." Superintendent of education Kazunori Uenaka said the board had "looked back on four years of handling, reflected, and compiled this."
The board plans to finalize measures to prevent a recurrence by March 2027.
In Japan, municipal boards of education oversee public schools in their area and answer to the local mayor and assembly. When a student dies, the board is normally expected to report the case promptly and to explain its handling to the family.