After bullying scandal explodes online, Japanese school pulls out of national high school baseball championships

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Baseball is a national passion in Japan, especially at the high school level. — Unsplash pic/Susann Schuster

TOKYO, Aug 10 — A Japanese high school hit by a bullying scandal has withdrawn from the country’s hugely popular summer baseball tournament after a social media frenzy, officials said Sunday. 

The two-week “Koshien” high school tournament is watched by millions on national television each year and has launched the careers of many of Japan’s leading players. 

Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani and San Diego Padres pitcher Yu Darvish both earned their spurs in the tournament played at Koshien Stadium near the western city of Osaka.

An outcry over alleged violence earlier this year at the baseball team of Koryo High School in the Hiroshima region prompted calls on social media for their withdrawal.

“We have decided to pull out, and will swiftly conduct an overhaul of our education method,” Masakazu Hori, the principal of the school in western Japan, told reporters. 

It is reportedly the first time that a school has exited mid-tournament over a scandal related to player violence.

Koshien tournament co-organiser, the Japan High School Baseball Federation, on Sunday described Koryo High’s decision as “extremely regrettable” and vowed to continue efforts to “eradicate violence, bullying and irrational hierarchical relationships”. 

Koryo High said on Wednesday that an internal investigation had found a first-year student on the baseball team had been assaulted by four of his senior teammates at their dormitory in January. 

Acts of violence included shoving him in the chest and slapping him in the face, with the victim then transferred to another school in March following an apology by his assailants, the school said. 

Koryo High reported the assault to the federation, was given a reprimand in March and did not initially publicise the incident.

But emotional social media posts detailing the case went viral earlier this month, triggering an outpouring of anger against the school. 

Unsubstantiated information then swirled online about other instances of violence allegedly involving Koryo’s baseball team. 

Koryo High principal Hori warned Sunday that the posts “include pure speculation not based on facts, and slanders against unrelated students. 

“Some of our students have been vilified and chased after, on their way to and from school,” he said, adding that even a bomb threat had been received. — AFP