The suicide of a 13-year-old junior high school boy in Otsu in October 2011, apparently due to bullying, has shocked the nation. The bereaved family of the boy, who jumped to his death on Oct. 11 from his family's condominium, has filed a ¥77 million compensation lawsuit against the Otsu city government.
The city at first denied a relationship between the boy's suicide and bullying. But on July 17, the city expressed its readiness to start talks to reach an amicable settlement with the family because of the possibility that such a relationship existed. Mayor Naomi Koshi expressed her apology at the city office to the boy's family.
It has now surfaced that there were clear signs that the boy was being bullied. The question is why teachers did not take proper action immediately to help the boy.