I am a 53-year-old Japanese man who went though this system. Many of us recipients of taibatsu (corporal punishment) might say years later that it was good for us. But please note that saying otherwise would be to admit that we were physically and emotionally abused for nothing and didn't have the guts to fight back. That would be very painful. We at least want to feel that it did something positive, toughened us up or something.
In reality, however, it made us timid when faced with abuse of power. We were trained to just put up with it.
from the japan times online
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