Osaka high school basketball coach fired for battering student who killed himself
Coach axed: Osaka city board of education officials apologize Wednesday at City Hall as they announce the firing of Sakuranomiya Senior High School basketball coach Hajime Komura, 47, for alleged violence against his team's captain, who hanged himself in December. | KYODO

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Osaka high school basketball coach fired for battering student who killed himself

Kyodo

OSAKA – The Osaka municipal board of education fired a 47-year-old high school basketball team coach Wednesday for alleged violence against the club’s captain that led to the youth’s suicide in December.

The board said it took the action against Hajime Komura based on a report by an outside panel that stated the coach had slapped the 17-year-old boy in the face and head at least 20 times the day before the youth hanged himself on Dec. 23.

The coach at the city-run Sakuranomiya Senior High School also slapped the student several times on Dec. 18, the report said.

The slapping amounted to “violence” rather than corporal punishment and may have prompted the student to kill himself, it said.

Komura has claimed that he slapped the student in a bid to encourage him.

Earlier reports alleged the coach engaged in other violence against his charges.

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Coach axed: Osaka city board of education officials apologize Wednesday at City Hall as they announce the firing of Sakuranomiya Senior High School basketball coach Hajime Komura, 47, for alleged violence against his team's captain, who hanged himself in December. | KYODO

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  • What people do to achieve impossible? Sad story, I love Japan but there are some aspects in Japanese culture that I hate, I know I can’t change it. So I have to live with it. I just feel bad for all the people committing suicide in Japan, yet government doesn’t do anything to stop this madness. Japanese pride takes the lead in Japanese society, resulting in suicides. In such beautiful country like Japan it’s really hard to believe and understand what drives Japanese people to be so strict and hard working, and still not see that this is the main problem in Japan. I wish that Japan (mainly government) will eventually open their eyes and do something about.

  • Mark Garrett

    I would love the opportunity to “encourage” Komura myself!