Former Yomiuri Giants pitcher Masumi Kuwata held a lecture for teachers on corporal punishment in Osaka, where a high school student committed suicide last year after being slapped by his basketball club adviser.
Kuwata, who was invited by the Osaka City Board of Education to speak at the training workshop that was closed to the media, said at a press conference afterward that he talked about how sportsmanship should be.
"What's wrong is wrong; there's no need for logic," he said of corporal punishment, while calling for the eradication of such use of violence at schools, describing the act as "most cowardly" as it takes place in a situation of "absolute obedience."