Skip to main content

Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. to Run Sunday's Meigi Ekiden Despite Ongoing Corporal Punishment Scandal

http://www.tonichi.net/news/index.php?id=27076
http://www.fnn-news.com/news/headlines/articles/CONN00239441.html

translated and edited by Brett Larner

Translator's note: Click here and here for background on this story.  Toyokawa Kogyo's head coach is Masaaki Watanabe.

Despite an ongoing scandal involved allegations of the repeated use of corporal punishment by Toyokawa Kogyo H.S.'s 50-year-old male ekiden head coach against team members, principal Yoshihisa Takemoto has confirmed that the team is continuing to train and is scheduled to run in the Feb. 3 Meigi Ekiden.

Over the weekend the school grounds were quiet and empty without the usual club activities.  The streets around the school have been crowded with local residents peering into the school grounds as they pass by.  A group of men calling themselves alumni of Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. have been gathered near the front gate of the school's grounds, shouting at members of the media and telling them go away.  A male local resident in his 50's commented, "I was surprised to hear that this has been happening right here in our town.  We need to raise the standards for those responsible for leading youth sports.  I believe that this problem needs to be thought of in terms of leaders' overall training and education."

According to information released at a session at the school over the weekend, since last April twelve members of the Toyokawa Kogyo H.S. ekiden team have received corporal punishment from the coach.    Of serious concern to the school administration were two cases in which a male student and a female student left the school after being slapped and beaten.  Although the school was aware of these two cases, they did not inform the Aichi Prefectural Board of Education of them until issuing a written report on Jan. 25.  Principal Takemoto explained the failure to report the situation in a timely matter by saying, "The students' parents strongly requested that we remain silent until the students were back on their feet."

It was also revealed that in January, 2009, at the insistence of a father whose son had been beaten, the coach had written a document to the principal promising not to use corporal punishment against students.  In the written pledge the coach wrote, "I will not repeat this or go too far in my leadership," "I am sorry for having overstepped the bounds of my authority regardless of what the reason may have been," and, "I will reflect deeply on what I have done and give my word that I will not repeat these actions."  However, according to school officials, six months after signing the pledge the coach beat male team members in the head with a deck brush seriously enough for them to require stitches.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Australian YouTuber Handed Lifetime Ban by Ageo City Half Marathon After Running 1:06 with Another Runner's Bib (updated)

After discussion with their race's chief JAAF referee, on Nov. 27 the organizers of the Ageo City Half Marathon handed down a lifetime ban from their event against 36-year-old Australian Matt Inglis Fox  for running the Nov. 15 race wearing the bib number of another JAAF-registered runner. The incident came to light after Fox posted on his personal Instagram account that he had run a PB of 1:06:33 and finished 203rd in Ageo with a 10 km split of 31:03, along with photos and video of himself in the race wearing a bib number beginning with 11. Fox did not appear in the results by name or in that time or place, the closest match being a 1:06:54 gross, 1:06:50 net finish time with a 31:21 10 km split for 18th place in the JAAF-registered division and 209th overall by bib number 1129, registered to a non-Japanese Tokyo-resident club runner. The club runner, Harrisson Uk , readily confirmed that he had given his bib to Fox, saying, "I gave my number to Matt. It wasn't me."...

Akasaki 2nd, Maeda 9th - Berlin Marathon Japanese Results

photo © 2025 Victah Sailer/PhotoRun Even with a few withdrawals there was a massive group of Japanese athletes at the Berlin Marathon this year, most of the group that typically goes to the Chicago Marathon seeming to opt for Berlin instead. With men's winner Sebastian Sawe taking a shot at the world record, Akira Akasaki , Yuhei Urano and NR holder Kengo Suzuki sat back in a 3rd group targeting the JAAF's 2:06:30 standard for 2028 Olympic marathon trials qualification. The group held steady on that pace, quickly passing and leaving behind Hakone fan favorite Aoi Ota , who went out with a 14:26 opening 5 km only to finish in 2:14:02. Suzuki dropped off, but Akasaki and Urano were together through 30 km until Urano did the same. The top Japanese finisher in the Paris Olympics last year, from there Akasaki had what had to have been an incredibly fun last 12 km, picking faster people off one by one as he rolled on. Ultimately he made it all the way up to 2nd in a 2:06:15 PB. ...

Omuta High School Ekiden Team Helps Clean Up Elderly Alum's Restaurant After Kyushu Flooding

In the MIkawa neighborhood of Omuta, Fukuoka, the udon restaurant Donbeian was among the many victims of the large-scale flooding to strike Kyushu. Despite there being little chance the restaurant will be able to reopen in the foreseeable future, the entire local Omuta H.S. boys' ekiden team turned up on July 10 to help clean it out as a gesture of support for owner and Omuta H.S. alumnus Hirofumi Esaki , 66. Even as the rains continued to fall Esaki said, "Thanks to the kids I can at least see a way forward now. Donbeian will definitely be back." Floodwaters overcame the restaurant midday on July 6, rapidly rising to waist-deep level. Tables and seats from the customer area were strewn everywhere, with cooking utensils and bowls floating in the muddy waters. "I was in the second-floor office," recalled Esaki. "It was all I could do to get the heavy noodle-stretching machine away from the water and up to a higher place." By July 8 the floodwaters...