Skip to main content

Kamimura Gakuen H.S. Girls' Head Coach Suspended for Corporal Punishment Against Team Members

http://sankei.jp.msn.com/affairs/news/140131/crm14013100280001-n1.htm

translated by Brett Larner

In response to questioning on Jan. 30, administration officials from National High School Girls Ekiden Championships regular Kamimura Gakuen H.S. of Ichikikushikino, Kagoshima, admitted that the male head coach of its girls' ekiden team had performed corporal punishment against first-year team members.  Confirming the factual basis of the situation, the school administration apologized to parents and placed the head coach under indefinite suspension.

According to the administration, during a team training camp last August the head coach told a female student, "You need stronger abs," before punching her in the stomach hard twice with his fist.  Earlier this month he told a girl on the team, "Try harder," as he pinched her cheeks.  Administration officials also said that another girl stopped coming to the school this month after the coach told her, "If you keep up like this you might lose your scholarship."

Principal Ryo Ozono commented, "I don't think he was aware that what he was doing constituted corporal punishment, but nevertheless what took place should not have happened."  Kamimura Gakuen H.S. represented Kagoshima prefecture at December's National High School Girls Ekiden Championships.

Translator's note: The Kamimura Gakuen H.S. girls' ekiden team is coached by Tetsuzo Arikawa.  As with last year's corporal punishment scandal at Toyokawa Kogyo H.S., the Japanese media do not name the head coach despite that information being publicly and readily available on the school's own website and elsewhere.

Comments

Most-Read This Week

Everything You Need to Know About the 2026 Hakone Ekiden

The Hakone Ekiden is the world's biggest road race, 2 days of road relay action with Japan's 20 best university teams racing 10 half marathon-scale legs from central Tokyo to the mountains east of Mount Fuji and back. The level just keeps going higher and higher , hitting the point this year where there are teams with 10-runner averages of 13:33.10 for 5000 m, 27:55.98 for 10000 m, and 1:01:20 for the half marathon. It's never been better, and with great weather in the forecast it's safe to say this could be one of the best races in Hakone's 102-year history, especially on Day One. If you've seen it then you know NTV's live broadcast is the best sports broadcast in the world, with the pre-race show kicking off at 7:00 a.m. Japan time on the 2nd and 3rd and the race starting at 8:00 a.m. sharp. If you've got a VPN you should be able to watch it on TVer starting at 7:50 a.m. on the 2nd , and again at 7:50 a.m. on the 3rd . There's even a 2-hour high...

Long Time Coming - Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera's Road to the 2022 United Airlines NYC Half

Back in pre-pandemic days Akira Akasaki and Haruka Onodera  were still in college, Akasaki at Takushoku University and Onodera at Teikyo University . At the 2019 Ageo City Half Marathon they frontran most of the race together, dead set on finishing in the top two Japanese collegiate spots to win invitations to the 2020 United Airlines NYC Half. For Akasaki it had already been a year and a half wait. Inspired by Kenta Murayama 's 1:00:57 5th place in finish in New York in 2017 and Kei Katanishi 's 7th-place in 2018, Akasaki went for it his junior year in his debut at the 2018 Ageo Half . "Coming up to 10 km I was in the lead pack and feeling good, so I knew I had a shot at going to New York and got pretty excited," he said. But right after the 10 km turnaround point he tripped and fell, and by the time he was back up the lead group was out of range. He finished 20th in 1:03:07, over a minute and a half behind top Japanese university man Ken Nakayama . "I was f...

Australian Male Arrested on Drug Smuggling Charges After Entering Japan for Osaka Marathon

On Apr. 9 the Kinki Region Bureau of Health, Labor and Welfare's Drug Control Division arrested Matthew Inglis Fox , 38, an Australian business owner of no known fixed address, on charges of violating the importation regulations of the Narcotics Control Act by smuggling tablets containing marijuana elements from the United States. The suspect had entered Japan in February to run in the Osaka Marathon . The suspect was arrested on suspicion of smuggling approximately 12 pills containing marijuana by sending them from a U.S. airport to Osaka's Kansai Airport using an international courier service on Feb. 19. The Osaka branch of the Customs Service discovered the tablets in arriving cargo and suspected them to be narcotics. Customs contacted the Narcotics Control Division, which then began its investigation of the case. According to the Narcotics Control Division, the suspect denies the charges.  Translator's note: Fox, who received a lifetime ban from the Ageo City Half Mara...