Ethical Theory and Value

Bullying among students was a very long issue that was not solved in Japan. Bullying in Japanese is Ijime. According to “Ijime in Japanese Schools: A Product of Japanese Education Based on Group Conformity”, Ijime is a bit different than bullying since it has a cultural background of Japan “ they disrespect and disapprove of being different from others. Japanese children exhibit this favoritism toward those who can conform, by their strong rejection, often expressed by indifference and sarcastic attitudes, towards those who stray from the group standard. Excessive rejection often causes aggression which does turn into ijime behavior “(Mino, 1). There are 3 values that can be found in Japanese culture: honne, tatemae, meiwaku. Honne and tatemae refer contrast between true feelings and attitudes that are deemed socially acceptable. In Japanese culture, harmony with other people is considered important, and true feeling may distract the harmony and the attitude. Meiwaku means causing trouble and inconvenience to others and it is important to avoid meiwaku in Japanese culture. It is ironic that bullying is strongly condemned and seen as a violation but the bullying starts because of tatemae and meiwaku. Bullying someone who is “tatemae” and “meiwaku” is rationalized because the person breaks the harmony of being “honne”. This bullying has been spread to the internet recently and it is considered the biggest issue in Japanese technology.