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Cyberbullying in Japan

How Internet hate killed this rising superstar

By S.A. OzbournePublished 2 years ago 10 min read
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Source: ET Online

This story is about cyberbullying in Japan and the rising cases of suicide and self-harm due to online attacks. One of the biggest cases of this happened last year when Hana Kimura an actress and professional wrestler, took her own life because of the online hate she received.

Who Was Hana Kimura

Hana was the daughter of a professional wrestler in Japan named Kyoko Kimura. Following her mother’s footsteps, Hana also became a professional wrestler who attended wrestling university and had her first fight when she was 19.

And although she was well known by wrestling fans, it was her time on the show Terrace House that really got her nationwide attention. Unfortunately, it was also probably one of the reasons why she decided to end her life.

What is Terrace House

Terrace House is a reality TV show similar to Big Brother but in my opinion much nicer and normal. A fancy house near the beach filled with young and good-looking professionals looking for love.

I am not a huge fan of reality tv shows, especially ones like Big Brother or those island shows where they get a whole bunch of people to cheat on each other and cause drama.

But Terrace House is a lot more realistic. There is always drama between people but overall it’s a lot more civilized. At least that is what I got from half a season I watched last year.

What Caused The Cyberbullying

So cyberbullying or cyber-harassment is quite easy to define. It’s basically bullying someone online. There have been a variety of cases of cyberbullying around the world and some have led to similar outcomes as Hana’s situation.

I will admit I haven’t seen this year’s Terrace House and had never heard of Hana or the drama that unfolded until after the news of her death so I can’t say exactly what happened.

But according to a variety of news reports, she was cyberbullied after an episode where she got into an argument with one of the Terrace House members over laundry.

He washed his clothes and her wrestling uniform was mixed in with his clothes and shrank. And she reacted in a bad way, got angry, confronted the guy, and even knocked the hat he was wearing off his head.

And apparently, it seems that they resolved the issue on the show between the roommates. So things should have been fine. But, unfortunately, the public in Japan watching the episode wasn’t happy with her and her reaction and didn’t hold back.

Hana received hundreds of messages and comments telling her she was a terrible person, she should kill herself, and all the other crappy things people say online to people they don’t like or agree with.

And so she sent off some goodbye and thank you tweets and Instagram posts to her social media and committed suicide.

My Thoughts

I am torn between being angry with the people online and being angry with Hana herself. Let me explain.

Bullying has been around forever. I am sure from the creation of man, the taller or more muscular caveman bullied the smaller one. It’s a part of human nature to want to be better, stronger, prettier, or more successful than others and feel superior. A sense of power and control.

And I hate it when people who are older say stuff like,

“These young kids are so sensitive or snowflakes. When we were young we got bullied as well but we dealt with it.”

Yeah, you dealt with it, did you? Did you get bullied by a couple of kids in your neighborhood? Maybe a group of cool kids at your high school? Wow, that was tough, wasn’t it!

I was bullied too. There were two guys that really stand out. A boy named Shawn from elementary and a guy named George from Junior High. it was tough. I was small and weak and an easy target. Now magnify the Shawns and Georges at my school to thousands and sometimes millions!

So to all the people calling cyberbullying no match to what they experienced: You didn’t have Internet, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube when you got bullied so you have no right to compare yourself to those dealing with cyberbullying.

The people who think cyberbullying is not a big deal aren’t getting cyberbullied. Ask someone who has lost their job, been doxed, harassed, had death threats, or been a victim of mass cyberbullying if it’s not a big deal. I guarantee no matter how young or old they are, they will all agree it’s hell.

So first of all, I am angry with people online in general.

The Reason I Am Angry With People Online

As a person who has made Youtube videos since 2009, I have had 12 years of experience. Luckily I am not a big or famous YouTuber and my hate comments are usually few and far between. I get the usual “fu — ing f-g” comment which makes no sense since I always seem to date and have a girlfriend. Or paki or terrorist or sand nig —, well you get it.

Racial slurs also don’t bother me much because I was born and raised in Canada and my English is usually much better than those telling me to go back to India, a country I have never lived in.

I have been called fat, stupid, ugly, gay, annoying, and useless. And no matter how much I try to brush it off, it does affect me a bit. It kind of ruins my day and all I can think about is that comment and how to respond. Imagine I got all those comments all at once non-stop. I was around before social media was a thing so I can kind of turn it off.

But for someone who has grown up with social media, it’s as part of their life as watching tv or playing with your friends was when we were young.

Imagine, I was watching TV as a teenager, and during a commercial break, someone directly addressed me to tell me I was a fu — king a — hole and I should die. That’s pretty much what’s happening now.

Everyone has a voice now and many are using it to bring people down

So I am angry with all those people and their opinions on people that don’t concern them. They know they can say anything and it will have no effect on them. I wonder if people were held responsible for their comments if things would change.

For example, everyone who left a comment telling Hana to die or kill herself was charged with accessory to murder, maybe then they would realize their words mean something.

But everyone knows nothing will happen. The Japanese government is trying to find ways to fight cyberbullying. But it’s impossible. Yes, you can block some comments or remove them. But once the person getting the comments sees them, it’s already too late.

The only way to truly stop cyberbullying is to start with yourself.

In my entire 12 years of making Youtube, I have never left a negative comment for anyone. I replied to negative people and sometimes tried to defend myself. But I have never watched a video or read a tweet and thought “I don’t agree with this person, I am going to tell them to die.” I just don’t have that level of hatred for anyone.

Don’t get me wrong, a lot of people online piss me off and I wish they didn’t do what they did, but I have never attacked them. I just stop watching their videos, block them if they comment on mine, or ignore them. Sometimes I just laugh at how terrible that person is and feel sorry for them.

The reason why I also am angry with Hana

Not just Hana but those like her who have been bullied either in person or online and take the words to heart, start believing they really are worthless, and blame themselves.

I think Hana knew she was wrong to react the way she did on the show and maybe either on or off-camera or through social media, she might have apologized for her behavior. I don’t know, maybe she did do all those things.

But other than having a brief moment of anger because something that meant a lot to her was damaged she didn’t do anything that most of us haven’t done.

Think about your time especially with friends and family. How many times have you yelled at your wife, kid, parents, siblings, friends, or roommates and had squabbles?

When I was young, my sister and I fought constantly. It’s part of being in close quarters, people are bound to argue. Does that mean every time you yell at your mom because she won’t stop telling you to clean your room that you should kill yourself?

I am angry because Hana was young and beautiful and talented but she wasn’t perfect

Instead of accepting her flaws and loving herself, she listened to negative people and took their opinions of her to heart over the opinions of her friends and family. I think her life was so wrapped up in Instagram, Twitter, social media, tv, and self-promotion that she lost grip of who matters.

It’s not the fans, who will probably forget about her next season, but her friends and family whose opinions matter. Personally, if my parents told me that I was a terrible person, I didn’t deserve to live and should die, that would be heartbreaking and I would be distraught. But hearing that from people who mean nothing to me, I would do my best to block it out.

However, reading about Hana and learning her father might have been of Indonesian descent and so she was bullied in real life as well for being half Japanese it makes me feel that she was already getting bullied and this was just the straw that broke the camel’s back.

So once again I say, bullying and cyberbullying are basically the same thing, just different mouthpieces. And I don’t have any answers or great advice for anyone who is facing cyberbullying.

All I can say is stay strong, talk to people who actually care about you, and share with them the troubles you have. Maybe if you can try to block, avoid, and decrease the amount of exposure you have to social media, it might help reduce the feelings of pain or sadness.

I know in this day and age we can’t go offline because we need our phones and computers for all parts of life. And everyone wants to share their life and stories online. But maybe try to balance online life with offline life.

Faceless people who are less popular than you online, don’t make content themselves but are quick to judge you are most likely angry about their lack of success rather than what you did. So maybe someone like Hana could have directly asked her fellow cast members, wrestlers, and other public figures that are famous, for their opinion.

Maybe then she would have gotten a more honest and fair response to her situation. I am sure even the guy with who she had an argument would have posted that he was over their fight and he was looking forward to seeing her again once filming resumed after the coronavirus pandemic was under control.

Had she reached out to people that actually matter in her life, the jealous and angry mob would have had less of an effect. At least that is what I think. But I didn’t know her or private troubles.

As I said, I don’t get hate like other public figures but I think everyone is human, and no matter how many followers, fans, or subscribers you have, realizing their opinion means very little compared to the real people around you is the best way to fight cyberbullying.

This article by me also appears here: https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/cyberbullying-in-japan-e6f1ce71bbb6

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About the Creator

S.A. Ozbourne

A writer with no history or perspective is a paintbrush with no paint!

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