College student forced to strip naked, assaulted by members of Nippon Kempo martial arts club
Three members of a Nippon Kempo martial arts club at Osaka University of Commerce have been arrested for inflicting violence and threats on other students.
College clubs and sports groups can be tough places, with lots of drinking and entrance rituals. But this club went too far, it seems.
Osaka University of Commerce, located in Higashi-Osaka City, is not a college with a particularly high academic reputation but its Nippon Kempo club is one of the best in the country. Clearly this success comes at a price.
A male student aged 19, now a sophomore but then a freshman, had his face submerged in a bathtub full of water. He was headbutted and hit in the face, and was even made to strip off all their clothes.
He then had his naked lower half physically assaulted by other members of the club.
His attackers also used a lighter on his body and wrote graffiti on his back, and forced the newbie to chug drinks.
Whiplash, eat your heart out!
The former club captain, Hideto Yata, a fourth-year student aged 21, has been arrested. A third year student aged 20, Naoya Inoue, and a second-year student aged 19 who cannot be named for legal reasons have also been arrested for assault. All are no longer members of the club. Two other members of the club were questioned.
The abuses were carried out in March and Yata said it was to discipline the student, who was being “rebellious”.
Japanese student life is dominated by clubs and other social groups. You should avoid areas like Meidaimae, Takadanobaba or Waseda in Tokyo during the early spring because the streets throng with large groups of club members going drinking or eating as part of their induction outings at the start of the academic year. Needless to say, when these are over, there is lots of shouting and vomiting in the streets!
However, some college clubs in Japan have faced controversy in the past.
Super Free was ostensibly a rave music event club at Waseda University and other elite colleges, but it effectively served as a rape network, involving private rooms at Roppongi nightclubs. Until its members’ arrests in 2003 it probably made dozens of women victims of date rape or gang rape.
Last year, a Meiji University extracurricular club sparked a media storm when many female members were found unconscious on the street, while their male peers sheepishly looked on. The official explanation was “excessive drinking”, though some made accusations that it was an attempt to give the girls a date rape drug that went wrong.
