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In the Yokohama case, the bullying began after the second-grader transferred to a Yokohama elementary school in 2011. He was called “germ” as a reference to nuclear contamination by his teacher and forked over ¥1.5 million ($13,500) in apparent extortion fees to his classmates.
A board of education investigation concluded the boy had been bullied, and the board later acknowledged the payments resulted from the bullying.
In a 15-minute meeting with the mayor at City Hall, the boy said: “Unless bullying is recognized (by authorities), we feel as if no one will fight together with us. I don’t want anyone to suffer the way I did,” according to a lawyer representing the student.
[…]
The government released in April its first nationwide survey on the bullying of child evacuees from Fukushima and found 129 cases had transpired in the academic year ended in March and 70 more in previous years.
Among the 199 cases, 13 had obvious links to the man-made nuclear disaster or the mega-quake and tsunami that triggered it.
The survey showed that some of those who were bullied were told to go back to Fukushima or stay away under the false premise that they would contaminate others with radiation.
Read more at Yokohama mayor apologizes to schoolboy bullied for being nuclear evacuee
