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Niigata Panel Says Student’s Death Was ‘Coaching-Caused,’ Faults Judo Coach and School

The finding spotlights weak oversight of school sports that left an abusive coach unchecked.

Overview

  • The prefectural third-party committee, which published its report Monday, concluded the 2024 death was “shidoshi,” a Japanese term for a death caused by abusive coaching.
  • Investigators found the coach loudly scolded the boy at a June 2 tournament and five more times on campus by June 4, and the student was found dead on June 5.
  • The report said the coach’s words trampled the student’s dignity in a closed, top-down club culture where managers failed to rein in his behavior.
  • The education board said the teacher is now coaching at another prefectural school and will face possible discipline based on the report.
  • The panel held 37 meetings and interviewed about 50 people, and it reported no suicide note and classmates describing the boy as a club “mood-maker.”