"Bullies are despicable." A Yokota Middle School students show off a sign used during an anti-bullying walk at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 26, 2023. (Stars and Stripes)
YOKOTA AIR BASE, Japan — Students and teachers at this U.S. airlift hub in western Tokyo marked anti-bullying awareness month with a first-ever group walk that drew about 320 people last week.
The group from Yokota Middle School gathered Thursday on the nearby high school’s track carrying anti-bullying signs — “Be-friend, don’t offend” and “Boo bullying,” for example — while clad in the color of autumn leaves. Some signs featured photos of big-screen bully Biff Tannen from “Back to the Future.”
Orange is associated with an awareness campaign begun by the National Bullying Prevention Center that’s observed nationwide each October. Similar no-bullying events have taken place this month on other military installations, including Edgren Middle High School at Misawa Air Base, Japan.
Students, teachers and others from the community gather for an anti-bullying event near Yokota Middle School at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 25, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
A Yokota Middle School student holds a sign featuring famous big-screen bullies during an anti-bullying walk at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 26, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
Yokota Middle counselor Wallace Bennett came up with the idea for an outdoor event this year to make the message more memorable.
“I wanted to do something a little bit different, something we haven’t done before,” he told Stars and Stripes on Oct. 24. “Getting the kids out there and thinking about anti-bullying.”
The event included sketches performed as radio plays over the school public address system by 11 theater students acting out bullying scenarios.
“I am one of the main characters, Susie, and played one of the bullies,” sixth-grader Eliseia Avila said at the anti-bullying walk. “Lauren — we used to be friends — but one day we had soccer tryouts and she made the team, and I didn’t, and I got really mad.”
Bennett approached theater teacher Jackie Rebok about putting on some kind of production for the event, Rebok said Thursday.
“I think it went really well,” she said. “Everyone wearing orange was fantastic, all the posters that people had were great and a lot of the kids seemed to like it. When you have fun with it, it becomes more meaningful. And everyone coming together as a community is so important.”
“A little bit of bullying” occurs on school buses and near the lockers, but the school is teaching students not to bully, sixth-grader Guilitte Martineau said during the walk.
“The first thing you should probably ask yourself is why you bully; what’s the reason?” Martineau said. “And then try to find something that you could do to stop it, like maybe finding something that makes you happy, like a hobby.”
No single cause is behind school-age bullying, according to the Department of Education. Factors from several sources — individual, family, peer, school and community — can put a child at risk.
“Bullying is a horrible thing,” eighth-grader Tatum Christensen told Stars and Stripes on Thursday. “It is one thing that many people have to go through and so it’s good to be aware of it and why we shouldn’t do it.”
"Boo bullying!" A Yokota Middle School student sends a message during an anti-bullying walk at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 26, 2023. (Kelly Agee/Stars and Stripes)
Nearly three-quarters of parents surveyed by the Pew Research Center in 2022 said they were either very or somewhat concerned about their child being bullied, up from 60% of responding parents in 2015.
Yokota Middle doesn’t have serious challenges with bullying, said principal Hilary Simmons. However, things do pop up from time to time, so it’s important to be proactive rather than reactive.
“We do have a great school,” she said.
