While it’s become common knowledge that many Japanese talent agencies prohibit idol singers from dating, there are similar rules in place at some Japanese high schools. The logic is that teens should be focusing on their studies and wholesome extra-curricular activities, as opposed to squandering their precious youth trying
While it’s become common knowledge that many Japanese talent agencies prohibit idol singers from dating, there are similar rules in place at some Japanese high schools. The logic is that teens should be focusing on their studies and wholesome extra-curricular activities, as opposed to squandering their precious youth trying to get a date (when exactly they are supposed to become interested in romantic companionship is a question anti-dating schools quietly sidestep in its entirety).
Tochigi Prefecture’s Ashikaga High School isn’t so strict as to have a blanket ban on dating, but its boys volleyball team, a regular competitor at national championship tournaments, does set internal limits on its members’ love lives. Players aren’t allowed to date anyone else involved with the volleyball program, such as the equipment managers, who in Japan are usually female students, so as to prevent jealousy and animosity from breeding among teammates.
However, young love isn’t always so easily contained, and one boy on the team, a 17-year-old second-year student, began dating a first-year female student equipment manager. Their tryst was discovered, though, and it’s now come to light that on June 29, the 66-year-old coach confronted the boy about violating the team’s internal rule. After telling the boy to kneel on the floor in the traditional Japanese style, he began to berate the teen for his actions, kicking him in the chest repeatedly and striking him on the back when he toppled over, angrily declaring “This is corporal punishment.
