ABSTRACT
In the early 1970s, filial violence (aggression against parents) became the first type of domestic violence to be viewed as a social problem in Japan. The use of a baseball bat to hit mothers and fathers was one of the serious physical attacks committed by children in the 1970s and 1980s. Bullying at schools has also become a national problem, particularly in the 1990s. In these cases, groups of children pick on one particular youngster and abuse him or her psychologically and physically. In some recent incidents, middle school students have attacked their teachers with pocketknives. In addition, there has been a tendency for some Japanese boys (middle and high school students) to physically attack homeless people and middle-aged men on the street.
