BullyTube

Bullying, or ijime in Japanese, has always been a major problem in Japan's rigid hierarchic society. Two weeks ago, the nation was shocked by the suicide of a junior high school boy, who allegedly ended his life because his teacher couldn't stop bullying him (See this video on YouTube "He was easy to make fun of"). Most Japanese videos on YouTube are copied from a number of major television shows in the country, the previous video being an excellent example. In that sense, YouTube has become a thermometer for the interest level towards Japanese media. For the past few days, however, YouTube itself proved to be a source of interest for news topics. With over 200000 views in two days, these two videos depicting high school bullies in action, have now been picked up by Japanese news media. I'm sure anyone would agree that this gives the term "consumer generated content" a rather harsh connotation. Update: YouTube has officially removed both videos. They can still be seen here and here.