Marijuana scandals test Japanese university leaders

As the latest marijuana scandal hits a Japanese university, a top administrator has been asked to leave his post, reflecting a culture in which campus drug use is still so rare that the institutional response is to hide any occurrence, scholars said.

Nihon University’s vice-president was reportedly asked to step down after some of the institution’s athletes were arrested for suspected possession of cannabis, Japanese media reported.

The high-profile incident comes amid a rash of similar cases earlier this year. In the summer, two members of the Tokyo University of Agriculture’s boxing team were arrested on suspicion of possessing marijuana; so were three members of the Asahi University rugby team, according to local news coverage.

Such incidents, and their potential to bring down university leaders, reveal a clash of on-the-ground reality with a conservative culture – and are only likely to become more common in the future, according to academics.

In contrast with the West, in Japan, the use of marijuana is “still highly stigmatised and considered a sign of social deviancy”, said Timothy Benedict, an associate professor of sociology at Kwansei Gakuin University.

For universities, student drug use reflects poorly on their reputation. Yet despite this, most institutions do not educate their students about the issue, with action currently “limited to a few posters on campus or leaflets”, Dr Benedict said.

Currently, cases of drug use are fairly rare and a cause of deep embarrassment for institutions, leading to poor management of incidents, said Takuya Kimura, a professor in the School of Education at Kyushu University.

“Japanese people have a disposition not to accept errors or even the slightest…failure. I think it is a manifestation of perfectionism in Japan,” he said.

In the Nihon case, administrators were said to have delayed for more than a week before telling the police about the case. The university maintains that it had been conducting an internal investigation.

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But for Professor Kimura, its behaviour betrayed a deeper issue, a culture wherein administrators “try to hide” such problems.

“Japanese universities have long treated drug cases as non-existent on campus. Students who committed drug crimes were the exception. It is important to reverse the situation when it becomes an everyday occurrence,” he said.

Such a time is still far away, said Matthew Wilson, president of Temple University’s Japan campus and a lawyer specialising in Japan’s legal system.

“Nihon University and the administration contend that they needed time to investigate and allow the students time to confess. The government would likely contend that this is not the place of a university when it comes to matters such as drug use,” he said.

Going forward, Professor Wilson said, the Nihon case would come to be an example of “what not to do in drug use cases” for administrators.

“Apologies and taking responsibility are significant from a culture standpoint in Japan,” he said. “The delay in reporting the discovery of marijuana to the police during a dorm raid can be construed negatively.”

As more Japanese students go on semesters abroad in countries where marijuana is legal and its use widespread, universities might need to rethink their approach, said Dr Benedict.

The use of drugs, while still rare in Japan, will only grow, agreed Professor Kimura.

“Japanese universities have already become mass rather than elite,” he said. “The rapid progression of stratification in Japan means that the drug-familiar class is enrolling in universities, and this number is expected to increase in the future.”

Responding to Times Higher Education, Nihon University apologised for the “worry” and “confusion” caused by the incident on its campus. A spokesperson said that a team is working on an “improvement plan that includes measures to prevent the recurrence of this trouble and the restructuring of the administrative system”.

“At the same time, we will clarify where the responsibility lies for those involved in bringing about this situation,” they added.

pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com