At the start of this year, the Ministry of Education in Japan issued a notice requesting that boards of education nationwide “establish a medical examination environment with consideration for the privacy and feelings of the students.” This came following several complaints from parents about topless health check policies at various schools. Yet despite this notice, many places still conduct topless health checks, angering parents and campaigners. According to a recent article in The Guardian, a poll of junior high school students found that 95.5% of children aged between 12 and 16 felt unhappy about removing their clothes.
Some Doctors Insist Topless Health Checks Are Necessary
So why does the practice continue? One person familiar with the issue told The Guardian that school bodies face resistance from the Japan Medical Association. “In some cases, doctors, who are almost always men, have threatened to stop performing the exams if they are forced to change the procedure,” said the respondent, adding, “They insist it is impossible to conduct a proper exam if children are fully clothed. And the children are in no position to refuse. The schools are really concerned about this and want something to be done.” Some doctors believe topless health examinations are necessary to check for signs of atopic dermatitis and heart irregularities, as well as other conditions.
Incidents in the past couple of years, however, have made parents and students feel increasingly uneasy about the practice, most notably the arrest of a doctor in Okayama in 2022 on suspicion of secretly filming five female junior high students in underwear. In June, a male doctor admitted to looking inside children’s underwear during a checkup at an elementary school in Gunma Prefecture. The man in his 70s said, “It was necessary to examine the growth of the body.” He added that he didn’t touch their private parts. A school nurse and a female member of staff were both present when he examined the girls. During a briefing session with the education board, the doctor apologized for his actions.
