Mama Grizzly takes no unchi

I knew things were looking up this year. First, The-Woman-Who-Watches-YouTube-All-Day-in-Her-Room-When-She-is-Not-Working-or-Playing-Tennis, came out long enough to inform me that her mother who is in the hospital with an aortic dissection is doing well and won't need surgery. A miracle, I'd say.

Then Friday evening I had dinner with the Oz Lady who informed me that her cancer scare turned out to be more of a scare than an immediate threat. The Oz Lady, a mid-30s Japanese teacher with a fear of foreigners as long as they are a faceless group, is doing well with her new---OMG!---Japanese-speaking foreign boyfriend. And the cancer scare helped her stop smoking. She did not say anything crazy during the meal like she often does. I hope she is thinking the same thing about me.

Then there's the woman whose daughter is being bullied in school. It turns out that the bullying was worse than I first heard and the young girl had to go to the hospital once after being hit by the bullying boy. This took place in front of a teacher who not only did not intervene, but did not even inform the mother what had happened. The little bully had done similar things to at least eight other students. Apparently, his parents were unable to do anything about it either. Or didn't care enough.

Although the problem has not yet been resolved, the girl's mother did find support from a local politician, a NGO, the local board of education, and the Tokyo Metropolitan Gov't.

What was it a couple of month's back that CBS News reported about schools in Japan?