When the cherry blossoms fail to bloom on cue or a lunch menu falls short of expectations, teachers in Japan know what to expect: a barrage of late-night emails, angry phone calls and, increasingly, a sense of despair.
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The problem has reached such proportions that authorities in Tokyo are planning official guidelines intended to protect educators from parental harassment and establish boundaries around what schools can be asked to do.
According to a draft released this month by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education, the guidelines are “aimed at enabling teachers and other school staff to work with peace of mind”.
The phenomenon, first labelled “monster parents” by educator Yoichi Mukoyama in 2007 – referring to “unjustified, incomprehensible demands” from parents who berated teachers day and night – has since morphed into something even more insidious.
Today’s parents are more aggressive and entitled than ever, teachers say, fuelling a mental health crisis among staff and worsening Japan’s chronic teacher shortage.
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