Japan evicts over 100 students for breaching no-drinking rules
AFP
July 31, 2014, 12:20 am
Tokyo (AFP) - A Japanese university has taken the step of evicting all 105 residents of a school dormitory for breaching its no-drinking rule, according to media reports.
Peeved officials at Tohoku University banned drinking in the dorm earlier this year, but their patience finally ran out after failing in their attempts to curtail rowdy behaviour, including cases of students vomiting out of windows, the Japan Times said on Tuesday.
First and second-year students -- who comprise around 70 percent of the dorm at the university in the tsunami-hit northeast of the country -- are below the legal drinking age of 20.
The university has given the students until the end of September to ship out.
Drinking clubs or "circles" are widespread at Japanese universities and underage students, who often have little trouble getting served, can regularly be seen sprawled across city streets.
College professors reportedly have complained of late-night drinking rituals where seniors wake younger students and force them to guzzle alcohol, sometimes resulting in victims being unable to make it to the bathroom and instead vomiting out of windows.
There have also been cases of acute alcohol poisoning, according to the Kyodo news agency.
Neighbours were said to have been angered by the constant noise.
The discovery of large amounts of empty beer cans tipped off college staff that the students were flouting the rules, but some claim they were being unfairly booted.
"The fault lies with those who were guilty of drinking alcohol," Tao Kimura, the 20-year-old vice president of the dormitory's student body, told local media.
"But to extend that punishment to students who didn't drink is unfair and the deadline to leave is way too short."
