ZAZY’s Dad’s Parenting Style Justified or Abuse?

Japanese comic ZAZY, whose real name is Toshiyuki Akai, has been in the spotlight recently for talking about the strict upbringing he had from his father. His father used an authoritarian parenting style, sometimes called “Spartan education.”

On April 15, ZAZY mentioned his parents’ strict educational approach on social media.

ZAZY confessed about his school days on TV Tokyo’s Japan’s Horror Reportage, which aired on April 4.

ZAZY described his father running a tutoring center that was usually buzzing with energetic students. But things took a turn when he said, “Believe it or not, my dad was pretty rough with those kids. There was even this one time he grabbed a middle school girl by the hair and slammed her head on the desk… pretty wild, right?” This left the others speechless, clearly shocked by his dad’s extreme teaching methods.

He shed light on his experience with his father’s “Spartan education,” explaining that it stemmed from being the eldest son. He shared some tough times, saying, “Test scores were a constant battleground. Dad wouldn’t let me sleep until I aced everything!”

He also shocked everyone by saying, “My father would say, ‘If you sleep, I’ll stab you,’ and he would appear with a knife and press the tip of the knife against my back.” If he tried to sleep without doing the assigned study, his father would say, “I’ll stab you and your mother, and we’ll all die.” ZAZY described his life at the time as being akin to hell.

When the episode aired, it sparked a firestorm online. Social media and online communities erupted with controversy, and many worried about ZAZY.

ZAZY took to social media to address the online firestorm. He downplayed the severity, saying something like, “Everyone’s saying it was abuse, but I wouldn’t call it that at all. It wasn’t a bad childhood.” He even said, “Maybe that upbringing is why I’m a comedian now, always putting on a happy face. I can’t argue if you think that perspective is messed up.”

Online users chimed in with mixed reactions. Some were vehement, stating things like, “There’s no two ways about it, that treatment qualifies as abuse.” Others took a more positive stance, saying, “Well, ZAZY seems to have turned out okay, so maybe it wasn’t that bad after all?” But another faction emerged, concerned about the influence of celebrities. They argued, “It’s unsettling for someone in the public eye to downplay abuse like this. It sends a dangerous message.”

Photo= ZAZY social media