"No School Trip Without Me"... Japanese Teacher Adds Bleach to School Lunch

Homeroom Teacher Poured Bleach into Class Lunch
"Explained It Was to Prevent Students from Going on Math Trip Due to Stomachache"

“I hated the idea of happy memories being made where I was not present.” This is what a Japanese female teacher, who poured a strong bleach into school meals with the intent to harm children she had been homeroom teacher for two years, stated to the police.

On the 27th (local time), the Saitama District Court in Japan sentenced Hanazawa Ayana (25), a former teacher at a municipal elementary school in Fujimi City, Saitama Prefecture, to two years in prison with a four-year suspended sentence, Sankei Shimbun reported on the same day.

Han-ja and Ayana (25), former Japanese teachers who poured strong bleach into school meals.
Photo by Nippon TV broadcast screen capture

Hanazawa, who worked as a teacher at this school, mixed bleach into the lunch meals of 6th-grade students she had taught until six months prior, on September 15 of last year.

On the day of the crime, around noon, she poured 500 ml of chlorine-based bleach into a cylindrical curry can measuring 30 cm in diameter and 30 cm in height, located in the third-floor hallway of the school building. This amount corresponded to the portion for one class of 23 students.

At that time, a student in charge of serving opened the can lid, and it is known that foam bubbled vigorously and a pungent odor that irritated the nose spread. Other teachers confirmed this, and fortunately, the curry from that can was not served to the students.

Police who were called to the scene gathered all the teachers to ascertain the situation, but Hanazawa was the only one who did not show up. After searching the school buildings, they found her hiding.

Hanazawa told the police, “I hated the idea of happy memories being made where I was not present. I thought if the students got stomachaches, they would not be able to go on the school trip,” giving this absurd reason.

In fact, the school reportedly canceled the school trip scheduled for the next day due to concerns about the possibility of further crimes by her.

Hanazawa also stated that she committed the crime because she felt she had been disadvantaged in personnel matters, such as being removed from her position as homeroom teacher of the class she was in charge of for two years starting from April 2020. However, the school maintained that “it was a routine personnel matter.”

Earlier, the prosecution indicted Hanazawa on charges of obstruction of business by intimidation and requested a two-year prison sentence, calling it a “shameless and self-centered crime.”

The court ruled on the day, “Despite being in a position to teach children as a teacher, she harbored resentment for not being assigned as a homeroom teacher and put bleach in the meals to prevent students from enjoying the school trip, which is not subject to any mitigation.”