Kireru: snapping or becoming enraged
How often do students actually snap? According to the survey, 3.7% of the students snap every day while 12.9% do so several times a week. 14.8% snap one or twice a month. In other words, 30% say they snap or become enraged more than once a month. 18.9% of the students state that they have never snapped or become enraged, but 61.7% think that at least one person in their classes easily does so (Table 2 and 3). This indicates that the word, "kireru," may have a different nuance for each person. It is hard to imagine that 30% of all students lose control more than once a month.

Just what sort of behavior constitutes "kireru" and how do students feel about it? In their answers, these students said that they became violent, destroyed or damaged objects, became verbally abusive, withdrawn, or highly agitated. Only 36.4% of the students who became enraged felt that they should have exercised self-restraint; they tended to justify their actions by either saying that there was nothing else they could have done at the time or that they should have become even more enraged (Table 4). 16.3% of the students said they never felt like doing so. Most students felt sure that they would be able to control their temper, but only 31.1% of the boys and 19.7% of the girls were not confident that they could restrain themselves (Table 5 and 6).

It is important to note that the comments submitted by students imply that "kireru" is immature behavior reminiscent of early childhood. Ninth graders, in particular, thought this to be true and found it similar to when a child throws a temper tantrum. 38.3% of all students answered there were no students in their classes who become enraged and 37.0% reported that there were only one to three for a total of 75.3%. In other words, there were either no immature students in the class or three, at most. This appears to be a reasonable result. It seems that students mature between the eighth and nine grades since more nine graders reported having no classmates who become enraged.

Students who snap or become enraged also report a feeling of malaise or physical discomfort in their daily environment. Many complain of not feeling well physically and lack of sleep (Table 7). They do not feel comfortable either at home or at school (Table 8). An overwhelming percentage of students who said they become enraged every day tend not to have even one friend with whom they can share happy experiences, who will listen when they are depressed, or who will listen to their problems (Table 9). Many also were involved in rebellious or delinquent behavior (Table 10).