‘I couldn’t say no’: anger grows over topless medical exams in Japan schools

Parents and campaigners have called on education and health authorities to end the practice of requiring children to strip off for school health checks

My chest was completely exposed and I felt embarrassed," writes a Japanese girl after undergoing an annual health checkup at her middle school. Another says: Before the exam our teacher told us we would have to lift up our tops and bra ... I didn't want to do it but I couldn't say no."

The testimony from two 13-year-olds, seen by the Guardian, is typical of the discomfort - and in some cases trauma - felt by children attending schools in Japan that can require boys and girls as young as five - and as old as 18 - to strip to the waist during health examinations.