Photo/Illutration Investigators from Shizuoka prefectural police head to Sakura Nursing School, which is facing allegations of child abuse, in Susono, Shizuoka Prefecture, on Dec. 4. (Tamotsu Sugao)

SUSONO, Shizuoka Prefecture--Three former nursery teachers at a licensed preschool here were arrested Dec. 4 on suspicion of repeatedly assaulting toddlers in their care, including hanging them upside down in midair and hitting them.

The arrests came after a police search of the school.

Investigations by the Susono city government and the nursery school found that the women were involved in 15 kinds of abuse between June and August.

They included holding children by the feet and hanging them upside down in midair, hitting them on their heads with a binder to make them cry, yelling at toddlers during lunch breaks and pinching their cheeks.

The teachers were apparently also fond of targeting specific children to look at menacingly, yelling at and forcibly pulling down their pants, brandishing a cutter knife in a menacing manner and mocking certain individuals for their physical appearance, calling them things like “fatty” and “ugly,” and locking up naughty ones in a storage room of toys.

The suspects were identified as Sachi Miura, 30, of Numazu in the prefecture; Kaori Komatsu, 38, of Susono; and Rie Hattori, 39, of Nagaizumi in the prefecture. They worked for Sakura Nursery School in Susono and were responsible for the well-being of 1-year-olds.

The nursery teachers reportedly told school officials during an in-house hearing that they were simply trying to discipline the children.

City officials announced the incidents of mistreatment at the school during a Nov. 30 news conference after sharing their findings with police.

Municipal authorities were alerted to the situation in mid-August by an inside source.

It also emerged that the school tried to cover up the scandal by having all the staff members sign a written oath in late October not to reveal personal information about children and staff they learned through their work to third parties. They were also forbidden to leak documents, digital files and confidential matters concerning the school.

Susono Mayor Harukaze Murata had harsh words for the head of the school, Toshihiko Sakurai, saying, “His responsibility is grave as he kept the abuses under wraps despite knowing about them.”

City authorities are weighing whether to file a criminal complaint against Sakurai and the company that operates the school.

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