Kitamoto , Japan ( CNN ) -- Incense burns in the corner of the Nakai family living room -- part of an altar to their daughter Yumi , who committed suicide seven years ago . Yumi was just 12 years old when she took her own life , jumping from a condominium building . `` We never saw this coming , '' says her father , Shinji . `` She was a daddy 's girl , we went swimming and skiing together and loved to take trips . I was convinced there had been a mistake . '' Her mother , Setsuko , lights another candle at her daughter 's altar and says a prayer for her , as she does every day . She is convinced bullying at school was one of the main reasons Yumi killed herself . In the months preceding her suicide , Yumi told her mother she was being taunted by some of her classmates . `` I called the school and spoke to her teacher , '' she says . `` The teacher said , ' I 'll deal with this problem ' and never got back to me , so we assumed it was solved . '' Yumi hinted at bullying in the note she left behind , writing that her decision to take her life `` may be because of some of my classmates , studies and exams . '' But the parents are still fighting a legal battle with the school and the Kitamoto Board of Education . The family alleges the school was negligent in bully prevention and investigating her suicide . Shinji Nakai claims the school only showed him a fraction of the investigation they carried out -- a claim the board of education rejects . In a statement to CNN , the Kitamoto Board of Education said it was `` co-operatively investigating the cause of her suicide , hearing from her parents , collecting as much information as possible including the possibility of bullying . '' The school also spoke to students , but school officials found no information that connected to her suicide , they said . A recent court case ruled in the school 's favor . Yumi 's parents filed an appeal to a higher court on Monday . South Korea teenagers bullied to death . This ongoing legal drama comes as a recent bullying case has horrified Japan . A boy in Otsu , west of Tokyo , committed suicide last year by jumping off a building after bullies allegedly forced him to practice killing himself . Japanese media and the parents claim the boy had sought help from a teacher , but his pleas were ignored . The case has prompted the government to set up a special team to help schools and board of education curb bullying . The new anti-bullying task force will be responsible for identifying cases of serious bullying at an early stage and giving advice to education boards and schools , said Hirofumi Hirano , Minister of Education , Culture , Sports , Science and Technology , at a press conference Tuesday . The education ministry also announced plans to conduct an emergency survey of all elementary , junior high and high schools in Japan next month in an attempt to draw up appropriate prevention measures . `` People have pointed to how there 's too much academic pressure on adolescents in Japan which creates stress and leads to bullying in schools ; other people talk about how Japanese cases of bullying can be group orientated , '' says Sachiko Horiguchi , an anthropologist at Tokyo 's Temple University . Horiguchi , however , believes the problem is far more complex and bullying is certainly not an issue peculiar to Japan . But one issue recurring in Japan is `` the problem of the school and the Board of Education failing to accept the fact there 's some bullying , '' Horiguchi says . `` That can be quite common in many schools , but it 's increasingly become more difficult probably to deny that . '' Yumi 's parents agree . They believe there has been a cover up at her school and no one wants to accept there is a problem . `` I think the problem is the evaluation-first system in Japanese education . If the school admits a bullying incident , it would affect the teacher 's career , '' says her father , Shinji . `` The members of the board of education and the school are like family members , they tend to protect each other . It 's disadvantageous for them to make the investigation open , so the truth is hidden . '' Yumi 's parents want acknowledgment of their daughter 's bullying to finally feel enough closure to be able to bury her ashes in the graveyard . `` I just want to know the truth , why did she have to die ? '' Shinji says . `` Unless I know , I just ca n't accept her death . '' CNNs Junko Ogura contributed to this report .
Notes : Yumi Nakai committed suicide seven years ago after being attacked . Her parents have waged a lengthy legal battle against her daughter 's school . A boy bullied into rehearsing his own song has shocked Japan . Japan 's Education Ministry to set up a special team to help schools curb bullying .