26-year-old woman arrested for drowning baby son in bath

And another.....

Sounds like a bad case of Post Partum Depression. It can affect many women, after they give birth they get extremely depressed and unstable. The woman called the police right away and confessed, I think it's safe to say that's what it was.

Sadly, the judge will agree and she'll get a suspended sentence. "Okasan, just please don't kill any more of your children"

What's Japans problem with talking to people about their problems? There needs to be a bigger push for people in need to come forward and get help. Imagine how many people out there would have loved to adopt this ladies son.

sad.... just sad. I could imagine the depression she will be in now. But what about her husband? Where is HE in this picture? If she needed someone to talk to, why not him? What about her parents, her friends, her doctor? There a lot more people involved in this mothers life. Ahats happening to the social fabric of Japan? It's disintegrating at a really fast pace.

The problem, the-grouch, is that Japanese don't have friends or people they can turn to when they have issues they need to discuss. People have a natural barrier that never breaks and means they always keep a distance, even from their supposed loved ones. As you say, the social fabric is disintegrating and there's no way to stop it without a total change in thinking.

i hope they would make a study on these women killing their child....most of the hospitals here doesn't give aneasthesia during delivery, i've read from somewhere that something happens to the brain from intense pain.plus a woman who just gave birth is stressed physically, and physical stress affects the emotional and intellectual condition of anybody,yes? i feel bad the mother lost her baby, and in her own hands:(

The thing that I don't understand in these cases is, that they seem to kill their children to avoid the responsibility but then they immediately turn around and say yes I did it. A sick call for attention perhaps?

So, the start of another week in Japan and another infanticide. As sad as it is to say, I don't find these articles surprising anymore. I'm actually more surprised when I don't see one.

If it was not mental illness then I wonder what her situation was. Either way.... another very sad story.

And so it continues... when is this country going to come to gripes with the number of parents killing and abusing their kids? Start charging and punishing these people. No more of this "suspended" sentence, they're suffered enough crap.

And get some support for moms who need it.

"Sounds like a bad case of Post Partum Depression. It can affect many women, after they give birth they get extremely depressed and unstable."

Oh my god... I am so SICK of people coming on here to defend murderous women with umpteen dozen excuses when they are simply murderers. Did she kill her child or not? Yes! So she is guilty of infanticide. A woman took her own baby and murdered it. Stop trying to fob it off to PPD, or let me guess... some posters will come on here and ask where the husband was, or what kind of abuse she was suffering... and see it for what it is -- a person murdered her child. She deserves no sympathy, she simply deserves life in prison.

@smith

While I understand your anger completely, you're way too sweeping in your judgment. Mental illness is an unpleasant reality, sometimes resulting in horrific actions by those affected. Moral outrage does nothing to make that any less true. If,God forbid, you or a loved one are ever affected, then you'll understand.

lucabrasi: I have a loved one affected by mental illness, and it is quite sad, but how do we know this was mentally ill to begin with -- which is exactly my point! When it's a woman who murders her children there are ALWAYS posters who come on here and immediately assume it's some kind of mental illness, and not her fault, etc. etc. If it were the father no one would even bat an eye in condemning him. In fact, in most cases like this people DO come on to the thread and blame the father for what the mother did without any idea about what actually happened. So now, while you understand my anger about what the woman did, do you understand my frustration with the blatant hypocrisy?

Do not, i repeat DO NOT discriminate someone unless you have been in their shoes!

Pattie, plenty of moms out there who can judge this women. Like Smith, sick of everyone jumping on the "She has PPD" when nothing states it. Some women just shouldn't have kids. Clearly she is one of them.

Pattie: "Do not, i repeat DO NOT discriminate someone unless you have been in their shoes!"

So we have to murder babies before we can condemn this woman for what she's done?

Pattie InoueSep. 09, 2012 - 03:13PM JST Do not, i repeat DO NOT discriminate someone unless you have been in their shoes!

Oh, but we can judge and discriminate, fathers and mothers, husbands and wifes, people without children and those, who can't have children, all of us. This woman committed a murder of a helpless infant. If she is mentally ill and is not fully responsible for what she did, then those, who entrusted child care to a mentally ill woman must go to jail. If she is not, then she must answer to the full extent as a merciless murderer.

who entrusted child care to a mentally ill woman must go to jail.

You do get that millions of parents out there suffer from various types of depression and don't kill their kids right? Are you going to strip the right to see their kids from these people? A little perspective please.

There has been ZERO mention that this women is mentally ill so why do people make the great assumption she is? And even if she is, there are millions of women who have or had PPD who didn't off their kids. Why start making things up? At the end of the day a child is dead and japan is well known to a) have lax punishment for parents who kill/abuse their kids b) have very little support for moms who would like help and c) have very little support for those with depression and various other mental health problems. This is only going to get worse with the economy, programs being cut and people out of work.

No one is defending her, Smithinjapan, just pointing out what sort of condition she MAY have been in. Unfortunately PPD is barely recognised in Japan & she won't get the help she needs. Anyone doubting PPD needs to do some reading- start with something easy like Brooke Shields's "Down Came the Rain" - and I don't think she was an extreme case. Then you can move on to the medical literature. There's plenty.

Jannetto: "No one is defending her, Smithinjapan, just pointing out what sort of condition she MAY have been in."

Why? You have no idea, and that's my point. Whenever a mother kills her baby (which seems to be pretty often these days in Japan) people jump on this site and almost PITY the murderer. As I stated before, in many cases some come on the site and immediately start blaming the husband and shouting abuse when there is ZERO indication of any mental illness, abuse, or anything aside from the fact that a woman murdered her child. If it had been a man who did it we would hear NO questions about illness, depression, or anything else except how much of a cold-blooded killer he was -- and rightly so, because as such a person would be, this woman is.

"Anyone doubting PPD needs to do some reading- "

Anyone thinking this woman needs sympathy and not a striped suit needs to seek the help they think this woman needed. STOP JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS about mental health just because it's a mother! And for the love of all things holy, stop pitying a murderer! She killed a helpless infant -- pity the child!

tmarieSep. 09, 2012 - 06:54PM JST You do get that millions of parents out there suffer from various types of depression and don't kill their kids right? Are you going to strip the right to see their kids from these people? A little perspective please.

You do get that depression is not a mental illness, which lifts the responsibility in case of murder? A little relevance please.

How is it not?!

She murdered her baby; she confessed. Life in prison. She is obviously mentally ill to act in this manner, so why should she ever be free to walk amongst the law abiding and their children.

Post natal depression? Oh, please!!! The kid was four months old. I guess some of you would like to extend PND until the kid is 40 years old! How about cultural insanity? That seems more fitting. Or, better still, let's just call it murder and be done with it. There is no justification for this. This happens all too often in Japan and I don't care about comparisons with the rest of the world cos I live here. It is a sickness in the society. Parents killing kids, brothers killing sisters, kids killing parents is almost a daily occurrence in Japan. It is shameful that it is just accepted as another news report.

Stupid people need not have children

She is obviously mentally ill to act in this manner...

Um, what?? Why is she "obviously" mentally ill? Numerous women out there kill their kids and aren't sick, ill, on drugs... The whole notion that women will automatically love their kids and be a great mom is false. If it was true there wouldn't be child abuse and moms killing their kids.

Kids are troublesome, but somehow they douse their little dogs with extreme affection. :(

Not a doctor and don't know her so can't say what prompted her to kill her child but she obviously snapped for whatever reason. One thing's for sure though - this lady has some serious issues - not only did she drown her son, she left him submerged in the bathtub water....

If she has mental issues, I hope she gets help. If she did it on purpose, may she rot in hell.

Dennis, not all. Many, many dogs are abused and abandoned when they become to much trouble.

Ms, no, you aren't a doctor, nope, you've never met her so you can't say she "snapped". You also don't know what her "issues" are so perhaps you could stop jumping to conclusions?

@ tmarie, I'm jumping to conclusions? No I'm not! You should practice what you preach. In your original post, you said

And get some support for moms who need it.

How do you know she didn't get support?

You also mentioned

Some women just shouldn't have kids. Clearly she is one of them.

Without knowing why she drowned her son, you can't say she shouldn't have had kids.

Bottomline, YOU need to stop jumping to conclusions.

Of course there is no need to jump to conclusions but when you look at the rate these kinds of cases are posted and how they are handled by the authorities, you would have to wonder, how is that a country with so much pride, technology, science and what have not, is still lacking basic common sense and basic common social skills. It is really boggling. AND BY THE WAY, my first posted message was not all that bad. Why am i docked that way, the social fabric in Japan is in ALOT of trouble.

@ the-grouch, I don't know why you got so many thumbs down either. You didn't say anything wrong.

Ms. you think someone who kills her child should have kids? You think Japan doesn't need more support for moms? She may very well have gotten support but perhaps not enough? I mean, she did kill her child after all. You most certainly did jump to conclusions with your previous post - and so have many others.

Grouch, it is in trouble but until the locals remove their heads from the sand...

I hope justice gets done in this case. RIP lil one.

Well, I don't think anyone gives birth with intentions to kill them afterwards. If they do, then there IS something wrong with them.

And, I never said Japan doesn't need more support system. I actually think they do. You said I was jumping to conclusions and I simply stated that you did as well for concluding that she didn't get support. So from your definition, you most certainly did jump to conclusions with your previous post - and so have many others.

But, I forget, you're always right.

I admit that the only conclusion I jumped in to is the miscommunication or should I say the no-communication she had between her friends or loved ones. I get really upset at these types of news where someone takes the life of their own sibling(s) for the sake of what? Stress? self pity? it does not redemp her at all. No matter what amount of steer anyone can be under, it is not acceptable to kill your own child. If she was depressed, her family might have been able to save that child from this demise. It's just unacceptable. I can render myself to believe it was depression that caused this. She needed help from everyone close to her!

Whenever a mother kills her baby (which seems to be pretty often these days in Japan).

The instance of mothers killing babies in Japan is less than that of the US. The reportage of the former is greater due to its rareness, and editorial policy.

Other countries are not relevant to this discussion.

There has been ZERO mention that this women is mentally ill so why do people make the great assumption she is?

Good catch! I think it's because we find the idea distasteful that women can be as calloused and murderous as men, especially towards children.

I just wonder why they always have to kill the kid. Don't want to be a parent anymore? Fine. Want to kill the kid because you made a poor decision? No.