7-year-old girl likely killed hours before being hit by train

Pure evil. I hope the criminal is caught and dealt with swiftly.

Hanging is too good for whomever committed this horrific crime.

I had half an ear on the news as I fixed breakfast this mornin. I thought she had merely been hit by the train, now this. May this monster be caught swiftly and punished severely. Then give him a short drop with a sudden stop. But there are still people out there in JT land who will defend his right to live. Well he surrendered that right when he did this horrible thing

May the family be comforted

Find this monster and send them back to Hell.

Terrible. My thoughts and prayers go out to the family. Hope this monster is caught soon.

Wtf, find him and treat him like the scum he is! May the family one day find peace.

Who says it was a man who killed her though? Nonetheless it's a horrible act and whoever's responsible should suffer the consequences.

My Goodness! reading this article just wants me to hug my kids...this is terrible in so many ways.

I have nothing but hate to whoever low life scum that did this to the poor child.

Justice to the poor child.

Very very sad indeed. Thoughts and prayers go out to the parents (lest they be involved in this, hope not) Rest In Peace little one. You encountered evil way too soon on life.

puregaijinToday  08:30 am JST

Very very sad indeed. Thoughts and prayers go out to the parents (lest they be involved in this, hope not) Rest In Peace little one. You encountered evil way too soon on life.

I have to be honest here and the same thought crossed my mind. I have read to many articles from this news site on parents in this country committing unspeakable acts upon their own children for this type of thought to be banished completely from my thought process when reading such news. I do hope my fears are misguided and this is simply some other monsters doing and my heartfelt sympathies to the parents and extended family. The alternative is just way too horrific!

It really a sad news, hope the criminal will be caught soon.

Only 7 years old. What a sick sob. Hope they can find him asap and the parents can grieve in peace.

7 yrs old!? Too tragic. I feel sorry for the poor mum.

It's an ugly new condition now if kids have to be afraid if they're alone at night now.

Hanging is too good for whomever committed this horrific crime.

Just supposing the murderer is a 14 yr old? What then?

Things like this remind me something usually forgotten that we humans actually belong to beasts, perhaps one of the worst kinds. Can we ever elevate ourselves up and away from such a savage state? Or do we have to live forever with a dark side within us? Even though I cannot comprehend this person who killed a 7 yrs old girl in such an unforgivable way, I cannot entirely deny that a beast like this may be within every human being, just sleeping to be awakened. I hope it never never never wakes up within me.

I know that a lot of places have it where the kids from the same area walk home together in a group. However, they do it up to a certain point then the group breaks apart because kids' homes are a different direction. Some kids then have to walk quite a distance alone to get their homes. This is the point that these predators feed on.

This is a deeply disturbing incident. I hope that some evidence (e.g,CCTV) will come to light quickly that points to the perpetrator(s).

"when she failed to return home, her mother contacted police"

The days of letting children walk around by themselves is very risky these days.

Don let your children go anywhere by themselves.

"Niigata prefectural police are checking security cameras near the railroad track as well as the route from her school to her home"

more cameras , much more, more cameras in many places, ya dig

"Children don't feel scared even at night because there are streetlights."

And yet, viral videos go around the internet boasting the 'independent-minded young children who safely go to and from school by themselves' because Japan is safe country (as opposed to other countries...).' Embarrassing facts are just brushed under the carpet here. A variety of dangers exist for children and also women.

Kids should be accompanied by an adult to and from school!

Horrid! Who could strangle a 7 year old child?

If this monster isn't caught, it'll more than likely kill again.

Feel so sorry for the victim, her family, and the poor friend who she left school with. Imagine trying to explain to a 7 year old that her classmate who she walked home with has been murdered? May the sick SOB who did this face justice in this world and the next.

Take a bite out of crime: escort/oversee your children anytime, to guard against nutcracks.

I hope the search of security camera footage proves fruitful.

I hope this case ends quickly.

I hope that who ever did this is brought to justice... in this world or the next!

Take a bite out of crime: escort/oversee your children anytime, to guard against nutcracks.

I'm not super enthusiastic about this kind of response to horrific events like this.  One of the things I like about Japan is that the paranoia that grips parents back home and the overbearing helicopter parenting that goes along with it doesn't exist here.  Kids can still walk to school on their own or take the bus without people calling the police to report neglect, etc like they do in North America.  I think that is a much healthier environment to raise kids (OK, an article about a child being murdered isn't the best place for me to be making that argument but still, as a parent I feel way more comfortable about child safety here).

Japan is safe statistically to the numbers.

It does not mean you teach them only after a murder case to be careful, like stated in a comment by a mother of a 3rd grader in the article.

It also depends on how little and mature your kid is. Beasts prey on lirtle girls more than on adults... Below 8, kids usually have not reach "age of reason" and cannot assess a situation of danger.

Having 2 little girls, I suffered with the parents reading the article.

So sad.

RIP.

also feel sorry for the train driver. it must be horrific for them.

Goodluck, your right we do forget all about other people that are affected indirectly, train driver, the police, the people that have to wash and check the train. as I have read the comments above ive noticed that some people have thumbed down comments, why? do you approve of what the piece of scum has done? take the first 6 comments, some one approves of what this scum has done, why? MJ wrote may the family be comforted ,,,and rightly so the need a lot of support, Its what nightmares are made of, and someone disliked this comment, I think that most people on here this morning will have had to edit there comments as most of our thought would be removed quickly! I hope to god that she was not sexually abused as well as this would add insult to injury, I hope that they catch this piece of scum quickly. normally the train companies charge for damage to the train ie suicide etc, but in this case I hope that they don't charge, it would be a kind gesture to the family.

A horrible crime has been committed. If contributors can call for execution and other forms of violent retribution, surely it's fair to voice disagreement and indeed, concern, over ANY and ALL forms of violence.

It won't bring the poor victim back.

why? do you approve of what the piece of scum has done? take the first 6 comments, some one approves of what this scum has done, why?

I sincerely doubt anyone in their right minds approves of the murder of anyone. Perhaps (and I'm guessing here) they don't agree with some of the more bloodthirsty sentiments? Or maybe, they just don't like the poster and automatically marks them down. Happens with me all the time, and it's not a big deal.

My heart goes out to everyone who has to deal with this tragic horror and everyone who has lost someone to an act of violence.

In America, I have heard that people call police and report neglect if they see a child walking to the park alone. I think this is new because I walked home from school alone, usually after other kids because I kind of sauntered along. This was only about 20 years ago.

In the last town I lived in (a suburb of Yokohama), I saw groups of children going to and from school. Sometimes they greeted me and sometimes they didn’t.

Just last year, in March, the high profile case of the Vietamese girl who was murdered in Chiba happened. She was going to school.

https://english.kyodonews.net/news/2017/05/5fc1e8afcc0a-suspect-in-death-of-vietnamese-girl-in-chiba-to-face-murder-charge.html

I remember the Chiba story. It's still ongoing and whilst I disagree with the father's call for the death penalty, it must be sheer grief and desperation for him. Very sad.

21st century, dur.

Crime against children and increasing world wide. There is urgent need for all nations to cooperate and eliminate this evil and draw up strategies to stop/limit these crimes. Data sharing and there should be no international borders in catching the evil culprits.

this doesn't change my opinion about living or not living in Japan. The police will find out who did this crime. It may take time but they will find this person.

And yet, viral videos go around the internet boasting the 'independent-minded young children who safely go to and from school by themselves' because Japan is safe country (as opposed to other countries...).' Embarrassing facts are just brushed under the carpet here. A variety of dangers exist for children and also women. Kids should be accompanied by an adult to and from school!

I don't think that these things are brushed under the carpet - we are discussing them now. Of course, if a parent had been there, this awful event would not have occurred, but it is a very infrequent event, however awful for the family. Do we really want to move to a system whereby children lose all their independence  to avoid this small, but tragic risk?

I suppose I do not care what the authorities do with this person, but they need to get him off the streets ASAP.

I say ‘him’ because as the article mentions, she told her friends at school that a man dressed in black with sunglasses had chased her on the way to school that very morning.

Do we really want to move to a system whereby children lose all their independence to avoid this small, but tragic risk?

@Ah so

But kids are not independent. That's precisely why they are called kids/children. The time when you can completely let them off your guard and genuinely blame them for anything that happens is not at 7. If I went out for 5 minutes and left my 11 year old at home and there was accidently a fire and the house burned down I would not be blaming my daughter, whatever she had done to cause it and however angry I was. It would just prove the point that she was not able to be by herself at home alone. It would not be until much later, co-incidentally(!) at the age that they become adults that I would genuinely blame her for doing something, at 18ish. Until then you can give them independence, but gradually, with a certain amount of adult supervision, not molly-coddling them until a certain point and then suddenly throwing them out to fend by themselves. That would be a ludicrous transition.

You would never let a 7 year old use an oven completely by themselves. Why let them walk on the streets completely by themsleves?? Purely social conformity. And this lack of supervision is hardly a small risk. It manifests itself in a variety of ways, countless times a day, all over Japan, resulting in countless tragedies. Only last week I could easily have hit my friend's 3 year old because his parents were letting him run around unsupervised in a car park. I only didn't because I knew how little they would be watching him. Sorry, but this is one area Japan really does fall down in, from peoeple who would normally know better.

I don't think that these things are brushed under the carpet - we are discussing them now. Of course, if a parent had been there, this awful event would not have occurred, but it is a very infrequent event, however awful for the family. Do we really want to move to a system whereby children lose all their independence to avoid this small, but tragic risk?

The two posts above absolutely answer your question.

Group thinking is far, far, far from thinking independently. Children here are NOT taught how to fend for themselves. Far from it!

And incidents concerning school-children happen very frequently in Japan but are quickly dismissed. Just recently, a lady wrote a book about how she was molested/groped on the train every day while she traveled to school.

//The girl told one of her friends that she had been chased by a man wearing dark clothes and sunglasses// – This sounds like the stereotypical baddie the police use when depicting criminals, so I am suspicious. Also, the TV news has added that as many as 11 'odd encounters' were reported to the school in the prior months and that police are following up. If accurate, it sure seems late. I do hope they catch the perp quickly.

On escorting - where I live in the countryside, a 3pm public speaker broadcast asks people to be alert and watch out for the returning school children and adults are posted at the major intersections.

It won't bring the poor victim back.

@Toasted - So what? Where does it say it has to bring the victim back? Life sentences also don't bring back victims, does that mean we shouldn't do life sentences or other very long prison terms because they don't bring back the victim?

Crime against children and increasing world wide. 

Says who, and compared to when?