Suspected abuse of record-high 80,100 children reported in Japan in 2018

Only good thing to be taken from this is that people are coming forward, hot place in hell for child abusers.

"Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told a parliamentary session that he will hold a meeting of ministers on Friday to strengthen cooperation between related organizations and create a new rule to share information on potential victims". Good, I hope he sticks to his promise, as there recently has been a few cases where the system has let down the child big style, leading to a Childs death. The social workers and authorities will probably need more powers to intervene and more resources ( cash) to support this scheme, the police need to get on board as well and support the social workers, and warn aggressive parents that its NOT acceptable to abuse there child, and if they persist in there actions they will be arrested and dealt with by the courts.

Wow. That’s terrible. It’s bad enough there are lower & lower birthrates in Japan. And abuse is on the rise? What a cute kid in pic. I could never imagine anyone who’d dare slap this innocent kid.

And abuse is on the rise?

Probably not. It's just probably reported more often nowadays.

Also, what we call abuse today was often not seen as abuse in past decades. But it was still the same behavior.

Notice how they always state the incressrbis because of more cases being reported? The fact is, more cases are happening!

@Wc62, this little girl died a few months ago from abuse and neglect, only five years old.

Hard to know what to do in a lot of these cases. The "simple" solution is to remove the kid from the home, but then we have orphanages filling up, and in a country where adoption rates are low,..

So, the birth rate has been dropping for over a decade and child abuse cases have been increasing over the same period. Would anybody be so foolish as to believe this is only because of more cases being reported? Yes, I am sure there are many more cases being reported. However, the rapidly declining birthrate means there are less children to abuse. Put these together and you can easily conclude child abuse incidents are on the rise, not just the reports.

The flailing economy has created unprecedented stress on Japanese society and people are not coping! I see so many stressed out and loopy people on the trains every day it's actually quite frightening. I'd estimate at least a third of the people I see every day have lost the plot and are a lit fuse waiting to explode and it's always the kids who cop it. Yes, some cases are from totally delusional parents who believe they are doing no wrong. However, the majority are from parents who claim the stress of child rearing and the uncertainty of their future are the reasons for abusing and killing their children. I've taught in private high schools for nearly two decades in Japan and some of the horror stories the kids tell me about what their parents do to them are sickening. Every one of them has been starved at least once. Most have been locked on balconies or in cupboards. And, it is difficult to find a student whose parents do not hit them regularly. This is private high school, not the public high school zoos. How many cases of parents killing their kids and then themselves made the news last year? Twenty? Twenty-five? These are all child abuse cases as well. you could also count all the babies abandoned in rubbish bins, riverbeds and convenience store toilets to the child abuse tally. There is a serious problem in Japan with how they treat their kids and it has been going on for decades and/or generations. The current stresses from the flailing economy are only making it worse.

She was later found to have begged her parents to stop mistreating her by writing "forgive me" in a notebook.

That story broke my heart.

I have no insight into the details and proceedings what happens after the authorities contact the family and there is a justified suspicion of child abuse, but do these kids have direct contact to the social workers/authorities? I mean can't technology help in this case and hand out something like an easily concealed beacon of some sort to the kids which would act as an emergency hotline when they are in truly life threatening situations? Something has to be done! We can't just shake our heads!

And this story obviously broke my heart too :(

In Japan, this is not a surprise it is very well-known that the abused children are abusers themselves when they grew up. We have news everyday abt iijime in Japan.

She was later found to have begged her parents to stop mistreating her by writing "forgive me" in a notebook.

That story broke my heart.

Every time I see Yua's picture it brings back that terrible heart-wrenching news.

The saddest news ever to me. Many said it well here, but Kobe White Bar Owner, I agree. Jesus was very tender toward children. His disciples were like many adults today, wanting to make the kids go away, they thought kids were a jama to Jesus. You know what he told them. He even said one time, it would be better for a person to have a millstone tied around their necks and thrown into the sea than to offend one of the little ones, i.e., kids.

This is a deeply rooted problem that needs more safety nets, pro-active intervention and counseling and therapy for not only the victims but also the perpetrators. Most people who abused were themselves abused and the cycle needs to be broken.

Raising Kids is a problematic issue.

Some turn out to be really great and do everything to help you and don't cause trouble, others turn out to be vicious and resentful and in response for what ? You've shown them the love & care all their lives yet they suddenly flip a switch... and behave differently, and now you are to blame ?? So when you get into a heated engagement with a 16 year old son you're now considered as a Child Abuser... even if he's taken a knife to you...

I think Parenting is fraught with difficulties, the one side or the other side abuse issue needs to be treated carefully. Yes, some people abuse their Kids, though some Kids also abuse their Parents, and some others are stuck in the middle ground during those Teenage rebellious years. Identifying the nasty ones is necessary to protect the Kids - but why in doing so, should you also blame the other 1/3rd mentioned above ? Government Counselling wont help in their cases - probably just make matters worse for all. I think, this Abuse accusation label does not help the problem - people sometimes need help, but because of the label, are afraid to come forward, particularly since nowadays by doing so, they could end up being permanently labelled as a Child Abuser regardless of the situation.

As to what leads to Kids becoming Violent/Abusive towards Parents... YouTube, Friends, Social-Media, Just Hormones, take your pick.... they will of course say Parents too... Citing things like, well you asked me to get up in the morning to go to School, or do the JyuKu homeworks... and to stop using my Smartphone in the evenings, especially at the dinner table...

Extreme cases clearly need to be identified and fixed, but, leaving the rest of parenthood in limbo wondering if they are themselves Abusers... is a modern day issue... that has yet to be addressed properly.

Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat, etc are now the biggest problems facing Parents and the Future Generation of Parents - the so called Social Media, has, IMO has destroyed "Social" and simply put the emphasis upon "Media" and "Sensationalism" in order to attract "Friends" that aren't really friends but perhaps a continuation upon the disruption to your real-life Social life, and for whose gain ? The Companies behind those Apps your Kids are using... ?

It dismays me to see the likes of larger established Corporations or Governments, (BBC, or UK Gov for example) asking for Social Media login-ids to access their "Services" as this sort of hypocritically justifies the Social Media's presence in Society, and as such negates any villifiction of their responsibility towards Family parental issues. So hence the perpetuation of the ongoing problem.

In 2018, 57,326 children were suspected of falling victim to psychological abuse, accounting for 70 percent of the total cases. Physical abuse was suspected in 14,821 cases, 7,699 children were reported as being neglected and 258 children suffered sexual abuse, all of which increased from the previous year.

Law enforcement action was taken in 1,355 cases, a 3-fold rise from 2009, according to the police data.

So lemmie check something here. Based on the numbers given here, that's a total of about 65,283 children who were victimized, with a whopping 14,821 cases but only 1,355 cases were taken seriously?

I am perplexed by these numbers and lack of action by government officials.

Japan also has one of the highest suicide rates in the world, especially among it's young population. Seeing this now, I'm starting to understand why. I know Asian families tend to be hard on their kids to perform well and be high acheivers, but this is just ridiculous, and pathetic on the part of the government. I never knew it was this bad.